Meeting Granger Smith

Throwback Thursday.

Yeah, we bought him a shot. This was the night we saw Dolly Shine for the first time, I thought we were being kidnapped at one point, and Ali asked us what dirt was.

The Wormy Dog was a good time.

Happy Thursday,

The Bos Lady

Judging Days

Throwback Thursday to the best meat judging team. Sometimes, I wish I had a longer judging career.

Then again, maybe one year was enough. 

Three of these folks are now coaches. Five of us have/ are working on M.S. degrees. 

The other is busy planning a wedding and starting her family like a real adult.

#MJT11

Vinyl is the New Black

Ok, call me a hipster... but I bought a record player two weeks ago. Having spent time with a friend and her turn table the day before, it was on my mind to get my own. Especially because so many of my favorite artists are putting their albums on vinyl. For once, I feel like I'm on par with a trend. 

You can pick up a turn table at almost any antique store. I got my for $35 from an old lady in Scott City, Kansas that wanted it gone so she didn't have to move it. It's one of those dresser type players with a 8-track player and AM/FM radio. In the words of my mother - BAM. 

I'll keep adding to this list of artists with vinyl records available:

William Clark Green - Rose Queen
Turnpike Troubadours - Goodbye Normal Street
Jason Eady - AM Country Heaven
Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer, Different Park


The Bos Lady

Aftermath - William Clark Green

He won song of the year for "She Likes the Beatles", co-written with Brian Keane. If you're not listening to WCG, you're not living. He is on FIRE with hit after hit on the radio charts these days. I saw him live for the 5th or 6th time in ONE YEAR last night.







He played the title track from his new album coming out next year. Give it a listen and then pick your jaw up off the floor. He played for Rita and Raines (once again, if you're not streaming KOKE FM, you're not living) and gave the background to the song.

William Clark Green - "Ringling Road"

WCG is a favorite because he channels his rock 'n roll and story telling into a unique sound that doesn't have/need a genre. It's dark and mysterious enough for your own interpretation, but if you listen to him enough, you'll see thats just how he is. I cant decide if his voice is scarily sexy or sexily scary. The raspy-ness is hot, and thats that. His writing skills are undeniable, even if you can't relate to the drugs, alcohol, and women. In the words of Wade Bowen, try not to listen. Also, his new lead guitarist is show-stopping. If you have the chance to see them play, do it. These guys rock out and get loud.

My latest! Be jealous. #WishingWell

Rose Queen is a must have album for any music junkie. I can't wait for Freak Show Friday Night to come out. 

The Bos Lady

A Guide to Fecal Scoring

Nutritional value of your forage can be determined by scoring fecal samples. By assigning a score of 1-4 to random fresh cow pies, with 1 being the runniest and 4 being hard and stacked, a producer can estimate quality and use these scores as an aid for determining supplementation rates.

According to the Virginia Tech Dept. of Dairy Science, fecal scores are defined and described as:

1 = runny; liquid consistency, splatters on impact, spreads readily

2 = loose; may pile slightly and spreads and splatter moderately on impact and settling

3 = soft; firm but not hard, piles but spreads slightly on impact and settling

4 = dry; hard, dry appearance, original form not distorted on impact and settling

Stallings, 1998

This is a great example of 1. The cow is not ill or stressed and has not had a change of condition, feed, water, or other change. From this pile, we can tell that her diet is VERY high in protein. Supplementation is not needed. If it is summer time, high protein and energy is probably not your problem (if it is, thats a good problem to have!). Watered down and runny manure piles could indicate high water intake due to heat stress. Also, if you're on a wheat pasture, you're going to have painted butts. Wheat has a very high water content, its only about 20% dry matter. So, if the cow needs 20 lbs of dry matter a day, she would have to eat 100 lbs of feed a day to meet her nutrient requirements. WOW! And she's going to drink about 8-10 gallons of water a day? That's 180 lbs of feed and water per day. A rumen of an adult cow can hold between 30-60 gallons of feed. 

This pile is a perfect 2. The protein and fiber ratio is balanced and there should be no need for supplementation. 

This is a 3. Here is what I mean when I talk about "stacking". Fiber is high where as energy and protein are low. Meaning? You have low quality forage out there. At first sign of piles like this, you should begin supplementing soon as to not cause nutritional stress on your cattle.

