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  • okay…so I lied


    Good Morning from a sunny, cool Knolltop! It’s a beautiful morning and going to be a great day!

    So I lied yesterday, I didn’t post any pictures. To tell you the truth, after I went through the day, I came in from chores and almost…..I said almost….didn’t go with Bobby and Jake to get ice cream because I was too tired. But, I managed to drag myself to the van and ride along for a scoop of Moose Tracks. Really, I don’t think I could ever be too tired for ice cream.

    When I got home, I fixed the coffee for the morning, prayed with my kids and said “Goodnight!” It was 8:30 pm when I fell into bed and it was a great feeling.

    Now for a few pictures. I will just put a few in today and save some for tomorrow.

    Bobby and his buddy Matt Nunes took time out to pose for me….they were on to important business!

    And of course who wouldn’t recognize that “Hostess with the mostest” Dallas Burton from Kansas.

    And finally, Dallas’ partner in crime, Ed Fellers, in the black, was visiting with potential buyers before the sale when I snapped this picture.

    It was a great Summer Event Sale, I’ll have more on it tomorrow~

  • The Farm is still standing

    Good Morning from the Knolltop!

    We’ve been gone for a couple of days and arrived home last night….no actually this morning just in time for an hour nap and then we were back up to milk the cows.

    It was a great trip and I’ve got lots of pictures and stuff to say, but since I’m running on one hour of sleep, I’m going back to bed for a short nap!

    I’ll post pictures and news later today! But I’ll just say we had a great time with the Nunes family and touring farms in Wisconsin. And the kids and Grandma did a great job taking care of our livelihood back home on the Knolltop!

  • Footloose and Fancy Free!

    Greetings from Wisconsin!

    I’m sitting in the kitchen of Matt and Mandy Nunes in Wisconsin waiting for breakfast. Yes, we actually left our farm, together, Bobby and I, and have been gone for 24 hours. We haven’t done this in 10 years. I can’t tell you how much fun this is….when I’m not worrying about what’s happening at home!

    My mom was nice enough to come stay with the kids and they are taking care of the home place. As of last evening they were doing fine. I guess the proof is in the pudding and we’ll find out just how often we’ll be able to get away when we get back home.

    In the mean time we will be touring around today and tomorrow we will attend the Summer Event Sale at Fall Creek hosted by Our Favorite Holsteins.

  • Happy 17th Birthday JW!

    Today is a big day for JW. Seventeen short years ago, he was born after what seemed like a week of labor, well, actually only 18 hours. In Goshen, Indiana our first son was born and I thought he was the greatest thing since…..anything! He was just the greatest! I’ll never forget getting him home and not having a clue about being a mom….it wasn’t as automatic as I thought it would be. Now that baby is 17! I don’t feel 17 years older….but the wrinkles and grey strands give me away! Happy Birthday JW!

    The female fitter yesterday stumped you all! I had no winning guesses yesterday for our “Name the Fitter” contest. So now I’ve got to give you the answer….her nick name is “Ace”! Her real name is Kristy Johnson from Minnesota and she did a whoppin’ good job for Bruce Rendon and Craig Martin fitting up their huge Jersey string. I watched her haul cow after cow after cow back and forth to the wash rack!

    Now for today’s contestant on
    “Name that Fitter”

    You’re choices for his nick name are:

    “Triple Threat”

    “Mo Boy”

    “Jerseykid”

    “Dino”

    “Dude”

    Today will be a busy day on the Knolltop. Celebrating JW’s birthday is on the top of the list. That means caking baking and decorating and Sarah will be gone most of the day, so I will actually have to bake the cake myself!

  • It’s a small world

    It’s a warm, sunny day here on the Knolltop. The troops are busy at work doing their own jobs. The big boys are hauling manure, Jake is doing odd jobs around the house and Sarah is cleaning out my cupboards while I finish up a story for Holstein International and then do my weekly column and maybe even another story all before I head into town get the tags for our vehicles and get a new battery for the lawnmower so Jake can now mow again for the second time this week.

