Payne County Bucket Calf Program

 

Pictured above are my two daughters - Aubrey on the left with Rodeo, and Lillie on the right with Bullet.  Rodeo and Bullet are 'bucket calves' and were 'shown' by Aubrey and Lillie at the Payne County Fair in 2008.  I am using this post to describe how Payne County (OK) runs their bucket calf program, and the enthusiastic support my wife and I have for it.  (Disclaimer: This is not an official description of it, but I think it is generally accurate.  If you stumble upon this blog searching for 'bucket calf'' or other similar search strings, this is a good place to start.  If you want more official information, please contact the Payne County Extension Service.)

The rules for our bucket calf program are summarized here: 4-H (or Cloverbud) children ages 7-12; purchase of a 1-10 day old calf in May preceding the county fair; calf is nominated by mid-June; child must keep a weekly journal of experiences; child must actively participate in feeding and care of the calf; child turns in the journal and an expenses summary approximately two weeks prior to the fair; child shows the calf at the fair following a morning of meetings, personal interviews, washing and preparing the calf, and cleaning their work environment.

The results of our bucket calf program are summarized here: every child who completes the program wins a trophy with rosette, a small county fair monetary award, a larger 'add-on' monetary award, a thematic 3 gallon bucket, a T-shirt, and a significant bucket of door prizes useful for future livestock projects (feed buckets, halters, brushes, etc.).  The 'add on' money comes with a classic 'carrot and stick' philosophy as the children have to personally write 'Thank You' notes to a subset of the various donors prior to the awarding of that money.

All of the above awards are given on a non-competitive basis.  But, there are competitive awards given, as well, for:

1. Interview segment (currently $100 and plaque),

2. Herdsman awards for multiple participants (monetary award and gift), and

3. Showmanship awards by age division (monetary award and belt buckle.)

If you have any associations with regular youth livestock shows, now or in the past, you might recognize all of the elements described above, except: 1. The interview, 2. The journal and expense account, and 3. The non-competitive nature regarding the merits and attributes of the animal.  Although current formulations of 'youth livestock shows' are high quality experiences for young people in agriculture, the competitive nature (and the concomitant monetary rewards) can taint the true purposes of the experience, and has even led to some spectacular instances of fraud, sad to say.  The structure of our bucket calf program truly places the child participant back in an environment that youth livestock exhibitions were intended to be - participatory, educational, and fun.

The opportunities for advantage-seekers (or even fraud) are not merely discouraged by the rules and structure of the program, but by the usual selection of the animals themselves.  If you re-visit the rules above, you will note the calf has to be purchased between 1-10 days of age.  For those unacquainted with livestock and production agriculture practices, this is 'code-speak' for dairy breed bull calves - the absolute lowest 'caste' in the bovine world.  Dairies only want female calves for future replacement cows, but genetic frequencies being what they are, half of these calves are born as boys, and because most dairy cow breeding is done using proven bulls with artificial insemination, the life of most dairy bull calves is pretty dull.  These poor dairy bull calves couldn't win a beef-focused livestock show if their lives depended upon it - even if they were given the best feed, the best hair care, and a few unethical (frequently illegal) injections of X,Y, and Z.  Because they are largely unwanted, a family can buy one (usually $25-125) from a regional dairy for a fraction of the cost of a comparable beef breed calf.

Why are they called 'bucket calves' and why is it the 'bucket calf program'?  There are many farmers in the business of mass-rearing these dairy bull calves who use a bucket feeding system, adapting the calf to slurp and drink milk from a bucket to decrease the labor input required by bottle feeding a calf.  However, most families usually opt to bottle feed a calf primarily for its simplicity and ease of success - bottle feeding the calf is completely permissible in our 'bucket' calf show.

To summarize, why do my wife and I like the program so much?  The interview segment teaches them how to think 'on their feet' and how to respectfully interact with an adult.  The 'Showmanship' and 'Herdsman' awards on the day of the show encourage them to prepare in advance by halter training their calf so they can competently show him in the show ring, and also to encourage them to keep their animal's environment clean at the fair.  We like the 'economic scale' of Holstein steers and find that if we carefully watch expenses, that we can make a small profit on each animal, further augmenting the child's monetary return (which largely goes to the college fund!).  We like that the animals themselves are evaluated non-competitively, which eliminates the 'rat race' of special feeds, special hair care (termed 'fitting' performed by so-called 'steer jocks'), special halters, and enormously higher input costs (thousands of dollars) to buy a champion steer prospect.  We like how the organizers delay award of 'add on' money to encourage children to learn how to express gratitude in the written form to the generous sponsors.  The journal requirement not only teaches and re-inforces writing skills, but engages them in the project, provides a keepsake for years to come, and even sometimes provides a few humorous moments when you go back to read an 8 year old's perspective on bottle feeding, dehorning, and castration.  The final expenses worksheet re-inforces applied basic mathematics, gives them a basic introduction to business and agriculture, and gives them a real-world production agriculture perspective that is sadly lacking in the more popular youth livestock projects - where the 'bonus sale' hopefully subsidizes and defrays the high input costs.

