Political Commentary – Page 8 – Educated Cowpuncher

Puppies

Everyone loves puppies! But not everyone understands or knows all the work that is involved in raising a litter of pups. I own ABCA registered Border Collies, use them on almost a daily basis with my goats and occasionally on cattle. I’ve had Border Collies since about 2008 and I am raising the third generation of pups since Miss Allie was given to me those many years ago. Some folks would say I am terrible for raising pups when so many dogs are in need of rescue, well I cannot depend on a dog that is in a rescue to be a working dog for me as there may be issues that suddenly pop up that make it a bad choice for the work I do. In other words, I want to know EXACTLY where that dog came from so I know what to expect from that dog and the best way to do that is raise a litter.

I don’t raise a litter every year, I only raise a litter when there is a need for another working dog. I carefully select a sire that will compliment or move my training abilities to a higher level, or move to a more or less aggressive bloodline. Then breeding arrangements are made and the wait begins. It isn’t long but when your best dog is at the breeder and you don’t have a reliable other dog, life can get stressful. Then when the pups arrive, a different stress level begins. Cleaning up after the birth, cleaning the linen and bedding on an almost daily basis for the first three weeks, then introducing food and puddle pads and the hourly cleaning. To top it off, you need to start looking for homes for the pups you aren’t keeping. The interview with potential owners, finding out their work operations, checking references, vet visits. You lose a lot of sleep.

On top of all that busy stuff, you need to socialize the puppies with daily handling and play. When the puppies wake up at 11 PM for a rowdy play time, you need to be prepared for accidents or puppies ganging up on each other. I’ve fallen asleep only to be abruptly awakened by sharp teeth in my big toe or nose. They don’t like quiet toys, they have to have plastic containers, dog food pans and the bark, growl and whine. Yes, they are puppies and yes they are so darn cute but after 11 weeks of dealing with the puppies, sometimes you get tired of the nonsense. Sometimes you get tired of their tricks or sneaky moves that allow them to escape their room and run down the hall to the other bedrooms or kitchen and promptly pee all over the floor. Mopping floors at 2 AM is not the easiest when you’ve picked up the poo and it is smeared all over and the puppies think the mop is a tug-of-war toy. Have you heard of hanging tree dogs? They are aggressive cattle dogs and have a great bite, well I have hanging mop pups, they hang from the end of my raised mop until they are 4 to 12 inches off the floor. I’m tempted to put them in the bucket with the mop but I don’t.

Possum on the left and Wren on the right.

Big Jim with his blue eye. He is handsome and when he finally grows into his body, he will be a powerhouse.

I still have 4 of the 8 pups in this litter. Three are to go to other homes and I am keeping the runt who is no longer a runt but a sweet pup of what I think is superior intelligence, who will be my first trial dog. The only male from the litter is so pretty, with one blue eye and a white face and mottled ears. Then there is Possum, she looks like a possum to me, if you look at her face and white on her nose and that almost completely white tail. Wren will be leaving this weekend, to go to Texas, and I will be glad to see that one go. She is mean, she is aggressive and she bites! That is what a good working border collie should be like on livestock, not the other pups. So, after this weekend, I hope the crazy calms down a bit.

The weather hasn’t been good to me on this litter and they have spent most of their lives inside, unlike other litters of pups but they are tearing it up outside and the male had to have a bath after today’s venture outside. They are a lot of work and are fun to play with and watch develop their personalities. I can’t wait to see how they all turn out when they are fully trained and working. That is what I am after, that finished product, a working dog that can give me hopefully ten good years of work and maybe in this litter of 8 there might be one champion trial dog if I am lucky.

Those of us who use dogs with livestock and breed an occasional litter are not only raising dogs for themselves, they are improving the breed and ensuring the breed continues as one of the best working dog breeds. For now, I can dream about Jewel, the pup I am keeping. Will she be as great as her Aunt Jinx? Time will tell but for now, there is a whole world out there for these pups to conquer.

Jewel, the runt that caught up and is smart as a whip and perhaps a little too smart for her own good.

