Since Buddy's last fence break on Monday I have kept him in the corral. This morning I, with Donna and Paul's help, loaded Buddy into my stock trailer.
Buddy is too large to fit through my normal method of loading, that is, through the loading ramp and had gate. So I used one of the gates between the north and south parts of the corral. First I put up two temporary corral panels in the south corral to make that area much smaller. I put a few apples in there and Buddy walked in.
Then I backed the stock trailer up to the gate. I used the stock trailer door as a block on the right side. I used another corral panel as block on the left side.
I placed apples throughout the trailer's floor. Buddy walked up to the trailer and ate the apples he could reach without stepping up to inside the trailer. Before Buddy could take time to decide to step up, Paul shouted encouragement for Buddy to get in the trailer and waved his switch. Buddy then turned around and walked away from the trailer.
The same thing happened a couple more times before I swung the corral gate and held it behind Buddy to block his backing up. Buddy then put his head on the left side of the trailer against the corral panel. One side of the panel was not secure and Buddy easily pushed the panel out and walked back into the north pasture. The corral gate to the yard was not closed after I drove the stock trailer into the corral and I yelled for Donna to run over and close it quickly before Buddy would see the gate was open.
So we started over.
This time I swung the north/side corral gate this way and used it to block the left side, along with the corral panel wedged against the barn for extra support.
Again we went in 'circles'. I even added a little hay to the apples in the front of the trailer. So I got more corral panels. Eventually we blocked Buddy in where he could only stand just outside the trailer, or step inside.
He stood there.
Rather than waiting longer Donna asked me to go get my cattle prod. By the time I returned after a few minutes Buddy was inside the trailer and the door was closed. While I was gone Buddy decided to step inside.
It would be nice, but not essential, for Buddy to stand in the front half of the trailer with the trailer's divider closed to keep him there. Less movement by Buddy would make for a more stable ride. But he was so big and long I was doubtful I could close the divider. Paul made it his mission to get Buddy in the front part.
I was working on adding a strap against the back of the trailer to better secure the sliding door when Paul thought Buddy was up far enough. I swung the divider closed. The bottom of the divider latched but the top part - which latches a little over halfway up the trailer - did not catch as Buddy's weight and pressure caused the trailer's side to bow out slightly. The latch no longer reached the catch.
I gave up on getting Buddy to the front and went back to the strap. Paul still thought there was a way to get Buddy up front and he wouldn't give up. The next I knew Buddy was trying to turn around inside the trailer.
He got stuck. Fast. Hard. His rear end was wedged against the end of the divider and his head and neck was facing back on the other side of the trailer.
This was bad. Very bad. The trailer was bowed out. Either the trailer would break or, more likely, I was afraid Buddy would either break his neck or something else. Or asphyxiate.
From outside the trailer Paul and I tried to push and help Buddy turn around but we could do nothing. Paul wanted to keep Buddy's head up. As I ran to get something to help us do that Buddy collapsed. He had gotten so tired from trying to turn around he ran out of energy. When he collapsed Buddy relaxed. In relaxing he became un-wedged. Buddy fell to where his body was facing forward again.
He laid there for quite a while.
But by the time Donna and I left for Missoula and the auction Buddy was once again standing. He stood for the entire trip. For the most part he stood still in the front middle of the trailer and looked out either side of the trailer. A few times he moved around. Once he stood against one side of the trailer and looked out the other side. This unbalanced the trailer slightly as I pulled it. Later he backed up and stood at the back of the trailer which again changed the balance of the trailer with all the weight on back of the trailer pulling up on the hitch. This movement was why I had wanted to hire Evan with his large trailer to haul Buddy.
But, driving a little slower than usual, I made it to the auction.
Once I opened the trailer door immediately Buddy slowly backed out of the trailer and carefully stepped down to the ground. He had learned that turning around in the trailer was a bad idea.
There were some other cattle and bulls in the auction's holding pens and this had Buddy's attention and he quickly forgot about me.
The air today was smokier than usual. And as I drove closer to Missoula the air got much more smoky as they had more fires. I couldn't even see the Mission Mountains.
The normal view from June 21 when I hauled Dan's cattle to the livestock auction.
On the left edge of the following photo, above the power lines, you can make out in the smoke a helicopter with a water bucket trailing below. The bucket is the 'dot' just above the top power line.
I started to load Buddy at 8 am. I started my drive to Missoula a little before 10 am. I got to Missoula after 12:30 pm and left the auction by 1 pm. A trip to the Fudrucker's restaurant for a large burger and fries. I was home after 4 pm. I put away the corral panels away and 'cleaned up' the morning work mess. From about 5 pm to 7:30 pm I washed out the trailer and floor mats and washed the pickup. By 8 pm I fell asleep and slept hard till 11 pm when I struggled to wake up. I don't know if it was the heat - near 90 degrees, the smoke from the fires, getting up early, or my blood pressure medicine but I slept much more than expected. I'm wide awake now in the middle of the night.
It appears one of the trailer floor's 2" by 6" boards cracked under Buddy's weight. I'll have to see about replacing it tomorrow once the trailer is dry.
What a day.
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