2011: cattle sold

My cattle are gone.  Evan came and got them on Tuesday.  The cattle were sold at the Missoula Livestock Auction on Thursday at the big 'Coming off the Grass' sale.  Evan got Dan's and my cattle a day early due to all the cattle he was hauling to the auction.  It was ok as the auction fed the cattle hay for the extra day (at my cost).

Earlier Evan told me that he would come at noon to get my and Dan's cattle.  Normally the cattle took their siesta from 9:30 to 11:30 am in the hayfield near the house.  This day they decided to break from their routine and took their siesta in the SW corner of the hayfield.  *sigh*  So I had to take a pail of apples out to them and entice them to follow me back to the corral.  That wasn't hard.  They were so excited at getting apples that I had to take care they didn't knock me over.  One of Dan's big steers - Number 21 - so wanted apples he tried to curl around me to reach the apples in the bucket and one time he stepped on my foot.  I wasn't wearing my steel toe boots so I felt it.

Before getting the cattle I prepared the corral with apples. I had gotten more apples from my trees and my neighbors' trees.

All but one of the cattle easily entered the corral to get the apples.  One of my heifers didn't want to go into the corral.  "It's a trap" she moo'd to the others to no avail.  Finally I had to go and herd her into the corral - to which she didn't want to go.  After a few back and forth feints that I cut off she finally turned and entered the corral.

Evan called shortly before noon and told me he was just leaving Missoula and would be here in 2 and 1/2 hours.  Oh!   So I gave the cattle more apples.

When I only had a few apples left I then got some hay bales and filled the wooden feeders.  The cattle had a long journey to Missoula and I wanted them well fed and watered.


Here are some before (when I got them) and after (the day they left) photos.  First are the two heifers with some of the Pinzgauer breed in them.

The 'before' photos show their long thick winter coat.  But here at the ranch they lost it quickly and got nicely sleek and gained weight.

The all black heifers got sleek also.

Here is an example of ringworm in cattle.   One of Dan's cattle was still healing after getting ringworm.

While the cattle were in the corral I had kept the horses out.  First the two fillies came and found the cattle in the corral. They whinnied and the two older horses came running from back in the pasture.  They came to a stop with a surprised look on their faces when they saw the cattle in the corral. The two fillies went to the two older horses and seemed to encourage them to "do something!".  They couldn't do anything but stand and watch.

One of the fillies tried to use her leg to push open the gate.  I think she had watched me open the gate because she went to the part that was latched.  But she couldn't get the gate open.  If she had gotten it open I am sure she would have tried to chase the cattle out of 'her' corral.

Here is why I moved the head gate and fence back 8 feet and tilted the gate and the end of the fence to one side.  Evan has a long stock trailer.  Evan still didn't have a lot of room in the corral to maneuver, but with the extra 8 feet he was able to get into position with one try.

With all the hay and apples the cattle were content by the time Evan arrived.  A half dozen just wanted to sit or stand around and were not enticed by my latest bucket of apples.  I didn't want to make a big scene and yell and get them worked up so some just stood around and looked at me or only would take a few steps when I gently herded them.  Evan had to come and help me get them into the loading part of the corral.

Once the cattle were in the loading part of the corral they loaded fairly easy.  In fact, while Evan and I were filling out the cattle transfer paperwork some of the cattle went into the trailer.  They did come back out of the trailer by the time we finished the paperwork.  It wasn't too difficult getting them loaded once we started the process.

I didn't go down to Missoula for the auction.  I got the check today and I made money on the cattle.  When I bought the cattle I paid one price for them based on an overall average weight even though the cattle weren't uniform in size. I was just happy to find some cattle to buy.  At the auction the cattle sold in four sections based on weight.  Usually the heavier the cattle, the less per pound they get.  However my heavier cattle were the all black cattle and the lighter cattle were the brockle-faced heifers or were the two that had some of the Pinzgauer breed in them so they actually got less per pound than the heavier all black cattle.  I need to remember this when I buy cattle again.