Friday Morning Ponderings of Bunny

My morning didn’t start out very good. I took the pups outside to do their ‘thing’ and I heard that goat scream that I hate to hear. It wasn’t that scream of a goat stuck in the fence, it was the death scream. It is a dull goat call that anyone in the goat industry for any length of time knows well, like a lethargic “help”. It is the call of death, the last desperate sounds of a goat that has exhausted all energy and can only use its voice to announce it will soon be dead.

I went into the house, grabbed my .22 pistol and walked out to the pen, where Bunny was, the hospital pen, a pen inside of the big pen, close to her friends but away from any aggressive goats. She had shown great improvement over the past week and I thought she was going to turn around. She had been sick in the fall with a pneumonia, then the worms took advantage of her weak system. it doesn’t take long for worms to take an animal down and with a weak system, it is a faster nose-dive. Bunny recovered enough last fall to make it through most of the worst part of winter. But this past week with temperatures up and down along with her system recovering, she was stable but anemic and in spite of all my efforts to help her build back her blood count, my efforts became obviously futile. I did try though. That is all any livestock producer can do. But it was clear to me that Bunny was suffering this morning and I dispatched her to the grazing pastures beyond. She was instantly out of pain.

Many would ask why I let Bunny live so long, if I knew she was going to die. I had hopes of her recovering. Why did I have that hope? Because I have brought animals back from similar situations on countless occasions in the past and that is what I do as a livestock producer. It takes a lot of time and effort caring for sick livestock, yet all across the country and world, livestock producers are doing what I did, caring for an animal that had little or no hope of recovering, just because it is what we do. We hope that the animal will recover, always knowing that the odds are against it, many would say a waste of time. Is it? Perhaps in a person’s mind that has no toleration for animals. But for those of us who have spent our lives caring for these animals, it is what we do, because they are our income, our lives. These animals are part of who we are and we will spend a whole night in a barn, holding a three-day old stud colt that we have dreamed of for years, as it slowly gasps for breath as it dies from an illness that has no cure. Or we sleep with a newborn goat on our chest with a heating pad to warm it up, so it can suck from a bottle. Or fight to pull a calf from a cow that is going to die, hoping beyond hope that we can get the calf pulled before it is oxygen deprived.

Yet we in in animal agriculture are constantly under attack by animal rights terrorists (ART), who say we are cruel, abusive and taking advantage of animals. They make claims we torture animals. I have never in my life witnessed a person in animal agriculture, torturing an animal. I’ve seen cowboys and ranchers protect themselves from livestock attacks but never seen torture as claims by those ART’s. I’ve witnessed animal agriculturalists cry as their livestock goes to market. I’ve seen them cry when they lose a favored animal. And, yes, I shed a tear for Bunny.

Bunny was so named because as a baby, her ears were almost straight up like a rabbit’s ears and of course as she bounced and played around the pen, it was easy to find her upright ears. Bunny had accidentally gotten bred before she was a year old and she gave birth to Pippin, her mini me only male version of herself, except for the ears. Pippin and Bunny for over a year and a half were inseparable and you could say Bunny was a helicopter mom, always screaming for Pippin when he was out of sight. I had held off breeding her again until she was three, which would have meant this fall I would have bred her for the first time since Pippin was born. Now I only have memories of her. She will be missed, along with all the other animals on my weed & brush control crew that have passed ( In 2022 I lost Monkee & Brat, who died of old age, both were 14 and I also lost my beloved Jinx, 11 1/2 yr old border collie last year.). Another animal will take Bunny’s place but she will always be a memory in my heart and mind.

Stick that up your back side animal rights extremists!

Bunny & Pippin as a baby.

The House of Cards is Falling

Classified documents in Biden’s Penn State office, now there are documents in the garage at Biden’s home. How much more will the PEOPLE put up with? AND are these documents there by chance or is something much more interesting happening? Let’s take a look.

So the FBI raided Mara Largo in an attempt to destroy Trump, but he had the authority to declassify any document he wanted. BUT a vice president doesn’t have that authority, yet we find that not only were the classified documents found in a closet at Joe Biden’s Penn State office but China had financed quite a bit of money for that building and somehow Joe Biden ended up with some of that money? HMMM.

The announcement about the documents at Penn State was held off until now but the documents were discovered DAYS BEFORE the mid-term elections. Sounds Deep State to me. But then we find out more recently that more documents were found at Biden’s home and in the garage no less! Stored in an unsecure garage!

