Fresh Start

Sometimes in life we reach a point where we beg to get a fresh start, a new outlook on life.  Whether it is in our jobs or with the situations we are in.  Livestock kids know this feeling the best.  Whether it is selling that one that has been the sweetest and the most fun to go work with and it just about breaking your heart. Or it is turning that show heifer out to pasture to be a cow that has been the biggest pain since you started showing her at three months old.  We all have those and life throws those moments at us each day.  2014 had been a crazy blur in a lot of cases, and there are many memories I would just assume leave here, but at the same time the great memories are here too.  Each moment you get a fresh start and if you mentally decide that you are going to take the positive route then you choose a fresh start. After the crazy year that it has been here, I have taken some time to really focus on who I am as a person, as a coach, and just in terms of life itself, I have been countlessly reminded how blessed I am.  Whether it is the farm, my amazing family, my readers, my friends, and last but not least my kids.  We each choose our path, I hope that you can find the path less traveled, and sometimes dimly lit, that is the one that will lead you where you want to go.

With that being said, let's get back to this fresh start.  I am so excited about the year that is before us.  I have a great group of kids, we have added new families to the team, and we have added new members to our working side of the team.  We have new and exciting things to come in 2015, but we are going to kick '14 out with a bang.

If you have been struggling, whether it be with your new calf not cooperating just the way that it should or you have been unable to locate that one that fits your operation please contact us.  Whether you are near or far we have options to help make this years goals become reality.  For the kids in my group already, be watching your challenges are coming and if you think I pushed you last year you haven't seen anything yet!

The lesson that is going to go along with this blog is one that is a tough one.  Whether you have grown up around showing livestock or are new to the game there is always some underlying life lesson that you don't even realize is happening until many many years down the road.  One of those is show friendships.

When you travel and show as much as we have over the years there are families that you become close to, families that you stall with every year on the show circuit, or at the county or state fair.  These people become your friends and you find yourselves in "off - season" counting down the days until you see them again every weekend.  This is where the lesson comes in. At the stalls everyone works together, as multiple families travel together you learn when to stay out of the way of the proverbial "family - moment" or when it is good to try to step in and help, but what happens when you show up and they have a calf in the same division as you, or one that you are going to to end up showing in the same class as all year.  Or, you have changed showmanship divisions and suddenly you are showing against each other all weekend long.  How as a young person does that get handled?  Well let me tell you, it isn't easy.  When you walk to the ring side with this friend that you have come so close to you prepare in the same way, when you walk in the ring you go out there to compete the best way you know how, don't worry varying opinions of judges could change the outcome from one ring to the next, and when you come out you congratulate one another and nothing has changed. The key in all of this is never sacrifice your ability to make someone else happy.  Everytime you walk in that ring you drive like it is for the big win.

This is your chance at a fresh start, be sure to give it your all, and contact me for any all of your livestock coaching needs! Be Keeping an eye out for some exciting announcements and changes coming to KALS!