Girl Power!

Did we mention how many great heifers we have this year? We usually don't want to put too many in our Fall sale, however there were just so many good ones to pick from this year, it was too hard to cut anyone....so here they are!

Barker Cattle Company 2017 Club Calf Preview, Saturday October 14 10am-5pm.
Come join us for lunch and stay for a while and visit. 

 It's nice at the end of the day to get chores done, pause for a minute and look at all your hard work in one place. We've been spending a lot of time getting things ready for our Preview Day this weekend, but when we look at this picture, it reminds us that we do need to take time to look around and appreciate all that we have. A beautiful valley to live, work, and spend time with our family doing the things that some people only read about in books or magazines. We hope to have a good group come visit us on Saturday and enjoy this with us as well.  Weather forecast is saying it will be cold, so grab your jacket and don't worry...Kay will have plenty of good food to keep you warmed up!

Two happy people that all the steers & heifers are clipped, pictured, & videoed! 

A few more for the Line-up!

We're getting a few more done every day in between hunting times, that is! As we're going down through the Line-up, we are pleasantly surprised as we clip and picture them. There seem to be more good ones clear through. Check them out for yourself!

Meet Big Bertha! Lot #11 EA812. She should've been a steer with the markings she has and powerful back end, but could raise some cool clubbies for someone in the future. 

We told you the calves were only getting better & better as time is progressing. Here's the proof. 

Lot 1 EX131 One In The Chamber. He ripples when he walks, he is just full of natural muscling and depth! 

What a STUD! Lot 2 ES865 Ready To Roll to someone's house that wants a quality package. 

Lot 47 E804 Unstoppable with her red coloring you gotta love her look! 

Lucky #13 could be your winner! Lot 13 that is...ETH221 One In The Chamber sire. 

 

Little Pooh Bear! Lot 14 EM8, came to the corral early as his mamma didn't have much milk. We knew he could make a great club calf, so we started him on grain and he's done great! 

Lot 20 EZ55 General Lee x Mercedes Benz

Lot 18 EK50 Another one that came to the corral early because his mom died. He definitely catches your eye. 

Lot 19 K77 Kahuna. His mom broke her leg as a heifer, and we babied her back to health. She has produced showcalves for years and we're sad to say this will be the finale. 

Lot 21 EW114 General Lee 

Lot 50 EX72 Ready To Roll Heifer. Really like her!  

Showcalves on Parade!

We've been trying to gather cows off the Forest Permit and didn't quite get to clipping and picturing as many of the calves as we had hoped to have done by now. A week of rainy days didn't help our situation either as it's taking us longer to clean them up and is a real job to keep them clean for pictures. But, when you get them all together they're shaping up to be a nice line up and we're liking what we're seeing so far! Let us know who your favorite is!! 

 In the meantime, we'll be working on getting a few more done every day and hope to have them all videoed by next Saturday and on the website Monday. C'mon over if you want to dig in and see what it's all about! 

Lot #44 EB50 is a favorite in the heifer pen with her blaze face and super stout look. And a nice disposition to top it all off!

We use whoever is handy in the picture pen, so if you're skipping school, this is where you might end up! Her Dad was telling her don't move....

But it's just too hard to hold still & not scream when it's that close to you!! Not sure who was the most scared!! 

And then he walked over and gave us this shot! Lot #3 EX62 A view from Behind...Just in case you couldn't see how thick he was from the side profile! 

Successes!

Congrats to Kylie Kunzler with Lot 1 DZ500 No Surprise steer purchased from our online sale last year. You did a great job feeding and working with this steer. Congrats on your 3rd place overall finish at the  Utah State Fair.

Kylie Kunzler with Lot 1 DZ500 No Surprise Steer

 Fall work continues on gathering cows in to get ready for weaning time. The feed has dried out, and with so much grass out there we hope the fires will stay away. Not sure if we want rain though because 3rd crop of hay still needs done up.

Cloudy Day Cowboy on the Mountain

Doctoring in the field.

Pre-Vaccinating bull calves

Mountain View from the other side of the valley.

Summer has come & gone

Well, it seems that Summer has come and gone and now it's on to Fall. The time goes by faster & faster but maybe that's because the work never seems to be done on a Ranch. We're starting to measure what is happening next by how many crops of hay are left to put up.  We did have a good summer though and here's a few pictures of some highlights.

Congratulations Grace Smith! Also won the Cassia County Supreme Champion with this pair. Purchased the Sm x heifer from our Bull & Female Production Sale in 2016 and bred to PB Angus Insight. Very nice Bull calf on this cow. 