    Now for the Name the Fitter contest. Of all the guesses I had emailed to me yesterday I had only one winner! And that winner was Russell Gammon our Jersey fanatic from Jersey Canada! He guessed the correct nick name and it was “Cowboy.”

    An interesting story about the fitter we featured on Monday, “Bear.” Mandy Nunes from Scientific Holsteins in Wisconsin emailed me and told me who “Bear” really was. His real name is Shane Hulle, the son of a friend of theirs up in Wisconsin, Annie Hulle of Anyday Holsteins. This is where the “small world” factor comes in to the story…while I was at the National Holstein Convention Mandy introduced Annie and I and we had a great visit. She was a really neat individual and I so enjoyed talking to her. I wish I had known “Bear” was her son…then I could’ve told him I knew his mama! It’s truly a small world!

    So now for the next contestant on

    Name that Fitter

    “Angel”

    “Blondie”

    “Cowchick”

    “Cowgirl”

    “Ace”

    So get your guessers ready and email me or post on this blog your guesses on this female fitter…she’s one small, unique group of women. Any woman who can keep up with the male dominated world of fitting has my cheers and applause!
    By the way, wouldn’t it be a great idea to have a cattle sale run by women? All women fitters, women sale staff, a woman reading the pedigrees? Hmmm….what do you think?

  • Fitter number Two

    Good Morning from a breezy, hay scented Knolltop. Because everyone on the county is baling hay when you step outside the smell of newly baled hay rushes over you. It’s a glorious smell that never leaves you. It’s a smell that if you’ve grown up on a farm is as familiar as the smell of manure, corn silage or sweetcorn growing in the garden on a hot July afternoon. As soon as you breath in the morning air it takes you back to your childhood of lazy summer days spent playing in the yard while a whirlwind of farming activity plays out around you. Isn’t that a great memory?

    Okay, now for the Name the Fitter contest. Kudos to all who ventured a guess yesterday, the correct name for the fitter in the picture was “Bear!” And no, I don’t know his real name. And the lady he’s hugging is a familiar face to anyone at any Holstein event in Michigan, I like to refer to her as “Mama Koebel” and her real name is Jennie Koebel from Tri-Koebel Holsteins in Three Oaks Michigan. And she has three girls…wow, they have a lot of threes!

    Now for the next contestant on

    Name that Fitter!

    This fitter hails from Indiana and worked for Hardy’s Holsteins while at the All-Michigan Summer show.

    Here are your name choices:

    “Scooter”

    “Cowboy”

    “Tippy”

    “Ramrod”

    “Blue”

    So…Name that fitter! And yes, you get extra points if you can name the man he’s talking to…he has a nick name too…but he’s not necessarily a fitter.

    You have until 7 am tomorrow morning to send me your guess. Good Luck!

  • Name that Fitter

    Good Morning from a sunny Knolltop!

    We are finally getting back into the swing of things around here…getting the lawn mowed, the bushes trimmed and the guys are hauling manure like mad!

    I was so bummed last night as I walked into TSC and found the double rocker I wanted was gone. It had been marked down half off and I wanted to wait until it was 75% off before I bought it. Well, I waited too long! Now I’ll have to keep looking. Now that I think about it, God must have a free one for me somewhere…I just have to pray for it! I’m also praying for a laptop. And the only reason I’m telling you this is so that when God does provide it you’ll all know it was from Him and not my doing!

    Okay, now for the contest that you’ve all been waiting for! Get ready to play

    Name that Fitter!

    I will post a picture and give you several names to choose from then you post your answer. Now we all know that fitters usually have a nick name, very rarely, unless they are very sophisticated and don’t wish to be called “Hoss” or “Spike” or “Gushie”, will they go by their real name. So while I was at the show last week I took pictures of all the fitters I could find and told them they would be on my blog this week.