Here is a 4. As you can see, the impaction structure is not distorted when the pile hits the ground.

Your cattle are protein deficient.

Using this guide to scoring the fecal piles of your herd can be useful tool to determine a proper supplementation rate that is specific to your region. Neighboring pastures or herds may have different needs due to physiological phase of the herd or the forage availability. For fun, you can score the following piles in the comment section below.

Happy ruminating,

The Bos Lady

A) Score this pile.

B) Score this pile.

C) Score this pile.

"My Texas" Bucket List

"My Texas" 

Josh Abbott featuring Pat Green

Climb up to Enchanted Rock

Drink a cold Shiner down in Luckenbach

Taken your baby to the River Walk - CHECK

Float down the 'Ol Frio

Heard Red Dirt music on my radio - CHECK

Eaten Cooper's down in Llano

Been to the Houston rodeo - CHECK 

Sang "Carry On" at a Pat Green show - CHECK

Badlands
Best radio station!

If you ain't seen an Abilene sunset

Caught a trout down in Port A

Heard the words to Corpus Christi Bay - CHECK

Never seen fireworks on PK

Had a kolache when you go through West

Never heard of the Larry Jo Taylor fest - CHECK

Think polished pop country crap sounds the best - Heck no= CHECK

Been to the Ft. Worth stock show - CHECK

Sang along with Cory Morrow

Seen a hill country sunset - CHECK

Hiked through Big Bend

Had my hair blown back by a Lubbock wind - CHECK

VIP at the SA Rodeo!

Been somewhere where they call you "friend" - CHECK

You haven't been to the San Antone Rodeo - CHECK

Sang "Everclear" at a Creager show

If you ain't seen an El Paso sunset - CHECK

I'll be updating this with more photos as I go!

Circle S Gelbvieh Sale

I'm saddened to have to miss the Circle S Gelbvieh sale this year. Here are a few photos from last year's sale. I love the Shearer family just as much as my own family. I hope this year's sale is the best yet!

For those interested, its held on the first Saturday of April each year. 

Thats this coming Saturday, April 5th at the feedlot in Canton, Kansas.

The ring is ready!

Breakfast for these pretty ladies. 

I'm known for sneaking out to talk to the calves...

Hey there, cutie!

The bestie, Miss Kaycie, doing her thang.

Of course Clay came to touch up Kaycie's work.

Everyone is ready!

You can check out Circle S Gelbvieh on Facebook. Second Nature always puts on a great show at the after party!

Happy Ruminating,

The Bos Lady

Lazy E

Throwback Thursday. At the time, I had one beautiful friend interning at the Lazy E ranch in Guthrie, OK. Now, I have two there! The Lazy E is a world class development and training center for horses.

It was too cool to visit this legendary training center.

Happy Ruminating,

The Bos Lady

Cattlemen to Cattlemen

If you were watching "Cattlemen to Cattlemen" on RFD-TV last night, you might have seen a familiar face.

I was on TV! Ok, only for a few seconds. I know my fellow young producers can relate to what I had to say about attending the Cattle Industry Convention and the NCBA Tradeshow. 

Follow the link below, go the the February 11th episode, and select the "Follow Me to Sweet Ole Tennessee" segment.

Cattlemen to Cattlemen

I am proud member of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

Happy Wednesday,

The Bos Lady

Wordless Wednesday - NCBA Then and Now

I went to NCBA back when I was a sophomore in college with Kansas State Collegiate Cattlewomen. In 2011, it was held in Denver, Colorado. It was one of the best experiences of my life. We learned so much and had a fun time to boot! We toured the Denver Bronco's stadium, cut a rug down at the Grizzly Rose, and of course, educated ourselves on the pressing issues facing the cattle industry.

Now I'm back and so are the girls I went with way back when. It was held in Nashville, Tennessee this year. We are grad students and working in the industry. And, we still know how to have a good time.

Unfortunately, I didn't get photos with all of them. But, here are some cool comparisons of the years.

Oh how fast life changes! Cheers to growing up!

Seeing him again in 2014.

Meeting Baxter Black in 2011.

