Today I made my first trip to the livestock auction. The auction is this Thursday. But because I have more cattle than can fit in my stock trailer, it will take me three trips to get the calves and the three cows to the auction. My cows are large and if I could fit all three cows in the trailer it would be a tight fit and heavy. I'm not sure I could fit all eleven calves in the trailer.
Today I hauled one cow, Sugar, who is 11 years old, and the two largest heifers to the auction. Sugar fit in the front half of the trailer and the heifers in the back half.
Since the auction is not till tomorrow I didn't have to leave really early. Donna dropped her car off at the repair shop to get the water pump fixed at 8 am. I went and got her and then we started loading the cattle. I had parked the pickup and stock trailer last night so all we had to do was herd the cow and two heifers from the south part of the corral into the loading corral, and then into the stock trailer. We left at 9:15 am.
Donna's dog Rusty came along with us. He was happy to do so.
Traffic wasn't bad as the morning rush hour was over. The weather was decent. I believe we got to the auction two and a half hours later - I forgot to check the time we arrived.
We unloaded the cow and heifers and then we were on our way back home.
This summer I had read about the Burgerville restaurant in Polson, Montana. I wanted to stop there on the way home to have lunch. But... we found out they were closed for the season.
https://flatheadbeacon.com/2023/07/16/at-richwines-burgerville-a-legacy-of-good-food-and-good-times/
https://www.richwinesburgerville.com/
I like eating at the Hot Spot Thai Cafe in Polson. But a sign in the front window said they were takeout only now. Huh?
We looked around and many places were takeout only. Then we found a Pizza Hut and that was open. So we had a pizza for lunch.
When we got home I borrowed Donna's pressure washer for a quick clean of the trailer's floor. I'll do a better cleaning tomorrow after I haul the calves.
I had one slice of pizza in a carryout box and I had left it on my porch. After I did the wash of the trailer I went to have the pizza. But... no pizza. Rusty appeared to have found, then ate, the pizza while I cleaned the trailer. Rusty!!!!
The pickup and trailer are now parked in the corral. I put the calves into the loading corral this evening. Tomorrow will be a very early start as the auction starts at 10 am. So all we have to do is get the calves from the loading corral into the stock trailer and then be on our way.
The previous night before putting the stock trailer in the corral I discovered the floor boards had enlarged and one board had popped up. The boards appeared to have swelled after getting wet. So I had to cut an inch and a half off one board to get it to fit. The board was really hard to cut with my circular saw as the wood was hard and wet/damp.
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| Sugar. |
West of St Ignatius, Montana. The Mission Mountain Range. A little north of here is where my pickup broke down last November when I was returning from the livestock auction.
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| Mission Mountains. |
I had let the grass grow in the loading corral. The calves have this to eat tonight when they are in there.
I hope my trip to the auction tomorrow goes as well as it did today.
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