What a crazy winter! Time flies by quicker than the auctioneer can say SOLD and it seems like there is little time to reflect on what has happened or even what it happening now. However, a few things happened lately that sure made me stop and think awhile.

I wish I could say that the first things that got me to thinking were happy things but they surely were not. Last week, on the same day, our business lost two good friends; Steve Tomlin and Rod Bauer both passed away on February 4, 2011. Both were Ohio cattlemen and strong supporters of the business and they will certainly be missed by many.

Steve Tomlin, Black Diamond Cattle, West Union, Ohio was a great customer in many ways. He supported many of my customers’ auctions over the years and, in fact, I had just selected some bred females for him the last weekend in January at the Pryority One and Bellar sales. He never even got to see the new additions to his herd before he passed. Steve was a mainstay on the southern Ohio club calf scene and could be found at nearly every show and sale in the area. I have purchased several show steers from him over the years with more than one going on to become a winner. Steve was one of the guys that helped to get the Heat Seeker craze rolling when he selected a $36,000 daughter from Bad Hook and company back in the day. She was one of the first high-premium Heat Seeker calves and together they surely got the buzz rolling. I bought him a load of cows from Ryan Went, NE, several years ago and he always kept me abreast as to their production. Over the years I had many long phone conversations with Steve; I will miss them. He was just 42.

Rod Bauer was a mover and shaker in our business - either on purpose or by accident. If you didn’t know him you surely missed out on one of the most generous and intelligent people I have known. His daughters showed some of the most impressive and decorated cattle in the country during their show careers and Rod single-handedly raised many programs to new levels of success. Rod was the driving force behind The Goalpost Classic, one of the most innovative and richest cattle jackpot shows in history. The impact of the results of those shows still lives on today as the cattle that won them are integral donors in several outfits and many showman and breeders sparked their interests in the notoriously bad weather during The Goalpost Classics. Rod was a great guy, plain and simple. At the first Frozen Gold Sale he, along with Mike Hartman, set the record price for an embryo flush that still stands to this day. Their $32,000 investment that night produced several influential herd sires and two Denver winners that, in total, returned extremely well. He could see the future and he was not afraid to force the issue. I learned much from Rod Bauer, whether he knew it or not, and I miss him already.

On a lighter note, we are finishing our spring issue of The Showman’s Handbook for the 20th time. Wow, 20 years! Where did they go? I remember when I said that I would do this job for awhile and see where it led. 20 years later, I guess I am hooked. Much has changed since we published the first ones but much is still the same. Breeders and showman have come and gone with many original programs still going strong. Sale order is still a struggle and ad copy still comes in late along with sale entries and photos. The pigs and the cows bring a little more, thank God, and the perfect one is still out there somewhere, waiting to be discovered. Here’s to everyone that reads The Handbook - one copy for the truck and one for the house - for so long; we surely couldn’t do it without you. And hats off to the breeders, sales, and institutions that have stood the test of time. At PrimeTIME, it has been our pleasure to be a part of this great life and we can’t wait to see where it goes from here.

A new crop is on the ground now in more ways than one. Pause and take it in. You’ll be sorry if you miss it; trust me.

Ok, so I am waaayyyy behind on my blogging. Woefully behind. The good news is that other things seem to be going quite well in a great winter sale season so far. Here’s hoping it keeps up because we’ve sure got the goods for the next few months.

Anyway, I’ve got to write something after the recent Denver Stock Show trip. What can I say? It’s the greatest cow show on earth and there is so much to see and do there that I certainly cannot sum it all up here. The biggest thing I got from Denver this year is that everyone seemed to be very optimistic and excited about things to come. Sure, corn is high priced but, on the bright side, corn is high priced. Enthusiasm was running high and for good reason as the sales were strong and attendance seemed to be excellent.