Now, Candace is an
Associate Producer for
Cattlemen to Cattlemen on RFD-TV!

Candace and I meeting Larry the
Cable Guy in 2011.

Not familiar with NCBA? Check out their website here. Also, be sure to watch my interview with Candace on RFD-TV on February 18th. (I was so nervous!)

Stay warm!

The Bos Lady

Patrick and I also did a little bit of touring while in Nashville.
Definitely Cashville.

Snow As a Water Source

Frozen Tanks? No Tanks? "Snow" Problem.

Yes, it's true. Cows eat snow. 

As do deer, goats, and sheep.

More than a foot of snow in Robin's part
of Indiana! Check out her blog:
Bring It On Home

So, that back pasture that you don't ever use because there isn't a creek, a pond, or a trough and you HATE hauling water... you need to put that into your rotational grazing plan for wintering your cows.

I met a gentlemen from Oregon at NCBA and we briefly discussed this. He said that his cattle learned "real fast" to eat the snow.

Many producers are surprised to discover the rapid adaptability of cattle to eating snow.

One study suggests that it takes roughly 2 days (35 hrs in their experiment) for cattle to take to eating snow. (Young and Degen, 1980)

After the initial switch, they observed that the cattle had no problem switching back and forth from liquid water to snow. In fact, they go on to state that the second animal started eating the snow half an hour after the first.  (Young and Degen, 1980) So, what this strongly suggests is that:

 "You can truck water to a cow and she will drink for a day. 

Teach her to eat snow and she'll never go thirsty."

My caution: Now, if we consider how cattle eat, we know they use their tongues in a swooping motion to wrap around grass. They gulp to drink. Thus, they prefer powdered, fresh snow. Don't expect a cow to bite into a hardened pile of snow. It will tear up her dental pad (no upper front teeth!) and make her bleed and sore. She will most likely have too sore of a mouth after that to eat snow or feed. OUCH!

Deer, sheep, and goats are different. They don't use their tongues like cattle. They use a biting motion to grasp their food. But, think about the wild deer and sheep that live in valleys, on mountain sides, and other hard to reach places. They adapt to eating snow as well.

Utilizing mother nature to save you time, money, and other valuable resources can be a great addition to your grazing rotation. Sending cattle off to those back pastures that have small tanks that freeze easily or have no water at all isn't a half bad idea.

Don't break your back breaking ice or trucking water. It really does work! Share your experience using snow in the comment section below.

Stay warm out there,

The Bos Lady

Cited: Young, B.A. and A.A. Degan. 1980. Ingestion of snow by cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 51:811-815.

Ranchers Don't Wear Crowns

Ranchers Don’t Wear Crowns

by Sarah Jane Abatti

Ranchers don’t wear crowns.

They have collections of expensive boots and free hats.

They have a good dog and far too many barn cats.

But, ranchers just don’t wear crowns.

Ranchers don’t have thrones.

They pitch hay and truck feed to mama cows.

They use a brand new tractor to pull granddad’s plow.

But, ranchers just don’t have thrones.

Ranchers don’t live in castles.

They live on the back forty, by creeks and rusty fence lines.

They’re from the Flint Hills of Kansas and the East Texas pines.

But, ranchers just don’t live in castles.

Ranchers don’t have castles, or thrones, or crowns.

Kings and queens of the prairie, wearing blue jeans, not gowns.

Royalty of the mountains, the grasslands, and the plains.

They don’t do it for the fortune. They aren’t in it for the fame.

With cows and grass, they turn water to wine.

They grow the food that feeds families like yours and like mine.

Although they deserve a curtsy or a bow, I’m sure a handshake will do.

Not a crown, nor a throne. Not even a castle. Just a simple, “Thank You”.

Sean McConnell. Again.

Throwback Thursday.
I just have to add on to Jim's post about Sean. 

So, here's that one time I met SEAN MCCONNELL... *girlish squeals*

He's so cute and very, very sweet.

My favorite song is probably "Our Love and Our Souls". I was sad that he didn't perform it that night.

"Do you take a lot of selfies?"
The merch guy was giving me a hard time.

