Toby pushing

Saturday evening when I fed the cattle Toby was making a fuss at the gate by the barn feeder.  Red was eating from the barn feeder and Toby was trying to get his head through the gate to smell her.  He couldn't fit through the gate and Red was getting annoyed at the attention and moaning from Toby.  Red just wanted to eat hay.  Occasionally she would turn her head to the gate and let Toby know to back off and leave her alone.

This morning when I fed the cattle I saw boards loose from the corral fence. Toby had pushed against the boards and loosened the boards from one railroad tie post.  Because I had wire also on the boards everything held together.

Toby and all the cattle were where they were suppose to be so no one got through the fence.

I re-nailed the boards to the railroad tie post and added more nails in the boards.

Formerly I had a line of steel pipe nailed to the fence line here so pushing of the boards would not happen.  However the yearling calves pushed and pushed on the steel pipes and broke them off the fence this Winter. They also bent some of the pipes and broke the connections where the pipes screwed into one another.

I have seven railroad tie posts and I was able to re-hang pipes on four of the posts.  I also was able to bend the pipes straight again, but I didn't come up with a way to connect the pipes together again, so that is why only four of the posts have pipes attached to them.

Below is how the pipes are fastened to some of the posts.  Not the greatest as the calves had broken some of these fasteners and they couldn't be re-used.

With no other metal fasteners I ended up nailing some small boards to create a fastener.  I'll see how long this last if the cattle decided to push on it.

Yearlings and barn door

In my initial livestock auction results page it appears I did fine in selling my yearlings.

Here is another reason it was time to sell those yearlings.   If I left the side barn door open slightly for Daisy to enter the barn the yearlings figured out how to undo the latch.  One time I found one of the yearlings inside the barn eating from the hay bales inside and the other yearlings lined up at the open door trying to get inside the barn also.

This is how I lock the side barn door.  The yearlings would unhook the latch but could not figure out how to get the chain out of the catch.

This is how I 'fastened' the side barn door when I want to leave it open slightly for Daisy to enter the barn.  The yearlings would get the hook out of the chain and then open the barn door.  So I had to quit leaving the side barn door open slightly for Daisy.

One of the yearlings.  He was checking out the barn door when I came to take a photo.  At the auction he and the black white faced yearling weighed 825 lbs each as a pair.  I think this one was a bit over 825 and the other was a bit under 825 lbs.

Yearlings to auction

Today I took the last of my yearlings to the livestock auction in Missoula.  Three steers and one heifer.  It is nice to finally be done with them as it will make life and handling cattle a bit simpler.  Now to find out how much cattle prices are lower due to the coronavirus pandemic.

I started loading the cattle 15 minutes earlier, at 6:15 am, than I did two weeks ago.  I still left home about the same time and arrived at the auction about the same time.  The timing was still good.  The weight of the yearlings seem good and my trailer felt heavy so naturally I was driving a decent amount below the speed limit.  Less than a half hour from Missoula I was passed by a large pickup and large stock trailer.  When I arrived at the auction that trailer was just pulling out of the unloading area and I immediately was able to unload my cattle.

Today was rainy most of the day.   Light rain when I loaded my cattle.  Off and on light to heavy rain during the drive to Missoula.  No rain when I unloaded my cattle.  Off and on rain during the drive home.  So the mountain and lake photos during the drive home do not look the same as two weeks ago.

Mission Mountains on April 9.

Mission Mountains today.

Looking north towards Flathead Lake on April 9.

Flathead Lake today.

East side of Flathead Lake.

January 28, 2021 calf?

Yesterday I mentioned cow 60 seemed to be in heat, and then I put her into the south corral.  This morning I found the corral fence broken.

It appears Toby the bull pushed off two boards and broke part of the longer board he couldn't push off the fence.  I had built the corral fence to keep cattle in the corral.  I never thought I would need to keep cattle out of the corral.

Guess where cow 60 was?  Out of the south corral.   Either she was mounting cow 110, or cow 110 was mounting cow 60.  Beulah got into the act and she was trying to mount the bull.  All these females were going crazy.   The bull must have impregnated cow 60 as he no longer had interest in cow 60.  If cow 60 was impregnated then her calf will be born either on January 28 or January 29, depending on which guide I check.   I am not happy.  March and early April this year had January temperatures and snow and it was a hassle for calving.  I was hopeful next year March and April would go back to normal.  Now the end of January I may have a calve born.   Usually when an older cow has a calf they don't come into heat until 45 to 55 days later.  Cow 60 came into heat 34 days later.

