dmesg seems broken

[Chris H]

Greetings,
 I'm building RELENG_9 recently. I installed, and updated source,
last night. I've just built world, and kernel. After (and before)
kernel install. I've found I'm missing from 14 to 40 lines from
the top of the dmesg(8) output. In either /var/log/messages, and
in /var/run/dmesg.boot.
Where can I get that information? Where was it sent? Why am I
not allowed to view it?

Thank you for all your time, and consideration.

--Chris