A conversation about cattle with a cab driver

All the cowboys are coming to town. 

This week I'll be in Denver for that National Western Stock Show. The company I work for sponsors several of the cattle events, and the Boy's family will be showing their Hereford cattle. Throughout the week I will get in numerous cabs, and people will have several conversations about cattle and the beef industry. Today's conversation.

Cabbie: You here for the bucking bulls.

Me: Nope my family will be showing cattle here.

Cabbie: You ride bulls.

Me: Nope, we show these cattle in a showring.

Cabbie: Ah, and where do you come from.

Me: My fiancé's family brought 25 head of cattle up from Oklahoma, but people from all over the U.S. will be showing cattle.

Cabbie: Do you bring their food too.

Me: Yes, that came in a separate stock trailer. We bring grain and hay for the to eat.

Cabbie: How much does a bull weigh?

Me: Well taking a guess the big bull they have here might weigh 1,800 lbs.

Cabbie: How much do they sell for?

Me: Well they can sell for anywhere between $3,000 and a $100,000. (This is when you clutch the door real tight, and hope that they don't swerve off the road from shock).

Cabbie: (In shock) Per pound! For meat?!

Me: No our cattle here are for breeding purposes, we won't eat them. However, they do have really good meat producing genetics and the progeny from the bulls may go into the food chain.

Cabbie: Ah I see. Maybe I should get some cows.

It happens every time. But I love it. Nothing better than learning what the consumers think about agriculture in a cab ride down to the Stock Show grounds.

This is a video that I put together last year at the Stock Show. It'll be you a better idea of what will go on this week.

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Ally's First Haircut

Pretty girl. 

This weekend the Boy and I played hairdresser and worked with our Hereford calves. Remember Ally from my feeding video? Ally is one of the heifers that we'll be keeping and hopefully showing this summer. 

Ally was pretty fuzzy so we decided we would shave her head out to see what was under all that fuzzy. 

The boy used a pair of clippers called sheepsheads to shave her head. 

Getting closer to being done. When we clip our cattle we put them in an aluminum chute. This keeps both the animal and us safe, as well it prevents them from moving around too much. 

Finished product! Doesn't she look great. We can't wait to get Ally back in again and clip on the rest of her body. We won't shave the hair anywhere else, except for her head and part of her tail. On the rest of the body we just trim off part of the hair to help extenuate her positive attributes and hid her flaws. 

These are two of the heifers, Firework and Shelly, that we'll be selling. We've been working on them quite a bit and they are well on their way to becoming awesome show heifers. Soon Ally will be standing their next to these girls looking just as fabulous.