All of the auctions that I attended were excellent with large crowds and plenty of strong bidding. The $130,000-valued Simmental bull - I think they will call him Excalibur, a son of The Foreman that Ruby Company sold in the Denver Mile High Sale to John Lee, AZ - looked to be worth every penny. He sure created a lot of buzz throughout the grounds and will no doubt cause the same commotion this spring breeding season. The weekday Angus sales were back to strong demand and strong premiums and the Maine, Simmental, and Chi Sales seemed to be humming along nicely. It’s great to be in the auction business when things are going well.

The club calf display bulls were more interesting than ever, in my opinion. Lots of strong new bulls with a few more angles and promotional quirks plus several clones running free in the Yards. I always enjoy seeing the bulls as young ones and then watching them become famous or just fade away; the proof is in the pedigree more often than not. Some favorites of mine from 2011 include “Bulletproof” (a THF Heat Wave son of Dirty Hairy’s dam), “DSUL Man Up” (a Who Da Man son of the 138M donor that sold in the Frozen Gold last year from eggs that were purchased the year before), “Flashback” (a Who Made Who son from Triple B’s Blackberry donor), “Destination” (a Sooner son of WAG Hairietta), “X” and “X2″ (sons of GVC Statesman from Nowatzke’s great 84M donor), and Lautner Farms presented a stouter array of new sires than they have in past years. There is so much to see that I am positive that I missed plenty but I can’t say I didn’t try - the Yards is a very busy place on a sunny weekend and sometimes those bulls can be hard to find.

The Denver Stock Show can be a confusing place. So many people, so many cattle with so many pedigrees, so many sales, so many shows; it can be a little overwhelming. One thing is for sure: the cattle are getting better and the shows are getting harder to win. It is quite an honor to own a National Western banner and I salute all of those who brought them home in 2011. Your new hardware is well-deserved because when you conquer The Mile High Stock Show, you’ve surely done something worth remembering. I am already looking forward to 2012!

Don’t you just love Louisville and the great North American International? I think it takes the prize for the best stock show in the business. The facilities, the stock, the timing - it’s hard to match. I mean where else do you get to sit in theatre seats and listen to organ music while you offer your opinions on some of the very best livestock in the business while they parade them under the jumbotron on the green shavings? It’s as cool as it was when I first went there about 25 years ago and it just keeps on churning out the memories.

My favorite day at The International is always Sunday, the day of the Supreme Junior Heifer Drive and the Market Steer Show. The steer show is needs more numbers but it is still tough as nails and the junior heifer shows are nearly as tough to win as the Powerball. Congratulations to everyone that showed an International winner this year, you certainly passed a very tough exam.

From my perspective I was thrilled for the large number of our customers that experienced International success this year. The junior heifer shows were filled with our customers’ best and they proved their merits in more ways than one. The Grand Champion Steer was raised and shown by Cody Burke, Genoa, NE, from some embryos his father purchased from the Donors Unlimited Sale. Cody’s impressive and popular steer was a Heat Wave son of Mike Mimms’ famous 7X-1 donor. Mike raised both the dam and granddam of Cody’s steer and his is not the first big winner from this line. I love it when a plan comes together and the Burke family sure did the job with this great steer.

The 2010 International was even more memorable this year because we restarted our successful Run for the Roses Sale at Reality Farms outside Louisville. Thanks to everyone who helped us to average nearly $5,200 on a stout set of females that will be heard from. Plan to join us again next year for more Angus, SimAngus, and ChiAngus females from our winning sale partners.

The fall sale season is in high gear and the scenery is very exciting. Never before have the best ones been in such great demand. We’ve got more than our share of them to come this fall and winter and I can’t wait to see what you think of them. Here’s hoping the winter weather is half as nice as this fall has been. Either way, I’ll be seeing you from the auction stand!

Ready or not, fall sale season is in high gear and I’m living proof. In the last three weeks I’ve been to Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky (several times), West Virginia, Illinois, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Iowa, Utah, Tennessee, and Mississippi - all for auction events. It’s great and I’m tired and we haven’t even started yet. I guess you’ve got to make hay while the sun shines and I’ve been busy putting it in the barn to say the least. Thanks to my great customers and great crew, October was a great month - or so I’m told - and I cannot wait to see what comes next.

