Haynes delivered to the livestock auction

Today I got Haynes delivered to the livestock auction.   I had planned to start loading him into the stock trailer at 8:30 am.   But I woke up earlier than usual and decided to start the loading at 7:45 am.  I had Haynes in the loading corral's runway by the time Donna and Rascal arrived.  Loading Haynes into the stock trailer was surprisingly easy and we had him loaded a little after 8 am.  We drove off by 8:30 am.

The drive went well.  Haynes was too large to lock him in the front half of the trailer but he didn't move around that much.   He is large enough that you can feel the trailer sway a little when he did move.

It was after 10 am when I got to the stockyards in Ronan, MT where cattle heading to Ramsay is dropped off.  The truckers weren't there yet.  Other people there dropping off their cattle said the truckers usually didn't show up until almost noon.  Another person showed me a pen where I could put Haynes.  I backed the trailer up and unloaded Haynes and he walked down the alley to the pen with an open gate.  I shut the gate.  Haynes was interested in the other cattle that were already there.  There were a couple of bulls in the pen next to his pen.

I left my name and a cattle description of Haynes on a paper in the drop box like everyone else did.   Haynes does not have a brand.  He also had lost his ear tag last year and I never bothered to put a new tag on him.   To put an ear tag on Haynes or a cow I need to put their head in the headgate so they don't move much when I put the tag in their ear.  I wasn't sure Haynes would fit in the headgate so I didn't put a new tag on him.  I hope Haynes doesn't get mixed up with another person's bull at the stockyards.  I'll see once I get the auction results later this week.  The truckers take the cattle placed in the stockyard to the sale and I was told the cattle would be to the auction yard by 5 pm today.

The stockyard I left the cattle at is old.  I guess it works.  I didn't get a chance to walk around it as several people were lined up waiting to unload their cattle and I didn't want to get in their way.

I got home right at noon.  Earlier than when I used to take cattle to the livestock auction in Missoula.  Since it was only Haynes and a short drive, there was less manure to wash out of the stock trailer.

In the loading corral before I loaded Haynes into the trailer.

Haynes at the stockyard.

Rusty rode along with us.

Flathead Lake from near Polson, MT.