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!