According to Joe Biden, he had no clue about the classified documents which could well be the truth with his current mental status in question. However, Hunter Biden was renting that home for $50,000 a month!?! With Hunter’s previous behavior there is no telling who or what had access to those documents. Yet the Lamestream media is saying that this isn’t as big a deal as the Trump documents. WHAT THE HECK? These are TWO very different situations and require different responses for sure.

Now let’s just look at things at a different angle. Let’s say that Biden had no real knowledge of the papers. Let’s say that the DemocRAT party knows Biden has lost credibility and it is time to dispose of Biden. Could these papers be planted? If they were, it would be a way to clean the slate of Biden and move away from his disaster. Biden is not of sound mind and they could impeach and remove him from office and continue on. However, those surrounding Biden would unfortunately go untouched as well when they are actually the ones really running the show. They should be held accountable as well.

It is just a matter of time before the house of cards falls. It will be interesting to see how the House Republicans play their cards.

The Tables Are Turned

So the Democrats have been after Trump for having documents at his Mara Largo estate. They have gone so far as to demand he be executed for this ‘crime’, yet according to law, a President has the authority to de-classify any documents he wants. Trump has been attacked over and over again over this situation and one thing we must note that these documents were secured (keep this in mind).

NOW documents have been found that Joe Biden had classified documents in a closed in an unsecure building and to go further, that building had financial ties to CHINA! Biden supposedly used that building after he served as Vice President. A vice president has NO AUTHORITY to de-classify ANY documents. To make matters worse, a second trove of classified documents have been found that Biden’s people had.

If democRATS cannot understand that these two situations are totally different although similar. Presidents HAVE authority, Vice presidents do NOT have authority to de-classify. Of course the democRATS aren’t smart enough to understand the difference in what VICE means. Yes, Biden is president now but to have those documents for so long and exposing them to possible theft in unsecure situation IS a crime. When will the PEOPLE demand justice? IF Biden is not impeached for this, it is a crime. If the GOP doesn’t push for some type of justice for the people then we may as well start over with a new government and get rid of them all. Which is probably not a bad idea.

DemocRATS WILL do everything in their power to sweep this under the table so I am going to make sure that people are reminded of it. In fact, I would like for everyone who follows me to help me compile a list of ILLEGAL activities Biden has partaken in and we will keep them listed. I do know that HUNTER BIDEN is one big fiasco against his daddy that his involvement in China and Ukraine is enough to have Biden removed from office.

Look out democRATS the Tables are turned!

Just Another Fiasco

The vote for Speaker of the House of Representatives is ongoing at this point. So far, Kevin McCarthy of California thinks he should have the seat. Evidently others do not think the same way. In fact, I would venture to say that no one is going to be happy with this outcome. But we are seeing some things that are quite revealing.

As this soap opera plays out we are seeing the further deterioration of the GOP and we are seeing who has bought into the game and who are trying to change things. Will there be a positive come out of this? NOPE. It will not matter who the speaker is because the People are the end losers in any and all political games at this point. We can see who is tied to the swamp and it is disappointing to say the least.

Other names have come up and in fact, the Speaker does NOT have to be a member of the House of Representatives, it could be someone not even elected to office. In that case, I would really like to nominate Mark R. Levin, the radio host who is also a Constitutional Lawyer and who worked under Ed Meese during the Reagan Administration. I am sure he wouldn’t take it but it is a thought.

Representative Lauren Boebert has suggested on Hannity that she would at some point nominate former President Donald Trump. THIS would be the ultimate slam against the Democrats and the Swamp if by some miracle we could get this to happen. Then watch the Biden Administration’s green agenda, economic agenda and general destroy America agenda come to a screeching halt. But alas, that is a pipedream.

We are witnessing what corruption and takeover of a government looks like and until the People decide they have had enough, this bull feces will continue. That is all.

It’s 2023!

Welcome to 2023, the year is barely started and already the GOP in Washington DC is proving to be a bunch of horse hockey. The voting for Speaker of the House is going to be the downfall of the Republican Party if they don’t get their act together. Of course we already know that the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell is prepared to sell The People out every step of the way. I guess he and President Joe “I’mma Pedophile” Biden are in Tennessee talking up the Omnibus (Bend Over and Take it People) Spending Bill. I have no use for McConnell and the only ideas I have for Biden is praying that the Lord calls him home(which ever home he is destine for) SOONER than later.

