Farm auction

Today I went to a farm auction a few miles down the road.  Not common these days as there are less farms around.  And in December of all times.

They had irrigation pipes at the auction and I hoped to buy some more to have another backup line.  They had 500 irrigation pipes.  Handline irrigation pipes.  People these days use wheel lines or pivot lines for irrigation if they can. Handlines are work and not as poplar. Who wants handline pipes these days?   So I thought I would be able to get some of the pipes.  Especially with that many as they sold in around 12 lots from 33 to 100 pipes in each lot.   But a number of people showed up.  And they wanted irrigation pipes.  I was outbid time after time.  I can get some pipes from my irrigation guy for $45 a pipe.  Many of the pipes sold for around $50 or more.  And the valves and fittings sold for a lot.  Everyone I talked to were surprised the pipes sold for so much for used pipes.  $10 more than they expected for each pipe.

They also had some farm equipment for auction.  Nothing I needed or wanted, but it was interesting to see for what tractors and other farm equipment sold for.   Again, for lots.

Pretty much all the other ranchers and irrigation people I know in the valley were there and I caught up with what was going on with them.

I drove my Ford two-wheel drive pickup.  We have had only 6 or so inches of snow so far and some melted. So not much snow. We had to park in a field.   And my pickup had a little trouble in spots.  I didn't have a shovel along with me and at one point when I couldn't move forward or backwards I was fortunate to have two men push as I tried to go backwards, and after a few attempts I was able to go.

A nice day even if I didn't get any items at the auction.

Some of the irrigation pipes.

Cattle into the hayfield, and heifers that were sold

This morning I let the cattle into the hayfield.  The pastures are pretty much eaten down and the hayfield grew nicely after the second hay cutting.  The last week's overnight low temperatures have been in the mid to low 20s so the grass and alfalfa aren't really growing anymore.  And I won't be asked if I plan on doing a third hay cutting of my field. 

Before letting the cattle into the hayfield I gave them a bag of apples.  It is near the end of apples are most have fallen from the trees.

The two smaller animals in the back are the heifers I am keeping.

Now, into the hayfield.

My heifers were sold at auction on Friday.  I did better than I expected. They weighed 510 pounds each and sold for 2.97 a pound.  I got more for my heifers than I did for my steers.  That was a first for me.  And this was the most I ever got for heifers.   A handful of other sellers with heifers near my heifer's weight sold for a little over $3 a pound up to 3.16 a pound.  But I was near the high end of the market.

Heifer calves to auction

This morning I hauled my six heifer calves to the stockyards in Ronan so they could be taken to Ramsey, MT for the auction on Friday.   It is easier to do than before when I hauled cattle to the auction in Missoula.  I have less to drive and I can start loading the cattle later when it is light outside and not dark.

I had told Donna that I would start at 8:30 am.  But I woke up earlier and then started earlier.  The calves were very cooperative this morning and followed me from the south corral to the loading corral and then walked into the stock trailer.  I had the calves loaded and had just driven out of the corral when Donna and Rusty arrived.  I put a rachet strap around the back of the stock trailer to better hold that back gate in place and we were on our way.

At the stockyard I saw that it had improved it since I was last there in August.  A new unloading area.  They got rid of the wooden fencing and put in metal poles.  Much of the other parts of the corral were improved.  New fence boards.  New and more gates.  I didn't notice any bent gates.  A nice job was done and I no longer worry about a cattle breakout from the pens.

When unloading my calves I met a couple from Eureka for whom this was the first time here and they weren't sure what to do.  They initially thought I may be a worker who transports the cattle to the auction.  I explained what they had and should do and helped them unload their calves and place them in an empty pen.

Then I was off to back home.   I recently bought a pressure washer so I no longer have to borrow Donna's pressure washer.  I put mine together and used it to clean my stockyard.  It worked well.

Here is my loading corral.  I put the railroad ties outside the gate to make it easier for the cattle to step into the stock trailer.  My trailer is a touch higher so I can back up to the open gate.  Tony's and Leah's trailers were not as high and they could only back up to the railroad ties, and not over the ties.  With a little gap between their trailers and the gate I would stand a wooden pallet on one side and the other person would stand on the other side so they cattle wouldn't try to turn and squeeze through the gap instead of going into the trailer.

My trailer must be just above the railroad ties.  Today after I loaded the calves and went to drive away the trailer rubbed on the railroad ties and it took effort to drive away.  That never happened before.  The dirt may have gotten lower this year.  I may move some dirt here or maybe trim the railroad ties to be a bit shorter.

At the Ronan stockyard heading to their pen.

In their pen at the stockyard.

A larger view of the stockyard.  Other cattle were already there.

Flathead Lake during the drive home.

Now to see what my calves weigh and what I will get at the auction.  Hope for the best.

Haynes delivered to the livestock auction

Today I got Haynes delivered to the livestock auction.   I had planned to start loading him into the stock trailer at 8:30 am.   But I woke up earlier than usual and decided to start the loading at 7:45 am.  I had Haynes in the loading corral's runway by the time Donna and Rascal arrived.  Loading Haynes into the stock trailer was surprisingly easy and we had him loaded a little after 8 am.  We drove off by 8:30 am.

The drive went well.  Haynes was too large to lock him in the front half of the trailer but he didn't move around that much.   He is large enough that you can feel the trailer sway a little when he did move.

