Star Lake '12 National Western Blog Report #5 (1/10/12)
Last night and today was move-in day for Hereford breeders as they setup their stalls on The Hill. Move-in only starts when someone else moves out. In our case it was dependent on the Red Angus cattle show being over. Move in/out is organized chaos - take a few hundred exhibitors; add a dozen loading doors and pickups with trailers full of tack, feed and equipment. Many get in line early and spend hours waiting for the process to begin. The first Hereford exhibitors started to unload at 10:30 pm and in most cases it is a 3 - 4 hour process to get unloaded and setup. The security folks try to keep everyone moving along but it is a process. Patience is a great virtue here as folks are lined up sometimes for hours to get to the doors. We waited until this morning to start the process (after the rush) and everything was complete by noon. Check-in processing of The Hill cattle is taking place as I type this; it is estimated that there will be 500 plus head of Hereford cattle on The Hill. The reported Hereford numbers in The Yards - 32 Pens of Bulls; 16 Pens of Heifers and 5 Carloads of Bulls.
Mostly sunny skies here today with temps near 60 degrees - that is all coming to an end as snow showers show up tomorrow with 1-2" of the white stuff with the highs in the mid 20's Brrrrrrr! Back to sunny and mid 30's on Thursday and 45 on Friday...we can handle that.
The move to The Hill has split up our crew with some doing duty in The Yards with the carload bulls and the balance preparing the females and show bulls for the Junior show and Open shows on The Hill. In 1905 the original Yards were started as the Denver Union Stockyards. Cattle were gathered here sorted and bought, then loaded and shipped by train. Many of those old pens still exist as built back then. The Hill is to the south and sits above the old Yards thus its highly original name.
Our on The Hill bulls are looking superb. We are as pleased with this group of herd sires as any we have brought. In answer to many email questions - yes Shock & Awe is here and he is looking the part. His son STAR Shock Wave 13Y ET is getting a lot of attention as well. He is an exceptional January 6, 2011 calf, out of Cara 112T. Shock Wave is owned with Moss Land & Cattle, DeLHawk Cattle Co and Shock Wave Group. We are very excited about this youngster's future and are offering semen share interests for sale.
A quick shout out to Tait and his 1st grade classmates at Brown County Elementary School. It seems their teacher Mrs. Royer is allowing them to follow our Blog and learn about agriculture and current events. We think it is great that you are following the happenings here and will try to bring some history into the write-ups as well. This is the 106th National Western Stock Show and it will run over the course of 16 days; over 650,000 people will attend and the estimated economic impact to the Denver metro area is over $100 million dollars. Too much info?
We also have heard from a 6th grade blog follower, Reid who indicated that if I answer his question he can use the blog and Denver updates for his Current Events project in Social Studies...Reid's question..."Why do you go all the way to Denver?" Well, Reid the National Western is the Super Bowl of all livestock shows- the Granddaddy of them all!! It has a tremendous history as detailed above and Herefords have been exhibited here since 1909. Also, the National Western is home to the world's only Carload and Pen Cattle Show in the historic Denver Union Stockyards. Star Lake has been honored to be awarded the National Western Stock Show Champion Hereford Carload trophy the past 12 (twelve) years in a row Reid, I hope this answers your question and it passes as homework!
Tonight is the Hereford Herdsman Social at 6 pm in the arena in the Yards. This event has grown over the years to be the primary fundraiser for the Herdsman Scholarship Fund. Over the past six years nearly $10,000 has been awarded in scholarships to deserving Hereford youth. The funds raised are based on free will donations made by those attending.
More profiles on our outstanding crew.....Talked this morning with Brad Prather, who with help from Justin Patrick is tending the cattle at the Ranch in Oklahoma. Brad reports it is nice there as well and number 38 of the 2012 calves was born this morning. The Shock & Awe babies as well as the Lock-N-Load babies are mighty fine. Since Montie, Rhonda & Max got to Denver last night; Karen is holding down the office and reports it nice & quiet! My Dad, Jim; wife, Debbie and son Jon arrive tomorrow as well as Kim Herman and Ashly Taylor. With Jon on site you can expect a lot more pictures and fewer words with the blog.
The cook is starting to see the end in sight...after lunch today of a build your own taco bar ( Taco Tuesday), tonight we are having Swiss Steak, Party Potatoes, Veggies in Cheese Sauce, Breadsticks and Apple & Cherry Turnovers with Blue Bell Ice Cream. Tomorrow we will enjoy scalloped potatoes and ham for lunch with our traditional Iowa Chop Dinner tomorrow night.
Until tomorrow's report....happy trails!
One of the big boys enjoying the sun before heading up to The Hill.
The Big Boys, Shock & Awe and Lock-N-Load getting pretty after their trip up The Hill
Making the beds for the cattle to lay on is a team effort
Here is Matt giving Shock & Awe his daily bath!
The heifers are resting on The Hill.
We want to take the opportunity to inform, educate, enlighten and encourage thoughts on topics that impact the technology and philosophy of Herefords and the cattle business.
