Good Morning from an overwhelmed, too many irons in the fire farmwife on the Knolltop.

It feels like Thursday today. I’ve got to write a story for the Agriview today and I don’t even have one of my interviews done yet. I’ve got to speak tomorrow at a luncheon and I don’t have a clue what I’m going to speak about…well I do…but I haven’t gotten it to where it needs to be the day before I speak. And the internet is slow!

Other than that…it’s a great day here! The sun is trying to peak through, the kids are all healthy, the cows are healthy and what else could a person want? Time….time…and more time.

Well, I don’t have more time…so I’ll let you know that Luke’s team won the two games they played yesterday…by a lot.

Now, I’ve got to head out to the barn…..later!

It’s another kind of clear morning here on the Knolltop, but this farmwife and mother is tired.

I think we’ve got it all backwards. We should have teenagers when we’re younger not older. Last evening the boys and their buddy decided to take in a movie. Again, I said, “That’s fine, as long as it honors Jesus.”

They took off and I didn’t think about them again until after I brought my two youngest home from an event at church. I put them to bed and then my mind started racing. I wonder what movie the boys picked. I wonder when it gets out. I wonder if they’re okay. I wonder if they’re getting hit by a drunk driver!

Okay…that was it…then I began to worry. How strange it is that my mind when from what movie they saw to them laying in a ditch dying. The mind is a very powerful thing.

So I called JW’s cell phone and got his voice mail. I told him, in a very stern voice, “CALL ME!” I didn’t tell him who it was….I don’t think I sounded like one of his little girlfriends though….so I’m sure he knew who it was.

With no response, I called and left another message and then took the phone and a blanket and camped out on the couch until I was awakened by a ring. It was JW and they had just gotten out of the movie and were on their way home. Whew!

I’m getting too old for this and I’m only on my first two teenagers. In less than 9 months I’ll have three teenagers. It would be better if I were 25 and had the stamina to stay up half the night. But then again, I don’t think it would be any better chasing after four toddlers at my age either. So, I guess God got this one right. 🙂

By the way…the movie they say they saw? “Horton Hears a Who.” I’m not sure I believe that one…I’ll get to the bottom of that today!

There is a beautiful sunrise coming up over the silos this morning on the Knolltop. It won’t be as warm, but the sun will shine today!

We actually had a quite evening last night here, no practices, no games…just popcorn and a movie. The boys wanted to rent a movie and since JW can drive and they have their own money, I said “Have at it! As long as it honors Jesus.”

I was quite proud of them, they came home with a football movie with no swearing or sex…I know, that’s a miracle in itself. The movie was called Invincible and it was very good. So all of us, but Jake, had a great time sitting in front of the fire, eating popcorn and caramel corn and watching football. Jake went to a friends house for the evening….he loves hanging with his friends….he’s all about the social aspects of life. I can’t blame him…I am too!

And it was a great day yesterday because my Spartans beat Ohio State in the Big 10 tournament. Yes, I know, I know, they should’ve beaten them last week, but they didn’t. It’s all water under the bridge. When they win the NCAA tournament in a couple of weeks, we won’t care who they lost to….just that they are champions!

It will be a busy day here on the Knolltop. Moving hay, cleaning up the yard and who knows what else. No basketball games today for Luke, all of his games this weekend are tomorrow afternoon.

Time for breakfast!

Good Sunny Morning from the springy Knolltop.

Okay, the heifer naming contest has a winner. But I have no prizes to offer…just a simple story.

Years ago while growing up, I had a great friend, Julie Robb. She and I were in 4-H together and then roomed in college together. I think I’ve written this all before, but I’m sure you’re like me….you’ve forgotten and so I will give you a refresher!

Julie grew up on a registered Holstein dairy just a few miles from me and she is the youngest of seven children. She and I spent a lot of time together at each other’s farm and just had and still do have a great friendship. But Julie’s dad, George, was a different story. In my eyes he was very intimidating. He mumbled and I had to really strain to understand him, his mumbling sounded mean and I was always afraid of him. We would sit at their big breakfast table and I would cringe everytime he spoke to me.

But for some reason I loved Julie’s life and I wanted it. I wanted to be the one on a Holstein dairy, I wanted to go to the Holstein meetings and be a part of the Michigan Junior Holstein Association. When Julie came back from the National Holstein Convention in Tennessee and told all about the fun they had, I was green with envy and wanted to be a part of it. But I had my own path, I had my own cows and my family had a different kind of dairy farm.

While George was into marketing his Holstein genetics and was deeply embedded in the black and white world, my dad was more worried about getting milk from cows, no matter what the color. Convincing him that we could take a show string to the state fair and not have them come back with mastitis and no milk was like convincing Pharoh to let the Israelites go. But with my mom’s help, we persuaded my dad to let us go and from them on, we went to every show we could….showing Ayrshires by the way.