The month started off with a huge bang at the first-ever Game Day at Lazy H Farm in Fleming, Ohio. Thanks to our bidders/buyers from across the USA and Canada and congratulations to the Randy Henthorn family and his skilled manager, Adam Hall, for presenting an incredible offering and putting on a one-of-a-kind event. If you were there then you know exactly what I am referring to - see the sale report on this site if you want the lowdown. Great cattle and great people are a sale manager’s dream and I love my job at Lazy H. They work as hard as anyone in the business and they will have plenty of success in the years to come; I am glad to be a small part of it. The Lazy H Spring Game is set for April 16 at their farm. Plan to attend for some oustanding Simmental cattle and a great buying experience. There really is no place like Lazy H!

One thing I sure learned this month is that I don’t know much. If you want to learn a lot about cows and livestock in general spend some time with folks like Dennis Garwood, Ryan Went, and Kent McLemore. Those guys are encyclopedias of livestock knowledge and their stock sure shows it. All of them run huge numbers with very little assistance and they have been doing it for years. They’ve got a million things to do but ask them about one cow number out of 1000 and they’ll tell you all you need to know and more. Ryan sells winning show calves like his hair is on fire, Dennis got $50,000+ out of a bull after pulling him out of a group of 125, washing him twice and tying him up three times, and Kent sold a $50,000 pig nearly by accident. That’s when you know you’ve got a breeding program and a stout reputation - when the stock takes care of themselves and then sells themselves. You can learn a lot from guys like them and I soak up all I can.

Another thing I learned lately is that my kind of Angus cow is back in style, and I love it! Sure there were some slippery pacthes along the way - downright rocky in some spots - but now it seems that we’re back to breeding good doing, good looking Angus cattle that everyone can enjoy. The recent Anderson Circle Dispersal was a great example of the new trend; the “good” ones brought the most premium and demanded the most attention in a great sale that averaged over $5K and grossed over $1M. It’s going to be great fun and a great challenge to identify and multiply the best Angus going forward, the ones with the best blend of performance and eye appeal. Luckily, our customers breed some of the best cattle that fit this description and I look forward to watching the demand for their products take off. You can surely have the best of both worlds - ask Larry Coleman, Mac Smith, Jeff Wisnefski, Kent McLemore, Jim Horsley, Dennis Garwood, Jeff Harwood, and more - and we can inject some real maternal value into our show cattle without killing the look we all strive for. Lord knows our club calf cows could use a little more function.

Another thing I was reminded of this month: just when you think you cannot do anymore, you can. All you need to do is dig a little deeper, think a little harder, and ask the right people for a little more help. Our schedule is loaded but we keep adding more exciting things to do and more great opportunities for our customers. This thing is getting wild as America restocks and reloads and we’ve got a front row seat! Now, all we need to do is get the work done. Hmmm, good thing I’ve got great help.

October came and went from the windows of cars and airplanes. Emails are flying, the presses are rolling, and the post office loves PrimeTIME again. My Blackberry has completely lost it and my dog nearly bit me when I came home. What time is it? Sale time! What’s that? PrimeTIME!!!

I spend quite a bit of time in the real midwest - Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota - throughout the year and one of the best times to go if you’re in the cow business is late summer. I recently paid a visit to several of my favorite stops and added some new ones. I’m a little behind on this post so I apologize if some of this is old news.

I landed on-time, strangely, in Omaha and headed straight to Wisner, NE for some good times with Randy and Justin Bellar. We looked at plenty of cattle and debated plenty of football teams. Tycoon is working great in their program and I saw my first Tiger Woods babies. Tiger Woods looks like he is siring them a lot like Monopoly only with more color on certain cows. They had an excellent set of calves for their September calf sale headlined by a killer bull calf by Monopoly. They’ll also be selling some younger calves in an October bid-off format and their annual Beautiful Beef Babes Sale is set for Sunday, January 30 in Wisner. Their cow herd is really churning out quality as evidenced by the number of winners they sold last year; their 2010 bred female customers were some of the most satisfied we had last winter.

