My niece and I recently returned from Cattlemen’s Congress in Oklahoma City where we exhibited our cattle. It is a big show that brings cattlemen and cattlewomen from all over the country together for shows, sales and cattle displays. They also have a great set of vendors at the trade show where you can shop the latest in fashion from furniture to jewelry. I did snag some pillow covers and a couple of hoodies, so I feel like I didn’t get out of control shopping.
In the cattle show, my niece showed her heifers in the Junior Beefmaster show and her newest heifer, Top Saucy Chick, managed to pull 3rd place in a competitive class. We were both happy with that placing as there were some excellent cattle. My niece also loved that the announcer had to say her heifers full name over the microphone.
In the Open Beefmaster bull show, Hillbilly Deluxe had a class win and was the Reserve Division Senior bull. In all fairness, Hillbilly brought home a banner because there was only him and one other in that division. But we still celebrate him like he’s a rock star! My niece has shown him since he was a baby calf and even though he is a gentle giant at two years old, we still have the conversation at every show how to safely handle a big bull when in a new environment.
The cattle part of our trip was uneventful, except for the night Hillbilly pushed the tie out panel around and slept on the asphalt all night. My niece handles all of the cattle with ease and I have full confidence in her ability to get things done.
Her ability to keep track of her personal stuff is not so good and we had quite the adventure with her cell phone on the last day. Like most of the youth of today, her cell phone is attached at the hip and it is very rare she does not have her phone. We have had the conversation that when she puts it away, she needs to be very aware of where she puts it.
That morning after we got the bull to the barn, she realized she was missing her phone. Not really a big deal because according to the tracking app, it was in the truck. Once we got the bull washed for show day and settled in his stall, I told her I would go get it and she could watch the bull. Once I got to the truck, it was not there and when I text her mom about the phone, her app showed it was across the fairgrounds and was moving. Panic set in because she has an expensive iPhone and someone picked it up at tie outs when it fell out of her hoodie. My iPhone, according to my kids is the iPhone 1 and no one is picking up or stealing mine.
I have a tracking app for her phone too, so I pulled it up and it was still moving around the grounds. I headed back to the barn and let my niece know someone had her phone and I was going to track it down and if I didn’t come back from my journey, she needed to get the bull shown without me.
I set out across the fairgrounds and cut thru a couple of barns trying to catch up with the phone. It was clearly in someone’s vehicle at the pace it was moving and I was prepared to step out in front of someone if the tracking app showed me it was there. I ended up in the feed and bedding barn and when I walked in I said, ‘ok who has the cell phone?’ They all turned to look and I am guessing that when I was calling and the phone showed ‘crazy cow lady’, which is how my niece has me saved on her phone, they decided I was the right one to hand the phone over to.
I thanked them several times, got the phone and headed back to the stall. My niece was relieved to have her phone back and we had another conversation about keeping track of stuff. She also told me that she was watching the other bulls in the aisle and she was prepared to head to the show ring without me if I didn’t make it back. I was glad that she was paying attention to things around her and it was probably more because she didn’t have her phone, but at least she knew the bull had to get shown.
We ended the day on a good note, loaded up and made it home safely. We did have a situation at the hotel that was pretty funny, but that will be a story for next time.
Debbie Elder is a native of Ottawa County, Okla. and lives on her farm in Webster County, Mo. To contact Debbie, call 1-866-532-1960 or by email at [email protected].