Julie and I went to Michigan State and together we were in the Dairy Club and we did a lot together. But I was an animal science major and she was a food systems management major. When we left college, our lives took very different paths. I took a job as the editor of the Farmers’ Advance and she went to Disney World and was part of hotel management. I married a fitter, the kind of guy we both drooled over during our show days and she married an Irishman who is a chef. When I became co-owner of a registered Holstein dairy farm, she moved to Chicago and began working in computer programming. I had four kids and she had two.

Today I am now on the path that I thought she would be on and she is on a different one. I’m now an advisor to the Michigan Junior Holstein Association and my son is on the board. Last month I was elected to the Michigan Holstein Association and next month I will have my first article published in the Holstein International magazine.

What would George think if he were still with us? Would he continue to mumble in my direction making me cringe like a silly little girl? Would he wonder how an Ayrshire girl got so involved in a black and white world? Or would he just smile and give us that silly laugh saying, “See, I told you you’d go further with Holsteins instead of those Ayrshires.”

So in honor of my good friend Julie and her cow family of Rena, Rachel and Racquel, the crew at Knolltop Farm have officially named the newest heifer “Rachel.”

Thanks Julie!

Another spring like day promised here on the Knolltop! I just love this kind of weather…even if there is mud to contend with. It’s much different here than where I grew up. Here we’re on a hill and everything drains…back home is flat and wet…well it was until my dad got his fields tiled. But the driveway was always muddy. Even the milk truck dreaded our driveway in the spring.

Last night was sticking night. We got all the show heifers out and put a stick to ’em. That is Bobby’s coveted cow measuring stick that we gave him on his birthday a few years ago. He loves that stick….almost as much as he loves his cows.

Anyway…all I heard was grumbling from Luke about his heifer not being tall enough and that it’s not fair that JW’s heifer is taller and the heifer that we sold to the neighbor is the tallest one. Boy did he gripe! It was very funny. I tried to tell him that if someone buys a heifer from us, it’s a good thing if they have success. He just doesn’t want anyone else having success at his expense. Competitiveness is a good thing.

Time for chores.

Here’s another photo of the two best FFA members in the world with their proud mama! I’m not biased either! 🙂 The strange this is they actually smiled and it was very early that morning.

Good Morning from the sunny Knolltop. I’m excited because it’s actually going to be springlike the next couple of days. That’s something to get happy about!!!!!

I guess spring has sprung around here because every spring “Bud” decides to wander around the neighborhood every morning. While enjoying our blueberry pancakes and sausage this morning, we looked out and our neighbor was walking up the road with Bud in tow. Apparently he went to visit “Patty” the neighbor’s horse. I went out and took care of him, but I’m sure this won’t be the last time I have to deal with a wandering horse with the personality of a farmer who’s been stuck on his farm all winter.

So, I see from the comment section that I am not only self appointed as the official Burton-Fellers blogger…Dallas himself has put their success in my hands. That is very scary.

So here is the sale report of the Branson Sale, in case anyone cares about the minor detail of sale averages, gross sales and stuff like that. This is the sale report that I sent to Dallas…upon his begging of me to write it because he was sick. When I looked this morning on the Holstein World website to see if he used what I wrote, I find that he edited my report…….reminder: that is the last time I write anything for him. Mine was way better. HA!

Bringing elite Holstein genetics to Missouri made the 2008 Branson Limited Edition Sale one of the best sales in the business. Within seven short days, the Holstein industry witnessed two of the biggest sales of the year, if not in history; Butlerview and Branson adding investor spark to the already hot Holstein cattle business.

Last weekend, in the luxury resort location of the Big Cedar Lodge, Dallas Burton and Ed Fellers combined an enthusiastic crowd, a top cattle fitting crew and an unstoppable sales force and the results were the highest averaging Branson Sale ever. On 48 lots, the sale averaged $16,448 with a gross of $789,500.

Holstein investor, Robert Goldmann and long time friend of Dallas Burton took home the two top selling lots in the sale. The top seller at $81,000 was lot 5A, a January Baxter calf out of Ralma Goldwin Carmel consigned by R-Z Holsteins of Wisconsin. Goldmann also picked up lot 2 selling two months fresh, Ralma Shottle Dragonfly-ET for $60,000, consigned by Harvey Schoon of Minnesota.

Other highlights of the sale were lot 1, Regancrest G Beauty-ET, now Iowa bound purchased by Mark Butz for $40,000 and consigned by Debra West of Wisconsin. Mark also bought her first choice Ramos female for $13,000, consigned by David Jons of Kansas. Markwell Holsteins of Washington, spent $49,000 on a first choice MAS female out of Ralma Goldwyn Carmel.

