So far, we have had an amazing winter with very little snow and cold. With the Stock Show on the horizon it’s always a very exciting and stressful time. This year was especially the case, as I have been responsible for 2 other farms, with 3 of the animals being in the National Sale. It is my 3rd year working with Gray Owl Farms in Rush City, MN. They had a yearling highland heifer and bull that I have been working with. I also had the pleasure to have a 2 year old highland bull from Maple Hill Highlands from Stanwood, MI that also was on the trailer. So in all there were 8 Highland cattle headed west. I was very blessed to have Gray Owl Farms offer one of the hired men to come along and help. It was Mark Sheldon’s first time out there and he was very excited. Tom McConnell and his daughters from Balaton, MN also came to Magnet to follow us out. Bailey was going to show Almosta Farm’s Salli in the Jr. Showmanship class. We had an uneventful trip to Denver and then the work starts. we put long days in and have very short nights, but it is a lot of fun.
Mark and I proved to be a great working team and appreciated his ideas that made things easier. Dawn Manthei came in Thurs. to work with her 2 year old bull. Not only are we there to promote our farms but also to promote the breed. With the Vaughn family from Gray Owl also there; we had lots of people to talk to folks about our farms and the animals. We all had a great show day and sale.
The five days as always goes by so fast then it was time to head for home. We left Denver right on schedule and was 2 hours on the road when my pickup broke down. It’s one thing to break down with your vehicle but when you have animals on the trailer it adds another whole set of problems. I quickly learned that no one is open on Sunday. But between Tom, Mark and I putting our heads together; we came up with a plan. Tom had a relative in the Sterling,CO area that owned a feed lot and she was willing to come and pickup the trailer to get the animals in a safe place. AAA came to take the pickup to Sterling,CO with Mark going with along. Tom, his girls and I went with the highland cattle. After 2 days, waiting for the repairs to be done we were on our way home.
With all of the hard work and stress, all of the farms had a great show. Almosta Farm had the 3rd highest selling heifer, Maple Hill Farm had the 2nd highest selling bull, and Gray Owl Farms had the Jr. Yearling Bull Division Champion. But the best part of going to this event is catching up with old friends, making new ones and having fun with this great breed.
