14 degrees this morning. I put on my stocking cap making sure both ears are covered and then my gloves. Finally my boots.
Like any great explorer who rolls away the rock covering the caves entrance not certain what awaits him, I throw open my back door and venture into the great cold outdoors. My breath leads me as my dog Bella greets me. Her breath too leads her lickity split down to where the Lowlines are. She too seems to be invigorated by the cold air.
Ice covers the water trough but my boots easily crash through it. The mushy mud is frozen hard making it more difficult to walk. Everything is a rut which slows me down but not Bella. Her nose is close to the ground smelling for anything unusal. She circles back thinking she might have smelt something funny. She really gives a spot a complete smelling and then moves on. Might ...
posted by Ron Baron January 28, 2007 10:48 AM | permalink | comments(1) | General National Western Stock Show
I had never attended a major livestock show. So it was with some anticipation that I attended the 2007 National Western Stock Show held in Denver, Colorado... and it did not disappoint. Thousands of the best live stock animals in the US and other animals travel to Denver every year in January. Their owners happily make the trek come snow or high water... some have made the journey for many years.
Jim, Laurie his wife, my wife Nat, and I went primarily to see the Lowlines. Lowline ranchers from around the US brought their best animals to Denver to compete in the annual Lowline show and some came to sell their Lowlines at the annual auction. Some mighty fine Lowlines were exhibited and several of them were sold for some serious cash. The top Lowline heifer sold for $28,000.00 and several others selling for between 10 and 20,000 dollars.
I have no idea when boots were invented or how they became known as 'boots.' I can just imagine someone with a name like Claire von Bootshoff inventing them back in muddy Germany somewhere just as the last ice age was starting to thaw. Claire found some old leather his dog wasn't chewin on anymore and fashioned it around his ankle nearly up to his knee. He may have wrapped some string around the whole thing to keep them in place, we'll really never know.
Claire likely was in charge of milking the family cow. If you have ever stood around where cows stand, a muddy smelly mess is what you'll likely be standing in. And being so soon after the last ice age, it was probably particularly muddy in Claires' Germany. Enjoying his new found comfort wearing his new fangled boots, Claire likely milked his cow with unusual vigor. With milk splashing against the buckets bottom ...
Baron Cattle Company LLC raises registered Lowline Angus cattle and grass-fed Angus steers.
Lowline Angus cattle are small (or mini) cousins to full size Angus. They typically measure just 39 inches at the shoulders (an Angus typically measures 59 inches).
I had never attended a major livestock show. So it was with some anticipation that I attended the 2007 National Western Stock Show held in Denver, Colorado... and it did not disappoint. Thousands of the best live stock animals in the US and other animals travel to Denver every year in January. Their owners happily make the trek come snow or high water... some have made the journey for many years.