Buyers from fourteen states were represented as the very active sales force of Scott Culbertson, Steve Berland, Ray LaBlonc, Bobby Griggs and Les Terpstra worked the phones before and during the sale. A sale like this doesn’t happen without generous consigners offering up the best in the breed for an expert sales staff to present quality cattle to eager buyers.

Good Monday morning fromt the overcast, 20 degree Knolltop!

It was a busy weekend here. On Friday night we watched Luke’s AAU team play basketball, they won one and lost one. Then on Saturday we had a “normal” day on the farm and then that evening Luke had two more games. They won both of those and it was another late night….and then the time change hit us and I’m still recovering.

Yesterday we went to church and then JW and I had a Michigan Junior Holstein Association meeting which was very productive. Those kids are a great group! We’re busy planning for our annual meeting on March 28th at our Michigan Spring Show in East Lansing and then we are also planning a trip to the National Holstein Convention at the Wisconsin Dells in June.

Now on to another week of life. JW starts baseball practice today and I think he was a little nervous. I can’t believe baseball season is here already…of course it could have something to do with snow on the ground.

Then over the weekend was the Branson Limited Edition sale by Burton and Fellers and since I’ve appointed myself as the official Burton-Fellers blog….yes, Ed and Dallas are officially worried now…they just don’t know how to take me…..I will have their sale results later….because absolutely everyone wants to know what happened at the Branson Limited Edition Sale. For example, everyone is dying to know what the high seller was, the low seller, what cow kicked over the potted flowers around the sale ring, if the auctioneer sounded good or if he had a cold, if the coffee and donuts were fresh that morning or did they go cheap and buy the day old donuts, did the sales force have matching outfits, which hat did Ed wear, you know, all the important stuff!

Better get to the barn.

Good Morning from a very windy and cold Knolltop. The wind is from the west and my kitchen is on the west side of the house….so you know today is a great day to bake something just to warm up the kitchen.

We arrived home from the great FFA convention and as expected we were extremely tired and faced a full afternoon ahead. Not only did we have our routine of supper and chores, but as JW headed out to work for a while for the neighbor and we headed to the barn to milk, Luke went to his basketball game. He had two games last night and we made it to the second one. We got back home at 11 pm….way too late for this dairy farming family!

Everyone is going full tilt again this morning. JW has already gone to do chores for the neighbor and is back now and he and Luke and Jake are moving some hay while Sarah and I clean up the house. Actually I just want to take a nap…but that won’t happen for a while. After chores tonight, we will go watch Luke play two more games of basketball. Although it’s late at night when we get home, it sure is fun to watch those boys play!

The FFA convention was great. I had a wonderful three days hanging out with the kids. Like I mentioned before, their enthusiasm is infectious. I just absolutely loved being with them all…every single one of them! The kids won several awards for public speaking, conduct of meetings, outstanding juniors, creed speaking and star chapter awards. They collected a lot of hardware!

As much as these kids were fun to be around, I think the hotel staff was glad to see every blue cordroy jacket leave the building. It’s not that they were bad, they were just kids being kids and having fun. But kids being kids having fun can be a little loud and disturbing for hotel guests that want a good night’s sleep.

This is Ella, she is one of my BFF’s and the mother of some of the most talented kids I know. She and I do 4-H together and our kids are in FFA, but different chapters…we just had the benefit of hanging out at the convention together. This is Sarah, Ella’s daughter who competed in the public speaking finals. She’s one smart cookie and has a lot on the ball. She does absolutely everything she can and does it well.Luke had the benefit of hanging out with some very pretty girls and took full advantage….well, not really. But he and Sarah (left) have been good friends for a long time and his very special friend is on the right.
The kid playing the fiddle is Matt, Ella’s son, Sarah’s brother and JW and Luke’s buddy. Matt is a boy who I love to pieces. In fact, I told Ella if anything ever happened to her, I wanted Matt! He is an extremely talented young man who plays several stringed instruments proficiently. He’s an amazing athlete as well and is very involved in 4-H too. He has a very competive nature which drives him to success in everything he attempts. Matt also has an opinion and isn’t afraid to share it and that’s another admirable trait. A teenage boy who is convicted is a very persuasive individual. Mark my words, Matt will go far in life…very, very far!

Good Morning from the home of my great Spartans…the place I called home for five years of my life…the place where I learned so much…oh and got a degree too….Michigan State!

We are on our last day here at the convention and it’s been a great trip. You just can’t beat hanging out with 2000 FFA kids. Their enthusiasm for life is infectious and they are so refreshing. Although I spent a lot of time keeping track of kids and going to bed late, I didn’t have to wake up at 3:30 am to milk cows, so really going to bed at midnight and waking up at 5 is not all that different.

Well, I don’t feel like I’m making sense and more coffee is calling me….along with several kids…..

Stay tuned for complete convention coverage…. after I recover!