Missoula tractor trip

Today Donna and I drove down to Missoula, MT.   Missoula is where I usually go to sell my cattle at the livestock auction.  Today, though, I went to Missoula for a different reason.  For the last few weeks I have been looking at tractors and mower conditioners.   My New Holland haybine has seen its better days and I want something new to cut my hay.  Over the years hay cutting equipment went from swathers to haybines, now to mower conditioners. 

Once I get a mower conditioner I will talk and show how they are different.   For now, the one difference I will mention is that mower conditioners require more tractor PTO horsepower to run the machine.  70 hp or more.  My tractor's PTO hp is 65.   Not enough to run a mower conditioner - though some people say I could use my current tractor to run a mower conditioner if I cut the hay slow.  No, I don't want to.  I don't want to cut my hay slower or risk a problem with the mower conditioner or tractor in doing so.  So that means a slightly larger tractor.  And that is expensive.

I am looking at two brands of tractors and mower conditioners.   John Deere or Case IH New Holland.  The two dealerships had the tractors I want/need at their Missoula branch, not the Kalispell branch.  I want to see the tractors in person before buying.  I've been trying to get to Missoula for a few weeks now, but between my schedule, Donna's schedule, or the weather I haven't been able to get to Missoula.  The John Deere dealer already had a mower conditioner in Kalispell.  I didn't ask, then told them they didn't have to, but they decided as I wasn't making it to Missoula last week they brought the tractor here to Kalispell.  I looked at it last Friday.  Today Donna's and my schedules and the weather worked and we were able to drive to Missoula.  Because Donna can get carsick riding long distances if she is a passenger, she drove.  So I saw the Case tractor and mower conditioner.  Now I have an idea how I want to proceed and what I prefer.  I just have to a little more work to do, so perhaps next week I will have things settled.  I'll let you know.

Of course, I took a few photos at my typical favorite viewpoint of the Mission Mountains along the way.

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.

Two cows to the auction and trouble

Thursday, November 3, I took two cows to the livestock auction.  They will be replaced by my replacement heifers I am keeping.   The cows were Maria and Speckles.   Maria, because she was one of the older cows.  Also because she was the largest cow.  Speckles, because she had the vaginal prolapse this Spring, and is more likely to suffer that next year before giving birth to another calf.

Speckles.  She weighed 1200 pounds.

Maria and her calf.  Maria weighed 1975 pounds.

I am keeping Maria's calf as a replacement calf.  Her calf was born mid-June.  That is why I kept Maria and her calf until now instead of selling them early October when I sold the calves and Mama.  I wanted a little extra time for Maria's calf to drink her mother's milk.   If I had known we would get this snow the day before the auction I would have sold them a week earlier.

I have a Chevy pickup and a Ford pickup.  I usually use the Ford pickup to pull the stock trailer as it is a 3/4 ton and has a larger engine.  But it is a two-wheel drive pickup and the Chevy is a four-wheel drive pickup.  Due to the 7 inches of snow I needed the four-wheel drive pickup.  Even with that pickup I had trouble pulling the stock trailer when in the corral due to the snow.

I loaded the cows into the stock trailer earlier than usual Thursday morning.  After putting Maria's calf into the south corral to be with the other replacement heifers I was on my way at 6:30 am.

As I drove down the road my pickup was making louder noise than usual.  The noise, quiet back then, had started last year.  I had my neighbor Curtis ride last year with me to listen.  He thought it was fine.  This past August when I had the mechanic fix the pickup's starter module I also told him about the noise.  When I picked up my pickup he said he thought it may be due to rust on my pickup's front wheel hubs because I don't drive the pickup much.  Drive my pickup more and the rust and noise may go away.

I drove on because switching the trailer back to the Ford pickup with a loaded stock trailer would be risky.  Unloading the cows back into the corral and switching pickups would be a problem as I wouldn't be able to pull the trailer out of the corral due to the snow.  Maybe the rust and noise would go away down the road.  So I continued on.

The sound didn't get louder miles down the road so I continued on. 