Judging by what I see in a handful of other Oklahoma counties, the Payne County program is almost one-of-a-kind.  We've heard of other counties coming to our program to get ideas to institute one of their own in their county, and I hope this summary aids in getting the word out.  The unique experience and success of the Payne County Bucket Calf experience would not be possible without the vision of some key founders (whose names escape me, but I might update in the comments below) as well as several key sponsors and donors, including the Payne County Young Farmers and Ranchers, Swank Land and Cattle. Farm Bureau, Payne County Extension Center, The Territory, Atwoods, Stillwater Milling, Pickens Auctions, Farm Data Services, some regional banks, and several others I've failed to mention.  Finally, the $100 Interview Award is funded in honor of the late David Weckler, a bucket calf enthusiast and son of Paul and Stephanie Weckler, who cast a vision with the prize to honor their son David.

Ana is First-Named Storm of Atlantic Hurricane Season

We've had a record-late onset for the first named storm of a hurricane season.  (For any weather purists out there, I'm not absolutely sure it is the absolutely latest first named storm, but it's pretty close.)

 

Tropical Depression #3 is close behind Ana and looks larger - it would not surprise me if that one gets upgraded by Monday.

Picturing America

A neat program supported by our tax dollars is Picturing America, supervised by the National Endowment for the Humanities.  The program uses classic, period pieces of American art to teach aspects about our nation's heritage, history, culture, expansion, and development.  Plus, kids get to learn about some classic art at the same time.  The works of art that are central to the curriculum can be seen here.

 

My wife successfully applied for a set of the teaching materials (which are quite impressive) and is leading a homeschool group of about 15 students this fall.  It's a pretty serious effort, and I'm proud of her for doing it.  In a government where so much waste sadly occurs, I'm sure there are thousands of these packets that will be under-utilized or worse, slid away quietly in a closet and forgotten.  Not so, with Julie's group, taxpayers will most certainly have a return on their investment with these 15 children and their families.  Thanks NEH!

Disclaimers

Fully understanding the public nature of the internet, I realize and appreciate the need for disclaimers.  So, although I don't think I will be writing about anything too controversial, I wanted to have an entry to point to anytime a potential reader might need to be reminded that my words represent me, not my workplace, not my profession, not my professional affiliations, not my church, etc.

 

Therefore, writings and thoughts expressed at this weblog are those of Tim Snider alone.  Where veterinary or medical topics are discussed, they do not constitute veterinary or medical advice of any form.  One must seek their animal and personal healthcare from their personal veterinarian or personal physician.  Where opinions or uncomfortable facts about books, government, politics, religion, culture, or history are included, they represent my thoughts, and not my employer or professional affiliations.

BNOB: "Mayflower" by Nathaniel Philbrick

(What does BNOB mean?)

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This is the second of three Philbrick naval history books I will write brief notes on at this blog.  The first BNOB was on Sea of Glory, and was my second favorite of the three.  My favorite one - "In the Heart of the Sea" - will be reviewed at this site in a week or two.

Although "Mayflower" was my least favorite of the three big Philbrick works, it is still an excellent read chock full of action, struggle, success, failure, etc.  The title is appropriate since it tells of the 1620 Mayflower voyage and the Pilgrims settling Plymouth colony.  One of the broad, intriguing elements of the book is how Philbrick sorts between fact and myth in comparing what is truly historically documented versus how we've mythologized it for 2nd grade history.

For instance, it is difficult to substantiate that they stepped off the boat onto a rock, they did not immediately encounter Indians, the colonists were not all Pilgrims, not all was peaceful between Pilgrims and Indians, and the first Thanksgiving did not occur until their 10th month there.  Squanto, although a key English-speaking link and ally for the Pilgrims, is also not as noble and heroic as the grade school storied portray him.