Next I headed to Dunlap, IA; club calf mecca. Dunlap is a tiny town but it seems like I can never go there without running into someone I never expect to see. One time I ran into my old neighbor while riding through the pasture on a 4-wheeler and this time, true to form, I ran into Mitch Sauerland, OH, while riding that same pasture on likely the same 4-wheeler. We went through the calves at John Sullivan’s for more than 2 hours. They were as excellent as you would expect and I am sure they sold very well, it was great fun to go through them critically and to compare the different ET groups and sire groups. He always creates a buzz with his different calf crops and many young or new sires have been proven at Sullivan Farms. I’d go once a week if I could.

Later, I drove across the road to go through John’s brother Dan Sullivan’s calves. Like John, he runs some awesome cow power in his Sullivan Ranch outfit and his calves, though younger, sure looked the part. I’m pretty sure I saw two steers and one heifer there that will win plenty of big shows and I saw a bunch of calves that were really close. All in all, a great set of club calves and a great stop. John and Dan run some of the very elite females in the business and it is a great place to go to compare and learn.

Next, I stopped at Pryor Show Cattle in Woodbine, IA; home of Hollywood, Who’s Destiny, and I-Back. Adam had another powerful set of steers and heifers headlined by several sisters to the Hollywood daughter that won plenty for the Walker family, AR, this year. Different than what you might expect, Hollywood works best on smaller, stouter cows that need some look and hair. He’ll sire a Shorthorn-marked one on occasion and all are big boned and hairy. Adam also had a very good steer by I Am Legend from the Driving Miss Daisy cow at Guyer Cattle Company, IA. Be sure to mark Adam’s female sale, The Pryority One, on your calendar for January 29th in Dunlap.

Some rain slowed down my progress later that day but I had a great visit at Green Valley Cattle, Atkinson, NE. Dennis Garwood and I looked through nearly all of his 500 Maine-Anjou and Angus cows as we planned for his upcoming sales. I’ve not seen all of the Maine cows in the world but I really doubt that there is a more functional, easier-fleshing, or productive set of Maine cows in volume than what you’ll find at Green Valley. Dennis focuses on economically-important traits when selecting and running his cow herd and his focus surely benefits his customers. One after the other, Maine and Angus, he runs good-looking, easy-doing, heavy-milking cows that raise high-quality calves on their own in the Nebraska Sand Hills. His new sire, GVC Suh 01W, looked awesome coming off cows as a long yearling and I can’t wait to see his calves. The first set of calves by Dennis’ top-selling bull in 2009, GVC Maverick, were exceptional (as they have been around the country) and the Special Delivery babies looked great also. On the Angus side, his SAV Pioneer, Missing Link, and Basic Instinct calves looked like they’ll be fun to sell this winter. Green Valley is a little off the beaten track but it is sure worth the trip; great cattle and great folks.

Later that day I headed to western South Dakota for a little adventure. I found a great set of cows that you’ll be hearing about and I also saw my first set of calves by Verizon, a bull I knew nothing about. I quickly learned that Verizon is a Heat Seeker son that needs using. I saw several top calves by him that day and the next. I need to do a little more research but he sure looks like he’ll add body, hair, and muscle with a nice look. The cows were great, really, but the most interesting thing about that visit might have been (a) that we were able to actually find the bulls we were looking for in total darkness in an enormous pasture, or (b) late night life on the Indian reservation. Both of those things have had me thinking for quite some time.

I made several other excellent stops but the overriding themes were (1) some great club calf cattle reside in the real Midwest and, if you like the kind, then you need to spend plenty of time there to see even a good portion of them (2) always take a jacket when you go to South Dakota regardless of the time of year (3) the OMA-DTW shuttle is NEVER on time and they nearly always lose your luggage.

Fall is here. Back to work.