Getting ready to sell Haynes the bull

I'm going to sell Haynes at the livestock auction on Tuesday.  Haynes has gotten big.  Time for him to go.  I had the other bulls for four years each.  Haynes only three years.  But he is big now.  No sense keeping him another year to get even bigger.

It is a little more complicated this year.   The livestock auction in Missoula closed this Spring.   The next two closest livestock auctions are in Great Falls or Ramsay, MT.   They are close to the same distance away from me.  Great Falls though means driving over the Continental Divide to east of the mountains.  So Ramsay it is.

Still, it is a long drive.

I spoke to the livestock auction and they told me there is a person in Ronan, MT who will haul cattle for $2.20 per hundred weight.  So if Haynes weighs 2400 pounds, the cost would be $52.80.  This is cheaper than driving 446 miles roundtrip.  And would take less time.

I have to get to Ronan by noon on Monday.  That should be possible.

Now, loading the bulls in the past has been a problem.  The bulls have been too large to fit through the loading corral runway and the headgate at the end of it.  

Since the former bulls wouldn't fit, I had to load them by encouraging them to step into the trailer from the open part of the corral.  Here is the post about how hard it was to load the previous bull, Toby.

https://tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/2021/09/toby-is-gone.html

And the story of loading the previous bull, Buddy.

https://tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/2017/08/buddy-has-left-ranch.html

So the loading of Haynes on Monday may be another adventure.  I hope not.

This time I put the bull in the loading corral, not the south part of the corral.  The loading corral is smaller than the south part of the corral.  With Donna's help I got him in the loading corral by noon today.  I left the headgate open as a test today and on Sunday to see if Haynes walks out of the loading corral on his own.  Then I will know he will fit through the headgate and I will put him back into the loading corral to load him on Monday.  If not, then I will back up to the loading corral large gate and then have to get Haynes to step inside the trailer.  I will have Donna and my neighbor Curtis to help me encourage Haynes to get into the stock trailer.  I hope it goes well.

Photos from when Donna and I got Haynes into the corral.

Outside the corral the cattle and calves watched Donna, Haynes and I inside the corral.

Haynes in the loading corral.

As you can see Haynes has his head of hair again this Summer.