Congratulations to Kamri Ottley with Reserve Champion Heifer Calf in Cassia Heifer Futurity. PB Angus heifer out of Now Look. 

Clipping has begun for picturing showcalves. Date has been set for Preview at the Ranch on Oct 14 and Online Sale Monday, Oct 16

. 

This guy is COOL! Not sure what color you call him exactly, but Pooh Bear does fit him for sure. 

Nice Looking White Chocolate Heifer.  We have a good variety of Popular Sires and colors this year! 

We enjoyed having the Brun Family come visit us from Mt. Hood, Oregon and look through the show calf prospects. We always like to have visitors come to check out we have to offer. 

Congratulations Fair Winners!

Way to go Adams Family! We are so excited to hear your good news and know that your hard work paid off for you in the end at your Fair. We hear there are some more winners around and hope to have some more pictures soon.

Oakley & Saydee Adams won 1st & 2nd in Fitting & Showing. 

2nd Reserve Steer (Quality) Lot 19 steer Michigan sire from last year's club calf sale

Saydee 1st Reserve Steer (Quality) Lot 22 steer Man O'War sire from last year's club calf sale

The Finished Product

For most of us, the Fair is coming up soon and it's fun to see the finished product and what they turn into in the end. Here are a couple from our Showsteer Sale last year. If you have some pictures be sure to send them to us so we can post your progress as well. 

 

Lot 8 DP222 No Surprize

Lot 8 DP222 No Surprize Steer shown by Rance Allen. Mom reports, this steer has been a "baby". We knew he just needed the right home and some TLC. (born partially blind)

Lot 2 DR32 No Surprize

Lot 8 DP222 No Surprize Steer shown by Rance Allen
 Lot 2 DR32 No Surprize shown by Randa Allen

Headed to Lincoln County Fair Next Week. They are Finished! Good luck!! 

Lot 16 DA105 Man O' War

Check out how this late April born calf fed out! Lot 16 DA105 shown by Brodey Ottley.

Lot 9 DX56 Itallion Stallion

He had hair then and still kept it! Going to be a fun one to get ready for the show.  Lot 9 DX56 Itallion Stallion shown by Kamri Ottley

And let's don't forget the new addition that joined Braden & Aubrey Ottley! Welcome to the Ranch- Kinlee Sue born on June 29th.

Traditional Memorial Day Branding

    The Barker Family gathered to the Elba Valley for a reunion this weekend. Looking in on this group, you could see all seasons of life reflected. From an expectant mother to be in 4 weeks; a new baby that had everyone's attention; toddlers in saggy diapers climbing the slide over and over; kids with missing teeth running around like their energy would never run out; teenagers with cracky voices, funny hair-do's and band-aids covering up pimples; college kids and returned missionaries sitting in the adult ring;  an anticipatory bride & groom ready to be married next week; young parents always on the watch for their kids who were running free; vacationers in motor homes; a few in the 50 and under club thinking how nice it was to sit for a minute; some in the 50+ club wishing they could get out of their chair; and some on canes that didn't used to be. They reminded us of why we were there... because they started this tradition and family bonds are important and everlasting. It didn't quite seem the same without Ginger & Wally, but the tradition of getting together and enjoying one another's company was still present ,and memories were shared of Aunt Ginger around the camp fire. Our thoughts and prayers are with the James family at this time. We love them all.

Sticky smores for Kendall!

            Mike & Tammy even brought out the cotton candy machine and made a sample for everyone to enjoy!



It wouldn't be a true Memorial Day if we didn't have some branding to do. We saved a little bunch of 50 head just to make sure there were some to do. The crew that shows up are die-hards you have to admit. For those who it is their first time, it's always fun to watch them as they get their first smell of branding smoke or watch the castration process. It's also pretty good entertainment to watch the kids try to rope and some get tromped as they try their hand at steer wrestling. The things we do every day we tend to take for granted as just another day. But for those who are getting to ride the horses trailing behind the cows or getting to throw a loop over a calf's head, it's a new type of adventure. We enjoy having them come to remind us of that every once in  awhile. Life is good!

Cash has him in the headlock position...or maybe not!

Call moves in to take over...but who is the toughest? 

Offering assistance are Cooper and the dogs Jake & Annie.

All business! 

Concentration is key

The proper way to handle Dectomax. 

Bring it!

Fence Supervisors

Come back...

Thank you to the Memorial Day Branding Crew!