Cows into the hayfield, wood burning stove, and shrinkage

Recently it has been cold outside.  A few mornings ago the overnight low temperature was 13 degrees.  And high temperatures only in the 40s.  Inside my house it was getting colder.  48 degrees inside the house feels cold.   Last night I finally took the time to fire up my woodstove for the first time this Fall.

Earlier this week I let the 6 cows and Muscles go into the front yard to eat the grass down.  And they did.  Later when I mow the grass it will be easier and quicker to do.

Laying in the sun earlier this week.

Now that I took the calves to the auction, and the front yard is eaten down well, and also the pastures, I let all the cows - the cows in the yard and the cows in the pastures - go into the hayfield to eat the grass there.  I left Muscles to be in the corral and NE pasture.  That is because he walks slowly and the walk to the river may be long and hard for him.  And the other cows can push and shove and he could get hurt by them.  When the cows from the yard came into the pasture, Haynes the bull came running over to greet them.  Haynes is a lot smaller than Diamond and Maria.

The early livestock auction report I just received shows cattle prices down a little this week from last week. And the prices my calves sold for looks to be less than I expected.  So it appears I will get less money than I expected. I'll see next week when I get the check.  Another year of making little to no money after expenses.

The steers weighed more than I expected.  They weighed 675 pounds each.  The 4 heifers weighed less than when I weighed them last Friday.  About 30 pounds less each, at about 525 pounds each.  I've heard talk about "shrinkage" when it takes time to transport the cattle to the auction.  So that's how much "shrinkage" can be.