Got cattle?

Friday I bought 12 head of cattle: 6 steers and 6 heifers.

The Missoula auction had their feeder cattle sale on Thursday but Dan and I couldn't make it down to Missoula. So I called a local cattle broker, Rich, who I sold my cattle to last Fall. It turns out he had some cattle that met my wants: cattle in the 500 to 600 lb range.

As Dan was in town Friday I asked him to look at the cattle with me. With years of cattle experience Dan can easily tell if the cattle were good quality or not. I don't have years of experience so I have to think and think when looking at the cattle's traits: head, neck, frame length, rear, hair, tail (no rat tailed cattle!), etc.

The cattle are very good quality. Most of the cattle are from the same herd, a few heifers were not.

So I bought them.

Rich told me he wants to buy them back from me in the Fall when I sell them.

6 black steers averaging 553 lbs each.
6 black, and black with white faces, heifers averaging 563 lbs each.

One heifer has mainly a white face, 1 heifer is white faced except for black around its eyes (I think I will call that one "Bandit"), and one white face heifer except for around its eyes and across its nose (like a black "W"). "W" is a girl so I guess "George W. Bush" as a name won't work. One has a narrow white rectangle from the top of its head to its nose. No idea on a name yet.

The steers are all black except I believe one has a small white spot on its forehead.

I also had Rich vaccinate them with 8-way Clostridium and Ivomec shots to keep them healthy and prevent worms. The 8 way clostridial vaccine protects against Blackleg, Malignant Edema, Sudden Death Syndrome, Redwater, Black's Disease, and types B, C and D Enterotoxemia.

According to a web site that sells the vaccine,

New York and Rhode Island residents must hold a Certificate of Need from the State Health Department.

Due to state law, modified-live (avirulent or attenuated) pet vaccines/biologicals can only be sold to residents of Minnesota upon the prescription of a MN-licensed veterinarian.

Good thing I no longer live in Minnesota as some of the ranchers I know around here just do this themselves. And why the need for a prescription, most literature recommends vaccinating cattle with this stuff. This is just another example of how Minnesota doesn't trust its citizens to do the right thing.

Well, now that I bought cattle I needed to get them home. Good thing I had already owned a stock trailer.

The problem is that I dumped a full pickup load of logs in front of the trailer last Fall. I figured a thief would be too lazy to move the logs to steal my trailer over winter when I was in North Dakota. I was right, but I was also lazy as I hadn't moved or split the logs into firewood yet this year.

My excuse is that I was waiting for my uncles visit when I would put them to work.

After moving the logs I hooked up my stock trailer to my pickup. My first stop was to fill the trailer's tires with air as they were low.

When I approached my first stop sign the brakes squealed loudly. A man walking along the road ahead of me quickly turned around at the sound. Guess he may have thought the squealing tires meant an oncoming car crash?

The squealing declined the more I used the brakes. I hadn't used them before as this was the first time I used the trailer since wiring the pickup for lights and brakes.

At Rich's place the steers and heifers were in separate pens. I doubted that I could fit all 12 animals in my trailer. I loaded the heifers first.

The step up into the trailer is a big one so I closed a gate behind them and waited a minute until one decided to step up into the trailer. Once one did, the others also did one by one. The cattle easily fit into the trailer with room for a few more, but not six more.

Even though I took the back roads for the most part there was traffic, traffic, traffic on the roads. Friday afternoon is bad for traffic in the Valley - and the tourist season hasn't even started yet!

At one point I moved well over when passing a bicyclist on the narrow road. As I returned to the right lane the trailer started to sway. Then sway more and more. I don't know if it was just the moving back and forth when passing or if the cattle in the trailer started to mill that caused the swaying, or a combination of the two. I was able to slow down and get everything back under control. Looking in my rear view mirror I noticed the black SUV was no longer tailing me closely. She was now giving me lots of room.

I unloaded the heifers into the loading corral. That was so I later could drive through the main corral to turn around to unload the steers without having a heifer escape through the gate.

During the drive to get the steers I noticed the rear trailer tires locked up once after I used the brakes. Tapping the breaks freed the tires. Hmmmm?

The pen the steers were in had a huge water hole in front of the gate. I had to work my way around it hugging the corral fence at times in order to reach the gate. I slipped in the mud and almost fell into the water. Fortunately I caught myself by grabbing the corral fence. *whew!*

During the drive home the trailer wheels once again locked but came free after tapping the brakes again.

However, when I started from the stoplight and turned onto Hwy 35 the left tire was locked. I had a long line of cars behind me and this was the highway. A busy two lane highway. The tire slid a ways before I could get off the road. I got the wheel moving again. But at the intersection to Hwy 2 they locked again. By the time I could get off the highway I could see the tire was ruined.

The tire was still locked but I was only a few miles from home so I decided to drive on. I had a trailer with cattle and I didn't want to leave them and the trailer. The trailer has 4 tires and the other tires were working correctly. The tire began to smoke from being drug along the road. You wouldn't believe all the cars that pulled up along side me, rolled down their windows, and leaned over to tell me my tire was locked. Many cars.

"Yes. I know. I am almost home."

I was so glad to get off the highway. By now I found going in reverse, then forward, unlocked the tire. It was too late to save the tire but at least I wasn't dragging a smoking tire behind me. Just a thumping flat tire.

I unloaded the "boys" then parked the trailer. The "girls" wanted to be with the boys and were mooing. I let them out of the loading corral and they ran to join the boys. Then they all ran to the opposite corner from me. Another year, another group of cattle to train to relax around me.

Cattle usually like to immediately check out all the boundaries of their new location. These cattle weren't this way as they were content to munch grass in the back corner. As the grass is just beginning to grow I put out a number of hay bales for them to eat, but initially they preferred the grass.

Their one water trough had water in from the winter snow. I got a brush and scrubbed the trough clean and emptied the water. I also found the boards and dirt that had supported the tough and kept it level no longer did so, so I had to fix that before filling the trough with water. I also brought over the second water trough to the corral and filled it with water.

Now to my trailer wheel. I jacked up the trailer and removed the wheel. Next week I will buy a replacement tire.

Since I had the water hose in the area I washed out the stock trailer. I guess my driving and the bad wheel 'encouraged' the cattle to go to the bathroom. All over the place.

Ya know, my aunts and uncles are visiting in a few weeks to see what Montana ranch life is like. I am trying to think of things for them to do. Cleaning out a stock trailer would be a good ranch activity. But I decided I didn't want to wait several weeks before cleaning my trailer. Guess I'll have to find another 'fun' ranch activity for my uncles to perform.

I did think of another use for my stock trailer. With all my uncles and aunts visiting it will be a tight fit with everyone riding in my car. I think I can use the stock trailer to haul them around to see the sights - there will be plenty of room in the trailer and the trailer is very clean now.

The cattle have no brands. Also no ear tags. I'm going to tag them before I release them from the corral next month.

I have a head gate now to make the tagging job easier. I just need to install it. It is big and heavy enough that I need help to install it.

Note to self: email uncles with a request for them to work out before they visit so they have the strength to help install the head gate.

Here is a photo of the head gate laying down against a roll of snow fence. As you can see the gate is not a light little thing.