A cattle barron

I'm back in the cattle business! My trip to Missoula was successful!

Dan and I left earlier this morning: 6:30 am. Oh, so early! It was a beautiful morning and was light outside already when we left. As we drove through the Mission Valley sunrise was nice over the white mountain tops.

We arrived around 9 am and found the auction was to start at 10 am. This gave us time to wander through the holding pens to see what cattle were for sale. Not as many cattle as last week. Last week they sold 801 head. This link is to the auction's current sale summary, along with a photo showing the sale ring at the bottom of the page. I think they had far less cattle this week. This didn't bode well for me to find what I wanted.

We came across a pen with the two Texas longhorn cows that I saw last week. Only it was just the two cows; their calves were no longer with them. I was still impressed by their horn's size.

Nothing looked to be what I was looking for: steers, or maybe heifers, in the 500 to 700 lb weight categories. But then we found a pen with 25 all black cattle. They were nice looking cattle. They weren't separated by sex so it was hard to tell how many were steers and how many heifers. I preferred steers as they command a higher price when selling. The disadvantage is they also cost more to buy.

I wanted 12 head. I didn't know how these 25 would be sold. I knew the auction would sell the steers and heifers separately. The weights looked to be similar so I wasn't sure if or how they would split them by weight.

My concern was I wouldn't get 12 head. Dan was unsure if he would buy any cattle and I was concerned about only getting 3 or 4, which wasn't a full trailer. While Evan factored in weight when charging a fee, there still was a minimum fee for gas and time. How will this auction go? Will I be able to buy 12? 12... not more... not less.

As we sat in the seats and waited for the sale to start an employee asked us if we wanted her to turn on the heat.

The sale started with the slaughter bulls and cows and the prices seemed to be down from last week's prices. As the sale went on the room got warmer and warmer. I had a late night and an early morning. I started to fall asleep in the warmth. Eventually the heat got to others and they shouted for an employee to turn off the heater, which he did.

Around 11:30 am the black cattle we had seen now came through the ring. They were broken into groups of 1 or 2 or 3. What to do? I didn't want to go down the path of 1 or 2. When 3 came through at an average weight of 677 lbs Dan said I needed to decide. These were heifers and not steers, but I had no idea how many steers would come though. I bid and bought them. 3 down and 9 to go.

After a couple more cattle came through the ring they brought in 9 heifers. 9! The number I needed. They were all heifers but by now I didn't care. They averaged 566 lbs - a good weight. They were a lower weight than my earlier purchase which meant a higher price. One of the cattle buyers was also determined to buy them but I won out. The auctioneer gave me the option of taking 5 or 6 or whatever. I bought them all.

Good. Done.

Another advantage to the heifers I bought is that they all had been wormed and given 8-way shots. These 25 head were the only cattle mentioned as having this done. Good. I don't have to work them and can just turn them out to pasture.

By now Evan had shown up and was down in the ring helping move the cattle out the exit door after they were sold. Good. My transportation can be arranged. This day is going well.

Some smaller weights around 300 to 500 lbs came through in one or twos. Dan's brother wanted a few to go with others he had at that weight and Dan got 4 total, one at a time. All were heifers.

Then the auction broke for lunch. Dan and I stayed for lunch. Let's see... the menu was hamburger, hamburger, hamburger, hamburger, or roast beef. Hmm... why would that be?

A quick word with Evan over lunch and he said he could haul both Dan's and my purchases and still had some room left in his trailer. Hmmm...

A few more calves then the auction turned to selling cow/calf pairs. Most were sold as a pairs, but if the price wasn't high enough they split the cow/calf and sold the cow for slaughter. These cows tended to be older and bony. One old cow had a huge bag with oversized teats. It didn't look like her calf was getting any milk as it was a tiny scrawny thing. It was better to split them up and put the calf on a cow who just lost her calf, else bottle feed the calf.

Dan had his eye on three older cows with nice looking calves. Last week he wanted to buy similar cow/calf pairs that sold very cheap - but with no transportation he passed. Today he bought the three cow/calf pairs as they sold cheaply. With some extra care the cow should gain weight and come fall he can sell just the cows close to what he paid for the pair. Or at least that's the plan!

After Dan bought the old cow/calf pairs, from down in the sale ring Evan gave Dan a look. After the sale was over Evan commented 'he transports the animals and doesn't guarantee they will arrive alive'. Dan asked Evan if he didn't know how to give CPR?

After the sale I wrote a big check. My money is now walking around on four legs. Now to wait till Fall to see how much, if any, money I make this year. As I bought only heifers, I plan to call my 'herd' of cattle, "my harem".

Evan will bring the cattle tomorrow morning. Early. I should head to bed now so I will be ready when he comes.

Oh yeah... I heard the other day on the radio that a television producer from France is looking for three ranches in Montana that would host some people from France for a week or two to be on a French reality TV show about ranch life in Montana. Hmmmm.... I now have cattle... I could use some help with fences and painting... "Yes, repairing fences all day is life on a cattle ranch!"