A warm winter’s day…
Mud season has temporarily arrived about 10 weeks early this year. Last week I literally shoveled soggy hard pack out of our garage because our snow tires were creating virtual speed bumps as the mud sloughed off whenever we parked the cars. Even by typical January thaw standards this feels rather prolonged. I have to say that having elected not to do Ivermectin shots during herd health at the end of last week because of the relatively cold and snowy preceding month (we normally don’t have to do Ivermectin shots from January through April in most years), we may be forced to play it safe bust the Ivomec out again in February if we go too long with 40+ degree weather and fully exposed pastures, as the snow pack quickly melts off. We shall see.
Our three females slated for the Priority auction — which takes place 1/25 & 26 in Las Vegas — headed out today in the rig of hauler and old friend Matt Whitaker. The animals will head first to Magical Farms in Ohio (also home to the brothers TnT, who are the auction’s hosts) before joining up with other consigned animals and then being hauled into Vegas all together as one big happy family. By the time we see them again at the end of next week, they’ll be all penned up in the Arena at the South Point Casino. I still have to print out all of the photos and inserts for the girls’ sale notebooks but we are definitely looking forward to it!
2012 Futurity Reserve Herdsire of the Year, MFI Peruvian Precocious (whom we co own with MFI), also caught a ride to Ohio to begin his annual 6 month stint back on his birth farm. All things being equal, Preco will come back to us just in time for fireworks in July. Though I had originally planned on making the drive to haul him and our auction females to Litchfield/Medina myself, when Matt called last week looking to fill space on his trailer, I gleefully signed our group up. Let’s face it: with the price of diesel where it is I probably wasn’t doing that round trip for much less than $500 in fuel alone, plus food and a hotel room, to say nothing of two otherwise perfectly good work days spent in a truck. There will be quite enough of that business when spring time rolls around. We’re always happy to use the transport pros whenever possible.
Speaking of Ian and deadlines: I finally got around over the past couple of days to posting several new animals onto our sales listings. Though I had left on our family sailing trip just after Christmas with my laptop, a hard drive with a bunch of newly taken pictures, and the best of intentions to tackle the updates, it was just not meant to be. In the battle of sales list updates versus the cooler filled with cold delicious Carib beer, well lets just say the beer won going away. Everything in its time and place my friends.
