Periodically, I will mention a software program that I use and love; especially if it is a bargain.

OpenOffice is not only a bargain, it is FREE. It is a suite of programs that includes a word processor, spreadsheet, database, presentation program and draw program. They open and save the Microsoft Office file formats, so you won't lose any files you might already have and you will still have the ability to share files you create with others that use Microsoft Office.

It is free because of the willingness of programmers, writers, designers and users to donate their time and expertise to build a great set of programs. Some really great programs are being created that way. Firefox, the open source web browser, is another example.

I'll continue to update you via the Angus Breeders Resource Pages on insanely great software in the future.

October is really the start of our sale planning. Recently, we've weaned the spring calves, taken data on the fall yearling bulls and heifers and will finalize the plans for our fall AI schedule.

The spring calves really look good. We've gotten some rain to settle the dust and cool things off a little. There will be a nice selection of spring yearling bulls available in our March 2006 sale out of this group.

Last winter was so wet and muddy that the weaning weights of the fall calves was lighter than we'd like, so their final yearling weights might be 25 to 50 pounds less than we'd prefer. The average daily gain of the fall yearling bulls was right on target, so their conditioning is just right. We expect to have an outstanding selection of these older bulls to lead off our sale.

We started soybean harvest last Thursday. We've seen fields that actually got too much rain in August and the yields were lower than fields that missed the storm that came through.

There is a chance of rain tonight, so harvest will have to pause for a couple of days.

Barring a breakdown, we will finish corn harvest tomorrow. The yields are disappointing compared to last year and what we thought we'd be seeing. For our area 100 bu/a dryland corn is a average to good yield. Last year we saw a lot of 120-150 bu/a yields. There was even some 170-20 bu/a yields.

This year we'll probably average 100 bu/a with a range of 80-120 bu/a.

I've made a thousand changes to the site in the past month, but I haven't uploaded them until today.

This is the first post to the news page. It is really a web log, or blog in geek-speak. It is made possible by the Blogger system that provides a framework for the blog.

I'm looking forward to adding all the pages necessary to make the site complete.

Look for the 2006 Production Sale pages in the following weeks.