Its beginning to look a lot like....

Well I do not want to say Christmas yet, because I am not near ready for it to be here. But I am excited about the fact that I only have 3 full weeks of class left for the semester. Then there is Thanksgiving break, Dead week, and Finals week. Oh how I dread the two weeks of nothing but reading and studying. But I am so glad that I finished all of my group projects and they went well. Now I am left with only one paper, one speech, and four tests before finals. That is a BIG sigh of relief. I am more than ready to get home for a month of Christmas break and work out in the mud and weather and maybe get a little, scratch that A LOT, of riding time in. Although this will be my last Christmas break ever, barring going back to grad school.

I had a group debate in one of my classes and the topic was Animal Identification; specifically the implementation of the National Animal Identification System. It was really difficult to fully disagree with the implementation of a mandatory animal idenficitation sysyem. There is no appeal to me in the government stepping in and controlling yet another factor of the cattle industry. I really hate to see the cattle industry turn toward streamline production but there really is no way around it. Larger operations will prevail because they have more resources to withstand financial hardships and the lows that come with the markets. The smaller operations naturally cannot withstand those times as easily. But it is my background and anyone would be proud of and standup for their upbringing. There was one guy on the other team that continually harped the fact that smaller operations were just going to have to suffer and shut down at the expense of the industry's well-being and that was just the fact of the matter. It really was a low blow to me because that is where I come from and what I believe makes up a vital part of the industries diversity and success at maintaining heterosis in commercial cattle production. In fact if you think about it almost all of the cattle in the US are maintained on commercial and a large number of those operations are smaller operations.

As I finish up this semester and as I will begin my last semster in college in January, I am desperately looking for the job path that will fit me best. I want to be a part of a cow/calf and/or stocker operation that will allow me to work with the cattle and the producers around the area. And of course it would be great to move close to home to be able to do that, but it just doesn't seem very probable.  Maybe someday I will find that opportunity to get my own herd and have the best cattle in the county. Someday....