It was after 10 am when I got to the stockyards in Ronan, MT where cattle heading to Ramsay is dropped off.  The truckers weren't there yet.  Other people there dropping off their cattle said the truckers usually didn't show up until almost noon.  Another person showed me a pen where I could put Haynes.  I backed the trailer up and unloaded Haynes and he walked down the alley to the pen with an open gate.  I shut the gate.  Haynes was interested in the other cattle that were already there.  There were a couple of bulls in the pen next to his pen.

I left my name and a cattle description of Haynes on a paper in the drop box like everyone else did.   Haynes does not have a brand.  He also had lost his ear tag last year and I never bothered to put a new tag on him.   To put an ear tag on Haynes or a cow I need to put their head in the headgate so they don't move much when I put the tag in their ear.  I wasn't sure Haynes would fit in the headgate so I didn't put a new tag on him.  I hope Haynes doesn't get mixed up with another person's bull at the stockyards.  I'll see once I get the auction results later this week.  The truckers take the cattle placed in the stockyard to the sale and I was told the cattle would be to the auction yard by 5 pm today.

The stockyard I left the cattle at is old.  I guess it works.  I didn't get a chance to walk around it as several people were lined up waiting to unload their cattle and I didn't want to get in their way.

I got home right at noon.  Earlier than when I used to take cattle to the livestock auction in Missoula.  Since it was only Haynes and a short drive, there was less manure to wash out of the stock trailer.

In the loading corral before I loaded Haynes into the trailer.

Haynes at the stockyard.

Rusty rode along with us.

Flathead Lake from near Polson, MT.

Third trip to the livestock auction

Today I went to the livestock auction again.  My third, and last, trip for the year.

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.

Second trip to the livestock auction

 Today I made the second trip to the livestock auction.  Donna and I started loading the calves at 6:30 am. 

It was dark. I turned the barn light on.  I wore the headlamp Donna had given me a few years ago.  Donna brought her headlamp but then found that the battery was dead.  I could find the calves in the loading corral as their eyes shined in the light. 

It was a little slow going as the calves didn't want to go down the runway to the trailer.  Then after the first few got into the trailer they turned around and wanted to come back out.

 At one point the red steer, who was in the narrow part of the runway, tried to turn around.  He was in a U-turn position and got stuck.  To get him out of the position I had to help him turn around.  Then I had to let him and the rest of the calves out to the back of the runway where it was larger so everyone could turn around.  Then we went back again to get into the trailer.

Calves in the trailer were trying to get out.  So in the trailer I got the calves to the front half then closed the gate.  It was an effort to close the gate.  I found out later that 5 of the calves, not 4, were in the front half. So they were packed in tight.  Now, not having to prevent the calves from coming out, we were able to get the last 4 calves into the trailer.  The trailer was full.  I could not fit anymore calves into the trailer.  Fortunately I did not have any more calves.

Donna slid the trailer door shut.  I climbed out of the corral, then drove the pickup and trailer out a bit so I could put a belt/strap across the back of the trailer. 

We left at 7:15 am.  We had a good drive to the auction in Missoula.  We got there by 9:40 am.  When it came time to unload the calves I discovered that the trailer's back sliding door was partly open.  Good thing I had put the belt/strap across the back of the trailer!   The reason the door slid sideways was that neither Donna or I had slid the bolt to hold the door in place.  Yikes!  This could have been bad.

The cow I had brought to the auction yesterday has a brand.   She is one of the few cows left that I had bought.  The rest of the cows I have are/were my replacement heifers.   Cows with brands need paperwork.   I had paperwork when I bought the cow back in 2016.  But they felt the paperwork wasn't enough or correct.  I was told the cow has 2 brands.  Two?  I only saw one; and the paperwork only has one listed.  And one of the brands wasn't in their list of brands.  They wanted more paperwork.  I still have the previous owner's paperwork from when they bought the cow.  I hope that is enough.  What a pain.

When we got back home I looked in the hayfield to see the cattle.  I couldn't see any.  What?  They have been in the hayfield constantly other than going to the river to drink.  I looked and looked.  No cattle.  Did they take off to go find their calves?  Finally one stood up and I could see where they were.  They were in the far corner of the hayfield laying in the shade. It can be hard to see black cattle laying in the shade.

Without the calves the ranch seems different.  Empty and quiet.

Flathead Lake on the drive home.

Here is the bolt that wasn't put in place after the door was slid shut.

This was about how far the door slid sideways.

Once home I used Donna's pressure washer to clean the manure from the trailer.  It seems as if not everyone keeps a clean stock trailer.  I want to buy a larger stock trailer.  Which would be a 5th wheel trailer.  In the auction parking lot trailers of other buyers were sitting there.  Donna and I looked at some of them.  I looked inside the trailers as I wanted to see what their floors looked like.  They were all covered in manure.  One trailer's manure was dried and curled in a few sheets of manure.

After I cleaned the trailer I saw the floor boards had shrunk.  Here is the board I had cut narrower so it could just fit.  Now there is a small gap.

The trailer mats are also cleaned.

Later in the afternoon I went for a bicycle ride.  I hadn't been riding this week, and with the two days of sitting during the drive, my waist and hips tightened up and got sore.  It was hard for me to bend over and pick stuff up off the ground. Getting old sucks.  During my bicycle ride I found an identical (other than the color) belt/strap I had used to fasten the trailer back door.   That's a coincidence.

First trip to livestock auction this Fall

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?

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g45310-d1213772-Reviews-Hot_Spot_Thai_Cafe-Polson_Montana.html

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.

The two heifers.

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.

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.