So I had work to do this morning.

As you can see in the previous photo not only did cow 60 get out of the corral, but calf 70 (and another calf) came into the south corral.  Also Mama and another cow came into the south corral.

Mama in the south corral

Also two yearling steers and the yearling heifer got out of the south corral.

So I had get the correct cattle out of the south corral and the correct cattle back into the south corral.  And did they want to cooperate?  Some did, some did not.  The calves and yearlings especially were a pain.  Normally they want to go through a gate when you don't want them to.  Today when I wanted them to go through a gate, they ran away from the gate.  I tried to get one calf and his mother out of the south corral.  Usually the calf prefers to be near the mother and it is easier to herd them together.  Not this time.  The calf would run everywhere else in the south corral but nowhere near his mother.  Donna was getting annoyed with me as I was talking to the cattle and calves telling them what to do and what not to do.  Donna told me the cattle and calves don't understand me and it was pointless to tell them what to do.  Well... I had to give the cattle and calves a piece of my mind and tell them what to do or not to do as I was tired of chasing them around and around.  I had lots to do that morning and I was getting annoyed.

Also on the agenda:

1.  Feed hay to the cows and bull.
2.  Put a new large hay bale into the south corral to feed those cattle.

Eventually all the cattle were fed and sorted.   This time I put the bull into the south corral and let cow 60 and her calf be in the other part of the corral.

Then I fixed the corral fence.

Fixed corral fence

I had an extra section of wire mesh and I nailed to one of the corral fence sections.  I had fixed the fence last September and nailed wire mesh to some of the corral fence sections.  I seen the bull remembered the fence section he had broken last September as he tried to push off those boards.  The wire mesh helped as only one board was partially loose.

On the to-do list, get more of my wire mesh and nail it to the other four corral fence sections.

By the time I fixed the fence most the cows and calves were starting to relax.  I stitched several photos to make a panoramic photo.  The stitching made Mama in the center look odd as she was walking when I took several of the photos with her in them.

Cow 60 is no longer in heat. That, and the fact Toby now has all the hay he can eat, led Toby to eat, lay and relax.  Since cow 60 no longer wanted sex Toby went back to his normal behavior.

What a morning.

Cow 60 in heat

Last night I saw Toby eyeing Cow 60.  This morning before I fed the cattle Toby was keeping close contact to cow 60.  When I fed them hay Toby and cow 60 went to eat hay.  While cow had her calf March 17, a touch over a month ago, some cows can come into heat again earlier than usual.  I haven't seen the two cows who had calves before cow 60, come into heat yet.

Donna came over at 1 pm to help me get cow 60 and her calf into the south corral to be with the steers and away from Toby.  We found Toby and cow 60 laying right next to one another.  Have they already had sex and are taking a break before doing it again?

While they got up and were close to one another while moving around I was able to get the corral gate shut quickly to separate Toby and cow 60.  I kept Toby out of the corral while Donna and I herded cow 60 into the south corral.

Cow 60's calf was harder to herd into the corral, and then into the south corral, especially when Toby wanted to come past the gate and into the corral when Donna had the gate open.  Eventually we got the calf into the south corral.

Toby meanwhile was walking along the corral fence and gate and moaning for cow 60.  At sundown he was still moaning and walking.  He checks some of the other cows more frequently and some are getting annoyed by his behavior.

In a day or two cow 60 will be out of heat and I can let her out of the south corral.  Eventually I want to put Toby into the south corral, but I am waiting until I get the steer calves out and to auction later this week.  Until then I am much more careful about being in the corral with Toby nearby.

Always something to make more work.

Where is my cow in heat?

Looking at cow 60 on the other side of the gate.

Cow 60 and her calf

Speckles and her calves

Whose left?

I got up and went out at 6 am this morning to check on the new calf.  Speckles and her calves were laying in the roofed area.  Cow 80 and her calf were not in the roofed area as they were laying next to the metal hay feeder.  They were laying on hay as the cows pull some of the hay off the bale and then next to the feeder for the calves to lay on.  80's calf was fine.