The book recounts the increasing pressures upon religious freedom that compelled Pilgrims and Separatists to flee.  It then describes how the Mayflower was secured as the ship and the harrowing journey they experienced.  It does a good job describing the simplicity and significance of the Mayflower Compact.  Then, for the next 150 pages, the book recounts their experiences at self-government, food acquisition, and Indian encounters, with the principal character being William Bradford, who become the colonial governor at a very young age.

The second half of the book recounts King Philip's War of the 1670's and another key figure of Plymouth - Benjamin Church.  This war occurred between colonists and several tribes (but not all) of Indians.  The name of the war comes from a chief (or sachem) of the Pokanokets - Philip - who was not truly a king, but was referred to as one by the regions inhabitants.  Philip was the younger son of Massasoit - an earlier Pokanoket sachem who was a key ally to the Pilgrims of the 1620's. 

The course of public school U.S. history generally goes like this: Columbus - Jamestown - Mayflower - French/Indian War - Revolution, but the period between the Mayflower and the Revolution is full of interesting people and events.  It is in this period that the very significant King Philip's War occurred.  Based upon a percentage of the number of people killed (both colonial and Indian), this war had 5-6 times more fatalities than the War for Independence, and was 2-3 times bloodier than the Civil War.  The colonists win this war when Church surrounds King Philip and a member of Church's forces kills him.

This book is well worth the read; I would give it an 8 out of 10.

Personal Information

It goes without saying that our government and various segments of business and industry collect an unprecedented amount of information on us.  With computing power, it becomes quite easy to maintain an extensive database on everything from purchasing decisions to travel movements to tax and financial records.  Sounds scary, and it is.  Now, I'm not one to totally bury my head in the sand.  I can see and can trust that there are secure internet protocols that allow me to purchase something from Amazon with a credit card and not worry (too much) about my personal information.  However, recently, I've experienced, read about, or recalled some events that truly go too far.

Was in a small version of a national chain department store in Stillwater a few months back.  Don't recall purchasing anything and was likely getting information on chest freezers.  While at the counter, a man walked up with a Shop-Vac and a wad of cash ready to purchase.  The cashier announced the total and asked for the man's telephone number.  He said, "I don't want to provide that.  This is a cash purchase."  The cashier said he needed it for the warranty validation.  The man said, "I don't want the warranty - just the Shop-Vac. Cash purchase."  The cashier persisted.  The man responded again, this time with slight bellligerence, "This is a cash purchase.  Take my money or I'm walking out."  He ended up walking out with no Shop-Vac.  I don't know if the staff knew this man and had ulterior reasons for insisting, or if they just have stupid policies.  But, I left their store bewildered that one could not make a cash purchase these days without being hassled for personal information.

Recently traveled to the Florida Gulf coast and back.  While re-fueling at a few Texas gas stations, I was asked to provide a ZIP code after swiping my credit card.  I refused.  It made both of those transactions take three times as long, as I had to do it 'the old fashioned way' by handing my card to someone.  (Wow! That's a new application for the term old-fashioned.)  I was very suspicious of the info request - it did not occur in any other state and there was no stated reason for the info request.  I found out at incident #2 that it was a security measure to make sure your credit card was not stolen.  OOOOO  KKKKKK...... But, why couldn't they tell someone that on the little info screen at the pump?  I mean that little gas pump display has no problem telling me their LOW LOW price on a carton of cigarettes.  Why can't they tell me that their little ZIP code request is to ensure your credit card is not stolen.  Besides, how secure is this little info request when all I had to do to get around it was take the card in personally to a cashier and handle the transaction the slow way.  They didn't ask for my ZIP code or ID in there.  Strange and inconsistent, to say the very least.

The upcoming U.S. census is becoming surrounded by a small amount of controversy.  It seems that the Census has deemed it necessary to collect unprecedented amounts of information on U.S. residents.  I believe the Constitutional stipulation is 'to count the people.'  But, I am told that they now ask questions such as: 1. number of bathrooms in your home, 2. time of departure and arrival for work, 3. phone number(s), 4. your mental stability.  I've heard it is a 28 page form, but the question "What is your citizenship status?" is not one of the questions.  Wow! It truly is an upside down world when the government WON'T ask a question they have every RIGHT to ask, but they WILL ask numerous questions that they have NO RIGHT to ask.  The government leader shining some light on this is Michele Bachmann, a Republican representative of Minnesota.