The Kansas GOP also needs shaking up and if the People don’t start doing something NOW, we are doomed to have a democrat governor forever. The GOP in Kansas needs to open the door to the little guy who wants to make a change and a difference step up and run for office instead of ignoring them because they can’t be trained to speak GOP gobbledygook to hide truth and what is really happening behind the scenes. Don’t get me wrong, there are some good Kansas Republicans serving but the ones in chairmanships are the ones who are pulling the stings and they aren’t always looking out for the little guy but rather listening to lobbyists from Farm Bureau and some of the other special interest groups.

Kansas needs to address some important Federal Government overreach mandates to protect the land owners of Kansas, particularly the 30×30 (Executive Order #14008 that puts 30% of land & water in control of the Feds by 2030) and the Waterways issue that was shot down but was sneaked back in by Biden’s puppet masters. We also need to stop the windmill farms and solar farms from ruining the land because they are not sustainable.

I look to the future and know that there are People who are willing to step up and let their voices be heard and help educate the masses as to what is happening in Topeka and Washington DC. Let’s take control of our great country and stop the bad and grow the good! Happy 2023 God bless YOU and God Bless America Again!

The Kansas GOP Needs to Change

It is time for the Kansas GOP to change its people and its way of operations. The way things are going now is totally against the Will of the People. They set us up for failure in the last election with the Governor candidate, Derek Schmidt. While I did vote for Derek in the election, there were two things that caused him to lose, 1) the independent candidate who was a Republican, 2) Derek was just a 2.0 version of another Brownback or GOP RINO. The Republican party makes their own decisions on who they want to be Governor and who we send to Washington DC by hand picking candidates before they give the People the chance to look at all their options. In fact, I will go so far as to make the claim that they refuse to allow the little guys to even attempt to run for office.

I for one have attempted to contact the GOP to let them know that I would love to serve the People in an elected office but never got a reply via email or phone call. That is proof enough to me that they don’t want the everyday worker to run because they aren’t as trainable and controllable as those they choose. So, what are we to do?

There are several things we can do to get the KS GOP’s attention and one is to REFUSE to support them. Don’t sent any contributions, starve them financially. The second is to organize another organization that will over power the current mess, albeit it cold prove challenging. Third, get active and send letters demanding that the same old games be stopped and let more people with true leadership abilities be allowed and supported to run for office.

If YOU don’t fight back, there is no way will will ever have another Republican governor!

Changes

At this time of the year people start to look back over the past year and see the good and bad of their lives. I can’t say that 2022 has been a good year. I can say that some changes are taking place, for good or bad is yet to be seen. As far as the political scene goes, nothing has improved, the Biden Administration is still dead set on ruining this great country in every area they can, not only from the economic stand point by shutting down oil production with their “New Green Deal” but by also stifling growth by taxation and by using unfair racial tactics, sexual tactics and any type of deviancy they can. But change is coming and when it does come, the Left will be so shocked that they will not know where to hide or how fast to get out of the way. But of course this all depends upon the new House that is to be sworn in at the beginning of 2023.

We still aren’t out of the woods with the Land grab issues, in fact, it is getting pretty bad as we find out more and more ways they have infiltrated agriculture and other areas of the country. But the people are finding out and are pushing their elected officials to fight back and those officials know that if they don’t do the People’s Will, they will be short lived in politics.

Changes are coming here at home as well as I transition into a different income field. I have started training working dogs and will limit my travel with the goats as my mom ages and requires me to be home more. I am hoping that the folks I spoke with last fall about getting into weed & brush control with goats are still wanting to enter the industry, to help me.

Sometimes change can be good and other times bad. Change just to change is sometimes problematic. Who knows what will happen. I do hope to be able to spend more time writing in the near future as I have slowed down with this blog. Let’s look forward to 2023 as a year of positive change and see where we end up.

PS My dog Fly had a litter of puppies in November and I am posting videos and photos on my Barnyard Weed Warrior Facebook page. Check out the fun as puppies do make life sweeter.