I have three cows left to calve.  Mama and Diamond were late having calves last year so they will be late again this year.  I expect Mama to calve the end of May or early June.  Diamond should calve in early August.  That leaves Maria left to calve.  She should calve anytime now.  But we'll see.  I remember that I saw the bull interested in Maria and trying to mount her this past Winter.  That is late to be bred.   I wonder if Maria lost her calf and needed to be rebred, or whether the bull was confused as to whether she was in heat.  I'll eventually will find out once she has her calf.  Maria looks pregnant but she is also very fat.  Older cows can be harder to show signs they are close to giving birth.

Maria

Calf 15 - 80's

This afternoon another calf was born.  A heifer was born to renamed cow #80.  A first time mother.  The timing was good.  Nights are cool.  Last night it rained much of the night.  In the morning I saw traces of snow in the shade of several large trees.  But today was sunny and by afternoon it felt kind of warm.  So the timing was right.

By late afternoon the wind was blowing and a chill was in the air.  Near sundown, even though I was in the tractor and harrowing my middle pasture, it felt colder as we lost sunlight.  At sundown I walked the new calf into the roofed area by the barn.  I hope she stays in there tonight and keeps warm.  While the forecast is not predicting a record low temperature tonight for Kalispell, a low temperature in the mid 20s will be getting close.  Some day (hopefully next week as our forecast predicts) our temperatures will warm up to be April temperatures and not January or February temperatures in April.

I've been busy and lately have not gotten my 8 hours of sleep each night.  When ear tagging the calf it tried to move and stand up as I straddled the calf to keep it in place while I tagged her ear.  The calf is small but strong and I was a little tired.  So when the calf moved and tried to stand I was knocked over and off the calf.

Even though a first time mother, cow 80 seems to be attentive to her calf.  That is good.

Retagging a cow

#90's calf from last year pulled her ear tag out of her ear a few days ago.  You can see the hole in her left ear.  I was going to come up with a new ear tag number for her anyway as her, her mother, and her sister all have the number 90.  Since cow 80 was sold I retagged this cow with the number 80.

This cow was born without a tail. That is why I kept her as a replacement heifer.  I wouldn't have gotten much of anything at the livestock auction as the buyers don't bid much on cattle that seem to have an "issue".

This cow still has yet to have her calf.  Any day now.

Calf 14 - Panda's

Panda had her calf around 9 am this morning.  Everything went well.  The timing was perfect as the sun was shining, little to no wind, and the temperature was rising.  Panda had given birth in the corral.  When I first saw her and her calf, the calf was trying to drink.  With Toby checking things out, and other cows in the corral, sometimes the calf got confused and tried to drink from someone other than his mother.  Panda was on top of things and would get her calf back over to her.

The calf is male.

Sunny Thursday, cattle, and repair work

Thursday afternoon was a sunny and warm day.  Finally!    Friday was a cloudy day but almost as warm.  Tonight an artic front is predicted to arrive and stay the weekend.  Weather forecast is not good.  I still have 5 cows left to have calves.

From the livestock auction's market summary it appears I did well considering the market this Spring.  My calf weighed 905 pounds, about what I predicted.  My cow was the heaviest cow sold at the auction.  She weighed 1810 pounds.  I knew she was large, but she weighed more than I expected.


Here are some photos from Thursday afternoon of Speckles, Red's calf, their calves and last year's calves back in the corral.  Most were sleeping until my hammering repair work woke them up.

Yes, she is still alive.  She is just sleeping really hard.

Even the mother cow is sleeping.

Now that I woke the mother and calf it is time to drink.

Do you have to stand in the feeder?

Both of her calves are drinking at the same time.

A corral fence board was knocked off Thursday afternoon.  I imagine Toby the bull did it in order to check on one of the cows in the corral.  Last year he did something similar.  To the right of the opening you can see where I nailed wire fencing to the corral fence where he had pushed the board off last year.  If Toby is going to do this again I guess I will have get more wire fencing and nail it to the corral fence.

I also pounded a few steel posts in the ground by the salt feeder.   The cattle have gotten into a habit of tipping and flipping the wooden feeder over.  Often they flip it over and on top of the salt block.  The cattle have gotten into the habit of doing this every few days.  So maybe these posts will stop the wooden feeder from being flipped.

Two for the sale

This morning I took several of my cattle to the livestock auction to sell.  I took cow #80, the cow that lost her calf last month.  She was one of the three cows I had planned to sell last Fall before my accident put the selling plans on hold.  Since 80 lost her calf last month there is no reason to wait to sell her.  The other two cows I plan on selling recently had calves so their sale will wait till later this year once their calves get bigger.

