Two cows to the auction

Since I plan to keep four heifers as replacements, I decided to sell two cows this year, and the other two next Fall.  I will have a two less calves next Spring.

I decided to sell Beulah as I think she is the oldest cow.  I have had Beulah since 2013 and I was told she was either 4 or 5 back then. She is active and good, but I have noticed she slows down a bit when it is very hot in the Summer. 

The second cow is #60.   This is the cow that severely cut her leg a few years ago and who I saved.  She is a great cow; a nice cow; and has a great udder.  But usually during Winter when the ground is hard, a few times she will limp for a little bit, and I end up putting her in the south corral for a week so she doesn't have to walk as much, or deal with the other cows as she heals as the other cows can be mean.

And #60 is almost the same age as Beulah, or maybe a year younger.  I also have owned #60 since 2013.

It is hard for me to sell these two cows as I really like them.  Even Beulah. Beulah is the alpha-female and the boss of the cows.  She is named Beulah as she was the largest cow I had back in 2013 and being the alpha, she pushed the other cows around.  But she grew on me over the years.  She is not a bad cow, just the boss and leader of other cows.

The auction started at 10:30 am this morning.  It is over a 2 hour drive to Missoula and the auction, so I had to get up early.  Very, very early for me.  Still, I woke up 4 minutes before my alarm was set to go off.

I put Beulah and #60 in the loading corral last night.  And I parked the stock trailer at the end of the loading corral runway.  I was out there a little before 6 am.  I turned the barn light on so I could see better in the dark.

I loaded #60 first.  That is because I wasn't certain that Beulah would fit through the head gate at the end of the loading runway.  If I had to move over to use a gate to load Beulah, I only want to load her and not Beulah and #60.

#60 easily went into the trailer.  I moved her to the front of the trailer and closed the inside gate that split the trailer into two sections.  That way I didn't have to deal with #60 walking back out of the trailer as I loaded Beulah.

Donna arrived at 6 am as I just finished loading #60.  As I walked out of the trailer and through the head gate I ducked. In the partial darkness I didn't duck enough and hit my head on the top of the head gate.  Fortunately it was above my surgery cut.  I broke skin at the very top of my head even though I was wearing a hat.

Then on to Beulah. Thankfully Beulah squeezed through the head gate and went into the trailer.  I shut the trailer door.  That was quick!

I put on a strap across the back of the trailer to ensure the cows can't push part of the back door open.  Better to be safe than sorry.

Donna rode with me to the auction in Missoula and we were on our way at 6:20 am.  Faster start than I expected.  Donna also brought a plate of bars she had made.  Donna's sister now lives in North Dakota and she told Donna that when people bake treats in North Dakota, they prefer bars as the ideal treat.  Since I was born and grew up in North Dakota, and am driving while pulling a stock trailer, I prefer to eat bars as I drive.  We both ate the entire plate of bars by the time we got back to the ranch.  The bars were the only thing I ate this morning.

The journey went well.  No shifting side to side.  The two cows took up the entire trailer.  No room for any other cattle, even small calves.  I could drive faster than when I hauled the bull, but not much faster.  Mainly 50 to 55 mph.  From 6:30 am to 7 am there was much more traffic on the road than I expected.  I didn't get to the auction until a little before 9 am.  In time.  And no other people were there to unload their cattle.  I expected to have to wait in line.

It was 9:15 am when I left the auction and drove back home.  With an empty trailer I could drive faster.  Still, I only drove 60 to 65 mph, not the 70 mph speed limit.  Pulling a trailer I tend to drive a little slower.  I was back home by 11:30 am.  

In the afternoon I spent a few hours washing the manure out of the trailer.  There was lots of manure in the trailer.  And out of the trailer.  Beulah was tall enough that part of the outside of the back door was covered in manure.  You couldn't see the trailer license plate and it got covered in manure. And the strap and strap-ratchet were covered in manure - which made it hard to use to unlock and remove the strap.   #60 had turned around in her part of the trailer and the upper front part and shelf was covered in manure.  That's new to me.  It took some effort to clean that upper manure out.

The upper part now cleaned of manure.

This time I remembered to take a photo of the waterfall near St. Ignatius.   Oh, you can't see the waterfall.  I had a few raindrops as we drove on the edge of a rain system.

Flathead Lake from the south.  By the time we got to the north side of Flathead lake we were back in the sun.