Not The Best Year

2022 has not been the best of years for me, having lost a dear friend who was a mentor, encourager and icon, and my best working dog unexpectedly dying as well. Then there were family health issues to address, leaving my business to suffer. I can never forget the time Queen Elizabeth II spoke of the year for her that was one disaster after another and stating that one of her more sympathetic correspondents had dubbed the year an annus horribilis, or rather ‘horrible year’.

This year I was hoping to have more influence in State politics but due to life, I was struck silent for the most part and my heart while mourning loss could not find the fire needed to continue writing with meaning. But, like many writers who have a period of ‘writer’s block’, I seem to have gotten a second breath or like a phoenix, from the ashes that still smoldered beneath the rubble, a slight shift in wind has brought back a small ember. It could also be that the litter of puppies that my young border collie, Miss Fly just had has brought some adventure back into my life that has jumpstarted my creativity. What ever it is there are some things that are clear that need to be addressed.

The People of Kansas need to be more educated when it comes to Politics on all levels and stop relying on the local television stations and left leaning propogandist. The same could be said by the left against the right. The Truth is, neither the DNC or GOP want the People to use their voices, they want to keep them as blinded by the Truth as possible, it is their plan all along. We have a House of Lords and Ladies and not a Congress, unless you realize that a group of apes is called a congress. They are monkeying around with our freedom and we have to stop it. The excuse is “we can’t do anything” is not an excuse it is surrender! This thinking needs to stop!

No one can keep track of everything going on in politics right now or at any time, you need to have a group of trusted friends to pick their favorite cause and keep track of it. Their job is to keep the others informed of what is going on and if there is a need to make phone calls to your elected representatives to voice your opinions. By spreading out the duties of keeping track, all you need to know is the potential dangers or unintended consequences that any legislation may cause. One of my ’cause’ is land rights and government over reach. For at least a year I have kept my followers updated as things concerning the 30×30 Land Grab and NHA’s (National Heritage Areas) comes out. More and more people are realizing the dangers to this Biden Administrations Executive orders and how they will completely upend our Freedoms and Rights. Angel Cushing, a friend and one or the Champions of land rights has been able to keep me informed and she battles on, picking up a few others to help as well but needs more help to get the word out.

The left has fought hard with their tactics of being ‘woke’ and ‘racist’ accusation and pushing agendas such as drag queen shows for children, lying about abortion legislation that was written to include exception but stating that it doesn’t. They are pushing a New World Order and Global Warming which has been proven false so they can push us to ‘renewable’ energy which is more toxic to the planet than fossil fuels. There is no common sense at all. In the MidWest, which by the way, is targeted to be windmill farms and solar farms by running the farmers and ranchers off the land, cannot survive on electric vehicles in the winter. With winter blizzards and long distances to travel to cities, battery operated vehicles are not reliable to get you through a storm that pops up and shuts down highways. Death is certain if stranded on the interstate with a battery, with a vehicle running on fossil fuels, you don’t have to worry about the battery going dead if you are stranded for a while.

Another thing the Left has out for People is the attack on religious beliefs and morals. They have none and the rise of Satanism is growing, proof enough that Judeo-Christian beliefs are under attack. The Left claims inclusion but excludes and ridicules Religious belief. They hate us. In fact, they hate the Constitution because as I often quote by John Adams; “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any others.” Meaning that immoral people cannot abide goodness of what the Founding Fathers set up for us and seek to destroy it to push for enslavement of the whole, not just the few. Which is why we must fight tyranny at all costs. John Hancock said; “Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual…Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.” In otherwords, Christians need to get off their butts and stand up for our God-Given RIGHTS or we won’t have them much longer.

IN a year that hasn’t been very good, in fact, since Biden got into office, we have seen and had terrible years. It is time to raise the roof, do what we can, even if it is pray and make phone calls when needed. We have to fight to survive or we will lose what is so precious but not appreciated.

It is our sacred and undeniable RIGHT to fight for a country like our Founding Fathers set up and deny anything other, which is what we are dealing with now! Fight now or die!

