Cattle gone

Though I had gone to bed at 2:30 am I woke up after 6 am Tuesday without an alarm. I was wake and ready when Rich called at 6:30 am. I checked and the cattle were still in the corral. Rich didn't have to bring his horse.

I had a few apples and both of the cattle easily followed me into the loading corral. I had the cattle in the loading corral by the time Dan arrived at 7 am. While we talked and waited for Rich I saw Dan's heifer jump the gate between the loading area and the ramp. I didn't noticed when it jumped back into the loading area. All of a sudden Dan's heifer jumped the wooden gate and got out of the loading area and into the main corral. Naturally it broke the top board of the gate as it went over it.

The sound and sight of Dan had freaked out his heifer and she was starting to get wild eyed. I had Dan get out of sight. I did a quick fix on the gate. With a few more apples I again got the cattle back into the loading corral. I leaned tall boards against the gate with the boards standing above the gate to discourage any more gate jumping out of the loading corral.

Rich had arrived by this point and I had him back his trailer up to my head gate. First I had to remove the extra post over the main corral's gate that the heifer had broken the previous day so Rich could drive through to the pasture and turn around.

Once Rich had parked the trailer I had him and Dan move out of sight. Then I led the cattle into the loading ramp, then gently herded them into the trailer. No problem when I did it and it didn't take very long.

That done we drove to Rich's place to unload the cattle, sort all the cattle between Dan and I, then sort each of our cattle by sex. Rich has a good cattle dog and he was eager to help. Sometimes too eager as he sometimes got in the way, else chased the cattle when he didn't need to. Rich had him trained well as he responded well to Rich's verbal commands.

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that this dog was hornier than all get out. When Dan and I rode to Rich's place with the first load of cattle I had to share the extended cab of the pickup with this dog. I have no idea why this dog was so aroused. Sharing the pickup seat with this dog was no fun.

The cattle weighed up less than Dan and I expected. My cattle gained less weight on average than my cattle the previous years. 185 lb on average vs 200 and 201 lbs the prior years. Maybe the reason was that I had the cattle a few weeks less this year. Maybe it was because the cattle were lighter when I first bought them and these lighter cattle may not be in the sweet spot where they gain weight as rapidly. Maybe the very hot weather contributed leading to a lessening of the cattle's appetite.

Less weight means less profit. And the spread between buying and selling the cattle was a little larger this year. I made money on my cattle, but not as much as prior years. Disappointing as one always wants to do better each year.

I had the option of taking the cattle back home for a few more weeks, but that wasn't a strong option. While I still have green grass, this late in the season the cattle won't gain much more over a few weeks to make the hassle of transporting them across town and back again worth while.

That's the way it goes.

It has been only a couple days now but I still look for them in the pasture when I first go outside or walk by a house window that looks onto the pasture. It takes a few days to get accustomed to that they are gone.

Photos:

Damaged gate from the previous day after I stood on it to straighten it out. I also had used a sledgehammer on it to help straighten it. Still to do in this photo: drilling and bolting pieces together, and adding a few metal pieces to hold broken or almost broken pieces together.


I used roping lariats to hold the weak posts together so the cattle doubling up would not bend them outward. See the narrow jagged board on the left side? That board wasn't there and the pole below it was hanging down to the level of the board beneath it. That opening is where Dan's heifer jumped out of here the previous day.


Shortly before 7 am with the cattle in the holding area of the loading corral. Dan's heifer has the green ear tag. The second photo has Dan's heifer looking through the break in the snow fence. Wonder what she was thinking? Jailbreak?



At Rich's corral the cattle turned their backs on me.


A 24 foot trailer makes transporting the cattle easier.


Photo of Rich when we were sorting the cattle in his corral before the weigh-in. Dan would cut one or two from the herd at the end. Rich would take heifers and I managed the gate for steers.