Since I had some extra room in the stock trailer, and since this sale was a cow and feeder cattle sale, I took one of the steers.  Steer #55.    The next cow and feeder cattle sale is in two weeks and I plan to take the rest of last years calves to that sale.

Usually I take the calves a day before the auction and pay the auction to store and feed the cattle overnight.  This time I took the cattle the morning of the auction as the auction doesn't start the sale now until 11 am.   To make the cattle loading quicker I prepared mostly the night before.  I put the cattle in the loading ramp part of the corral the night before.  I hooked up the trailer to the pickup, tested the lights and checked the tires' pressure.  This morning at 6:30 am all I had to do was drive the trailer into the corral, back it up to the loading ramp, and load the cattle.

The loading went smooth and quick.  I put the cow in the front half of the trailer, closed the dividing gate, and put the calf in the back of the trailer.  I was on the road by 7:08 am.  I was down to the auction in Missoula by 9:30 am.  Since the auction was a feeder sale in addition to a cattle sale, and the auction claimed some people said they were going to bring a few hundred head of cattle, I expected that I would have to wait in line to unload my cattle.  But there was no other stock trailers when I arrived.  By the time I finished unloading my cattle there were two stock trailers waiting to unload their cattle next.

I didn't see or hear many cattle in the holding pens so maybe the sellers didn't bring their hundred of calves to sell.  I'll find out once I later get the auction listing of what cattle were sold.  Once I unloaded my cattle I headed back home.  Even though I only had two cattle in my trailer on the drive to Missoula I could feel the weight I pulled.  Driving home the trailer felt light and the driving went quicker.  I was home by noon.

My pickup was the cleanest I can remember.  Donna helped me load the cattle and then rode with me to Missoula and back.  She wanted to ride in a clean pickup, not a dirty and dust covered inside-and-out pickup.  The previous day she spent quite a bit of effort and cleaned my pickup inside and out.

I am happy to get rid of cow 80 as, since she was one of the larger cows, she was a bully to many of the other cattle. Also she wanted to eat the hay chaff and seeds over the hay itself.  She figured out which feeder I swept the remaining hay into and always she would initially go to that feeder.  To get to the chaff and fine stuff cow 80 would use her head to push out the hay from the feeder so she could lick all the chaff from the feeder.  This annoyed the heck out of me, especially when the ground was wet and mud.  That hay would somewhat get ruined and uneaten by getting wet and muddy.

Calf 55 was also annoying at times.  Instead of just standing at a feeder to eat hay, he preferred to stand with his front legs in the feeder and on the hay to eat the hay.  Muddy hooves made muddy hay.

Now in a few days I will find out how much my cattle weighed and how much they sold for.

Once I got home I washed the manure out of the trailer and cleaned it and the trailer's floor mats.

I forgot to take photos of cow 80 and calf 55.  I did take photos of the mountains and lake seen during the drive.

Mission Mountains

Mission Mountains

Looking north towards Flathead Lake on the drive home.

Swan Mountain range getting closer to home.

Calf 13 - Red's calf

Red's calf - who doesn't have a unique number id or a name - had her first born calf this afternoon.  While she didn't have her calf when I checked a few hours before hay eating time at 6:30 pm, she had the calf a little before hay eating time.

A heifer.

While Red's calf is a Red Angus calf the newborn calf is black, like Toby.

The calf appear to be drinking from her mother and is doing well.  Again, another strong calf when it came time to ear tag her.

I put Red's calf and her calf into the south corral to be with Speckles and her calves and the steers.  That is because Red's calf is a first time mother and being separated from all the other cows probably would let Red's calf bond with her calf better.  While Red's calf seems to be bonding with her calf ("Yes, this is my calf."), at times it seems like she trying to understand that she is a mother ("Is that really my calf?").   So I put a few corral panels around the barn's roofed area so Red's calf and her calf can be alone together and not be interrupted by Speckles or the steers tonight.

A few hours old and already Red's calf's calf is much larger than Speckle's twin calves, Maude and Sally.

Red's calf was eating hay when I took the following photos.  It is Speckles and one of last year's heifers (Mama's) checking out the newborn calf.

Today I did not fall out of the pickup when I tossed hay into the cattle's metal feeder.