    Here it goes….our first contestant hails from Wisconsin. He is a very jovial kind of guy and can be often seen sporting a pink striped shirt and pink plaid shorts. No, not your normal attire for a cattle fitter, but acceptable nonetheless. Thank goodness there is no dress code!

    Here are your name choices:

    “Hoss”

    “Jethro”

    “Hugger”

    “Bear”

    “Twinkle”

    You get bonus points of you can name the woman holding on for dear life wondering if she’ll survive his bear hug.

    You’ve got until Wednesday morning at 7 am to submit your guess. And of course the prize is……having the sheer satisfaction that you know your fitters!

  • Forgotten passwords

    It’s been so long since I posted anything here I almost forgot my password to get into my blog!

    It was a great week at the All-Michigan Holstein show and 4-H Dairy Days. I’ve got so much information floating around in my head and some great pictures to share and I even have a contest I will launch this week!

    Basically last week was a test for mom and her four kids. While I came home each night to help with chores around here, my kids stayed at the show and went to Grandmas each night. If you don’t think laying in bed wondering if they had enough sense to leave the cow show at a decent hour so they could get a good night’s sleep to get back up at 4 am to take care of the Knolltop show string wasn’t frustrating for this controlling mom….I’ll set you straight….it was about as tough for me as the first time I let someone else teach them their ABC’s.

    I know how difficult it is to leave the barn at night. Every step you take toward the door there is this imaginary magnet that keeps you there, people who want to visit, others who have a question, just one more hand of spoons or one last flake of hay to feed. An hour later you find yourself ten steps from where you originally decided it was time to leave for the night.

    For the kids each night got a little later until the night before the Junior show. Just settling in for the night the phone rang. It was JW informing me that they would’ve left earlier but I left the key on in the van and they were getting a jump! Guilt galore rushed over me as I thought to myself, I should be there…why did I let them do this themselves…they need their mommy!

    After an extremely long Junior show, they were so tired they could hardly see straight. Again, I came home to help with chores and left them to fend for themselves. The phone rang again at 9:45 pm. “Mom, did you take the keys to the van? We can’t find them anywhere?” Yes that same rush of guilt but more concentrated with a bit of alarm and a heaping spoonful of “I think I’ll hop in the truck and go to Lansing to save my children!” mixed in.

    My only other option was to pray they find the keys. I mean really, I didn’t want them spending the night in the cow barn and I know God didn’t either! So I knew I could count on Him to find those keys and He did!

    I’ve got lots more news and results and like I said, a contest, but for now I’ve got other things on the front burner that need my immediate attention!

  • Kansas Holstein Heritage

    Good Morning from a very busy Knolltop.

    We are headed to the show for the week, I’ll be back and forth so hopefully I’ll be able to post some news and pictures through the week.

    Did anyone know Kansas was so full of famous Holsteins? From the comment left by that famed Dallas Burton I learned a lot about Holstein heritage.

    I mean really, I know seven people from Kansas and I think that’s half the population. Of course I know all the really important people; three used cow salesmen, a couple of instructors at Kansas State, a rancher and a radio station manager.

    But I never knew Kansas would be such a draw for two editors of Holstein International to come all the way from Holland to roam the plains of Kansas appreciating rich Holstein history….with that hostess with the mostest, Dallas Burton.

    Wow…I guess Kansas is more than wheat, Flint Hills and NCAA basketball champions!

    More about our Dairy Days adventures later!

  • League Champs!

    That’s right…they won!

    Jake’s team beat Pittsford this morning to win the league championships! They were very excited to say the least. There were more parents taking pictures of them after the game than photographers at Princess Diana’s wedding! Well, that’s a slight exaggeration.

    They received medals, trophies and plaques. After the awards presentation we all went over to the coaches house for a team party. The cookout was great fun and the boys had a good time swimming in the pond.

    This evening Luke clipped Jake’s heifer while Jake and Sarah went to quiz bowl practice. Then Luke, Bobby and Jake unloaded straw while I visited with the neighbor. Now it’s time to crash, it’s been a very long day!