Dear City Slicker/Food Consumer

I am a farmer, rancher and one of the many of less than 2% of the population that produces food for your city slicker mouths. This is in response to you complaining about how we who produce food are destroying the world and making ‘all that money’. If you have half a clue as to what you were saying, you would zip your lip. Allow me to explain some of what it takes to get one package of hamburger to your house.

5 years prior to the birth of the animal that made your package of hamburger, a rancher either purchased a heifer (Young cow that hasn’t had a calf before.) or raised one. It is actually more profitable (If $395 is a big profit) to raise your own, which requires understanding good genetics and selecting the right semen or bull to raise said heifer. Then you spend around $2300 per heifer to get them up to breeding age.

When the heifer calves out (has a calf), the cost to raise that calf to slaughter weight at around1300 pounds is $1700. So to get that animal to the slaughter house, the rancher has $4000 invested in that animal that he sells to the packing house at maybe $1790. Yeah, he profited around $90 (whoopti doo!) for that calf but he is still in the hole around $3900 for his investment. That cow may or may not go on to have 5 to 6 other calves or if she is of good stock and longevity, let’s say 8 more calves. He may have gotten his money back on his investment of that cow, maybe not.

That steer the rancher sold for around $1790 goes into the packing plant and in less than 3 days is in the store or on your plate. The meat packer makes a profit of around $2000 off that $1790 steer. You see, as the steps to the consumer got up, so does the profit of the handlers of that product after it leaves the ranch. If you bought directly from the producer, your food would be a LOT cheaper.

Let’s address the issue of destroying the world. Did you know, that the land cattle graze is unfit for farming (growing a crop)? Cattle utilize the grass and turn it into protein in a most efficient manner. You aren’t getting a product that has chemicals in it like the ‘plant based’ chemicals you are purchasing as meat replacer. Beef is 100% organic versus chemical fake meat. Did you also know that ranchers practice special grazing techniques to ensure the land continues to produce grass yearly? I bet not, you don’t care, you just believe that the global environmentalists say. But yeah, in the Flint Hills, cattle are usually allowed to graze for short periods of time on the prairie. This allows them to get the nutrients needed to grow and then when removed, the prairie can continue to grow and maintain itself from year-to-year. Oh and the early spring burn,, that allows for the old growth to burn to leave potash, which is needed for plant growth. The black ashes also absorb the sun’s heat and warms the earth so the grass can grow back sooner so when the spring rains come in April, the grass is there to prevent much soil erosion. By burning, it also allows for more grass to grow where the old grass would kill out areas of grass.

Did you know that a lot of people in agriculture are using goats to graze areas of land that are overgrown with weeds instead of using chemical? Probably not. You don’t care. All you care about is the price of your food and what someone on television says. You refuse to think that anyone in agriculture that ‘rapes’ the land by putting cattle on it are incapable of doing any good. When in fact we are preserving the land in the best way possible since the great federal government killed off all the bison in the 1800’s.

Did you know that the rancher that raised that package of hamburger probably was up every two hours every night for at least a month, checking on that heifer that had that calf you are now eating? Do you know that most ranchers may gross hundreds of thousands of dollars every year but when they take out their costs of medicines, machinery to produce feed and hay for that steer, the fuel, maintenance and other costs, like shipping, income tax, property tax, vehicle taxes and fuel tax; they are lucky to maybe make $30,000/ year? Some ranchers and farmers even have to have a town job so they can continue to produce that package of hamburger you are cooking in that skillet right now.

When I worked in the feed yards, I sat down and figured out what I was making per hour and it was WAY below minimum wage. Some days I was making a whole $4/hour, on longer days I was down to around $2.50 per hour and that was in the early 2000’s. It hasn’t changed much since then. If you add in a rancher paying me, paying for the fuel used to transport me and my horse to check outside cattle, run the feed truck, the payloader to fill the truck with feed, the tractor to cut hay or plant crops, there isn’t much left. Do you really think $90/head of profit goes very far?

You may ask why the ranchers, farmers and us cowboys continue to do what we do if it doesn’t pay that well. You would have to understand the lifestyle behind it and your city slicker head would never be able to fathom this life. In fact, you are so used to going to an easy job, your bodies couldn’t handle the hard work we farmers and ranchers put our bodies through to provide that package of hamburger to you. Until you can walk a week in our shoes, you will have no clue but still, we do it to provide food for you.