I sold two cows as next year my replacement heifers will calve. The cows sold were Red and #110. Red as she is one of my older cows, and is large. 110, because she is the cow that always initially rejects her newborn calf and I then have to put her and her calf in the loading corral runway for a day so she doesn't move and her calf can drink. I have another cow older than 110, but I am tired of 110's behavior even though 110 is a nice looking cow and always has nice calves.
I got the two cows into the corral yesterday afternoon; then into the loading corral at sundown. This morning Donna came to help me and we loaded the cows by 6:30 am as it didn't take long. I made sure the back trailer door was locked. I also put on the strap across the door to be on the extra safe side.
When it was time to leave the corral my pickup struggled. The grass is very wet from the rain the past few days and the pickup's tires wanted to spin more than move. But I finally got out of the corral.
I was on the road at 6:37 am. A little earlier than usual. But that was fine. Donna was going to have her propane delivered and a pipe installed to the tank today so she didn't go with me this time. Oh no! No cell phone person along with me! But the trip went well and was uneventful. Two cows were just right for the stock trailer as they almost filled it. If I had to, maybe I could squeeze another calf or two in the trailer with the cows to pack it. The two cows had a little room to move, and they did at times. I could feel the trailer move when the cows moved.
I got to the auction by 9 am.
After I unloaded the cows I fixed the problem with Sugar, the cow I sold last week. Sugar had a brand. I had a bill of sale (which also listed the brand) from the former owner and gave it to the auction and brand inspector's office last week I took Sugar there. But the brand on Sugar was to the owner before the owner I bought Sugar with. The brand inspector prefers that livestock sold, even between two people, is handled by a brand inspector. So the brand inspector also wanted documentation from the person whose brand was on Sugar. Another wrinkle - according to the brand inspector - was that there were two brands on Sugar. Right next to one another. The brand I knew about was AW. I thought Sugar's brand was an odd "A". The inspector claimed the "A" had faded and the other brand was an "H". Okay... The inspector said he talked to the "H" brand owner and it wasn't a concern as that brand owner didn't know anything about this, or gave his blessing.
As for the AW brand owner, I happened to have the bill of sale between him (Al) and the person I bought the cow from as that person had given me that bill of sale in addition to writing me a bill of sale between us. So I gave the brand inspector the older bill of sale and then he was finally good with me selling the cow and released payment to me.
The brand owner is 84 years old. The person I bought Sugar from is now 91 years old. Apparently both are still alive.
*Sheesh* What a pain. Thankfully Sugar is the last cow I owned who has a brand. The others are without a brand as I don't have a brand and they are cows I had raised from replacement heifers.
I'm not keen on the brand. It looks it would have been painful to have been branded with this brand (or two?). Years ago I considered getting my own brand for my cattle. Now... I don't think so.
Here are some photos from the return trip home.
At home I pressured washed to clean the stock trailer. Just two cows, but it took longer to clean the trailer than the other two times this year. That is because Red - who was in the front half of the trailer - turned around and her manure almost filled the ledge at the front of the trailer as Red was tall enough.
The ledge area only has a small opening where the wiring goes from top to bottom. The opening is on the left side. The trailer, due to how it was parked, leaned right. So the watery-now manure didn't want to drain.
After I had cleaned the trailer.
To get the manure and water to drain I drilled a few small holes on the right side. Still, draining was a pain as this manure had lots of fiber in it. Even though the manure was watered into liquid, the fiber would catch and clog the holes. Finally after some time I got the ledge drained and cleaned. Cleaning the trailer took me a little under three hours, longer than normal.
But now the trailer is cleaned and is drying. Today was cold and cloudy so drying will takes some time and another day.
I'm getting softer as I get older. I miss these two cows already.
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