Music Monday - A guest post from Jim Latoski

Jim Latoski is a UNL alum and the former livestock judging coach at Colby Community College in Kansas. Now-a-days, you can find him managing his family's ranch near Wray, Colorado. Jim and I became fast friends on Twitter through the close knit agriculture community. We share a love for cattle and GOOD music. Hopefully, we will be able to meet in in real life sometime soon. A while back, I asked him if he would mind sharing about one of his passions. Here it is and I couldn't be more excited about the first guest post on my blog! Follow him on twitter: @judgingcoach



This is my first attempt at blogging, so please bear with me. When Sarah asked me to do a guest blog for her on music, I was both excited and nervous at the same time. I’ve always had a passion for music and through twitter; I’ve been able to expand my musical horizons, while meeting a great number of people who share similar interests. Through these connections, people have begun asking for recommendations for different artists and songs that I think they would like. Let me preface that by saying that I come from a very limited musical background. However, I have developed a great love and appreciation for all things music related and if you were to look at my collection, it would range from Jim Brickman and Casting Crowns to Jerry Jeff Walker and Metallica along with George Strait and The Beatles. I’m sure there are songs that I like that other people won’t but that’s the beauty of an industry that provides so many options.

The hard part of this guest blog is figuring out exactly where to start: Which artist? What albums? How detailed? I have decided that since this is my first time, it’s going to be much easier to write about someone whose music speaks to me. So this first blog post will be about one of my favorite singer/songwriters in the business: Sean McConnell. 

Sean is a man who has begun to receive acclaim as a songwriter. He has written songs released by artists such as: MeatLoaf (Blue Sky and Another Day w/Wade Bowen), Tim McGraw (Mr. Whoever You Are) Rascal Flatts (Come Wake Me Up), Brantley Gilbert (Lie Baby Lie), the Randy Rogers Band (In My Arms Instead and Interstate), Wade Bowen (Somewhere Beautiful) and many others. He says in an interview with Galleywinter; “The story is what makes the song. The rest is just support.” From the very first song on his first album to his last song on his newest album, I feel this is something that Sean strives to maintain and is a major reason that I’ve become partial to his music.

I will start with a few thoughts on his first album, the 2004 release “200 Orange St”. This album may be my favorite. The raw vocals and production of this album draw me in every time. “If These Walls Could Speak” begins this album and sucks you in immediately. It’s my favorite song on the album and tells the story of the original home and neighborhood he grew up in and the impact it had on his life. He then keeps you pulled in with great ballads such as “Without You”, where he tells of bittersweet romance that was lost along the way. “Madly in Love with You” is a song about the Lord and his never ending and undying love for us, always reminding us to keep the faith.  “Heaven's Doors” is a beautifully written, personal song that speaks of his faith and relationship with not only the Lord but his own father as well.  If you haven’t figured out by now, I think this is an outstanding album from top to bottom.  It is not often that I find an album in which I love the majority of the songs, but that’s what “200 Orange St” provides.  

His newest album “Midland” shows a growth in not only his songwriting but also in the production of his music as well. Along the lines of his first album, this is one that I find myself listening to from front to back and top to bottom without skipping a song. The title track “Midland” leads of this album and is another beautifully written tune about a young woman’s life in small town America and the struggles that entails. “Novacaine” is my personal favorite off this album. It’s much more of an upbeat and rocking tune about how a woman’s love takes away all of the days pain and sorrow. “I Didn’t Want to Love You Anwyay” is another deeply passionate and soulful ballad that tells the story about a love that didn’t work out and the inability to move on. “Old Brown Shoes” is a completely different tune that what I’m used to hearing from him. Yet, I find myself wrapped up in the story it tells of losing a family member and the grief that comes with it. It may be the best written song on the album. This album is so unique, in that it shows the depth and diversity of Sean’s songwriting abilities. There are not two songs on this album that sound similar to me and that is extremely impressive by today’s music industry standards.

Although, I’ve only reviewed two of his albums, I hope you have found some value in them and will take the time to listen to him and pick out a few favorites of your own. Hopefully, I will find the time to do a few more of these in the future. Thank you all for taking the time to read this. You can find me on twitter: @judgingcoach. God bless.

Thank you, Jim, for your guest post. I love that you picked one my favorite artists.

Can't wait to rope you into doing another post in the future.