The talk in Denver today is the weather and for those of us out of towners the traffic and drivers. The snowstorm has left the Denver metro area with much colder temperatures and around 6 inches of snow. It is going to be a balmy 12 degrees here today and we stay in the deep freeze tomorrow as well. If I hear "its Stock Show weather" one more time I'm going to spit...I bet it freezes before it hits the ground. Fear not Hereford fans the forecast still calls for temps back to the 40's on Thursday and Friday. As far as the drivers...all I can say is IF you live in the Rockies AND in the Mile High City is it to hard to expect that you may have to learn to drive in the snow? How hard is it?
Being from a state that gets it share of blizzards and snowstorms I am used to the mad dash of folks to stock up on provisions. In Denver they believe in emptying the shelves as well. If you have ever seen a 125,000 sq ft Wal-Mart Super Center picked to the carcass it is somewhat apopolyctic. As the Star Lake crew we felt with a storm in place why not eat? Well folks I'm here to tell you we didn't eat ....WE DINED. Steve, my cook assistant that I wrote about yesterday has a good buddy here in Denver that has a "smoker"....a customized, state of the art 1000 gallon big ass smoker. Lee prepared us an unbelievable couple of chunks of smoked prime rib as our main course last night. That beef brought the room to silence and a tear to the eye...it was perfect. Thank you Lee Brooks ...Lee has some fabulous sauces (Flying Pig BBQ Sauce) and if you want some contact him at lbrooks1220@gmail.com. The meal also included roasted new potatoes, asparagus, red beans and rice, veggie salad and topped off with key lime pie!!! Seldom do we serve our crew leftovers but today they get prime rib sandwiches for lunch with scalloped potatoes and ham. Dinner tonight roast turkey with all the fixins.
Back to the business at hand the National Western....Everyone is busy today in digging and thawing out mode. As most of you know a key part in bringing cattle to a show is getting them acclimated, back on feed and groomed. Washing the cattle and getting them blown out in this type of weather in The Yards is a challenge. Herefords will begin the move-in process to The Hill later today and throughout the night....everyone must be moved in by Tuesday evening. The Hereford Herdsman Social is Tuesday night in the arena in The Yards and today we are putting the final touches on 25 gallons of Cowboy Beans.
Further on the cattle report...we have two bulls here that are on the bubble...they will either be shown on The Hill or in our Carload. The first is STAR Market Index 70X ET is a Can-Am son out of Investor Gal that was Lot 101 in our Fall sale and purchased by Moss Land & Cattle. John Moss will be making the trip to Denver this year for the show. Market Index is also owned with Tennessee River Music and was Randy and Kelly Owen's selection when they bought choice of our bull calves in our May sale. Randy is working on behalf of St Jude' Children's Hospital in Memphis during the National Western raising funds for a tremendous charity. The second bull on the bubble is STAR KKH SSF Kemosabe 47X ET that is a Nitro son out of Kessey. He was Lot X in our Fall sale and an interest was purchased by Turkey Feather Ranch in Oklahoma. Kemosabe is also co-owned by Kasey Herman and Sunnyside Stock Farm. Time will tell as to where the bulls will be shown so stay tuned. Either way if they are held for the Carload they will be on The Hill on display. Be sure and stop by for a look.
Finally I want to expand on our crew here in Denver. We tallied last night and we are pretty diverse as we have folks here representing 10 states. Doing what we do and how we do it - working, eating and rooming together is a big family atmosphere. On our crew this year we have some that take it further....Tony Frost is here along with his wife Britney from Illinois. Britney can outwork most guys and the only gender concession she gets it Ladies eat first at dinner time. The family connection is that Tony has two brother-in-laws on the crew as well...Robbie Duis from our ranch staff is married to Chelsea (Frost) and Matt McCaskill from Illinois is married to Tony's other sister, Erin. Matt and his Dad bought STAR Limited Edition 30W in The Yards last year. He is a Carla x Legacy son that was in the 2010 Champion Carload and Matt is excited about his upcoming calf crop. I have said many times cattle shows and especially Denver are like a family reunion.
One of the questions from a Blog follower was "Are the shows going to be broadcast on the Internet?" Based on what I have found out the answer is NO. In talking with Amy Cowen at AHA the National Western has been in negotiations to standardize all video/internet feeds from the Stock Show. That exclusive contract has been awarded to Superior Livestock starting in 2012 and thus this year as a transitional year the show broadcast got left out. Good News looking ahead you can watch the Ft Worth show on Edje Technologies as Star Lake is helping sponsor the broadcast.
That's all for today...sorry I got a little long but had a lot on my mind :)
This is a picture of Steve Spelts' granddaughter Emily with STAR SJS Lethal Weapon II 212X ET who is for sale in Denver.
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