The snow had stopped the night before.  The roads were clear.  South of Flathead Lake there was less snow on the ground. Around 2 miles south of the lake there was no snow on the ground.  They had never gotten any snow.  That made driving better.  Mainly I drove 40 to 50 mph.  I only drove up to 60 mph a handful of times when I was driving down a long steep section of the highway.

I made it to the auction at 9:10 am.  A longer than normal drive.  I unloaded the cows and was back on the road at 9:30 am.  With a lighter trailer I could now drive 60 to 65 mph.  The pickup still made noise.  Maybe a touch quieter than before.  And it was better to not have Maria move around the trailer which occasionally caused the trailer to sway slightly causing me to slow down.

Going up the second "hill" - north of Ravalli - was when things quickly went downhill for me.

At the top of the hill the noise was louder and the pickup could only go as fast as 40 mph.  St Ignatius is a very small town with a population less than a thousand people. And any repair shops?   Maybe I can make it to Ronan, Montana and a repair shop there.  Ronan has a population of less than two thousand people.

I didn't make it.  I made it as far as where the word "pickup" is on the map.   I was driving slower.  There was a house on the side of the highway.  Normally the few houses around were way off the highway.  And this place had a wide driveway where I could fit my pickup and stock trailer as the highway's shoulder was barely wide enough to fit my pickup and trailer.

I don't own a cell phone, and due to Donna's recent illness she - and her cell phone - wasn't traveling with me.  Fortunately a woman was home due to her baby and small child.  I was able to use her cell phone.   I have State Farm roadside assistance and I called them.   Because I don't drive much I only have active insurance on the pickup I am driving, and I suspend insurance on the other pickup.   The previous day I have reactivated my four-wheel drive pickup's insurance by talking with my local State Farm insurance agent.  Guess what?  The national State Farm insurance company didn't know the local agent reactivated my pickup's insurance.  They thought it was still suspended.  So I was on the phone with my local State Farm insurance agent, a national State Farm employee, and a State Farm roadside assistance employee.   In the end I had to pay for the tow of my pickup and stock trailer, and after the national State Farm got the paperwork from the local employee, State Farm said they would reimburse me.   The cost for 11 miles: $757 dollars. Crazy expensive for some reason.  We'll see if State Farm sticks up to their word.

I didn't know of any repair shops in Ronan.  The roadside assistant found a repair shop that would look at my vehicle today.  At 3 pm.   I had been on the phone for well over an hour to get help and it was now after 11 am.

After I paid, roadside sent out a text to me listing the tow truck company.  Then I had to call roadside assistance back with the company name.  The State Farm assistant said they then checked if the tow company could tow a stock trailer in addition to a pickup.  Then she told me yes.

While the roadside assistant said it would take an hour and a half for the tow truck to arrive, it arrived in a half hour.    The driver said he only got confirmation about the pickup.  The trailer was suppose to be a second confirmation.   He said he would call State Farm about the trailer confirmation later and would haul my pickup to the repair shop now and then later come back with the trailer.

As the pickup and trailer was across the driveway we had to move the trailer to the side.  The driver said for him to move the pickup it would cost me an extra $35.   What?!!   I then tried to use my pickup to move the trailer a few feet.  But when I put the pickup into drive, nothing happened.   So the tow truck driver had to move the trailer.   In the end the driver didn't charge me $35.  That I know about.

We arrived at the repair shop around 12:30 pm.   I waited in the office sitting on one of the few chairs.  After some conversation I stopped talking and let the employee get back to work.  I fell asleep sitting in the chair.   Just before 2:30 pm she woke me up and told me they already checked out my pickup.   She had good and bad news.  The good news it wasn't a transmission problem.  The bad news was that it was a rear differential problem.  Apparently all the fluid had leaked out of the rear differential.  With no fluid inside, part of the differential was ground to nothing.    Look at the round object in the center of the photo.  That has no ridges to interact with the ridges on the left of it.  The mechanics had seen differential problems in the past, but nothing like this.  The weight of the trailer and cows had a major impact on a differential with no fluid.

I ended up buying a used differential to replace this one.   It was the easiest and cheapest thing to do.  The differential repairment arrived this past Tuesday and the pickup was fixed by Wednesday.

Earlier, before they figured out what the problem was, I had figured the repair would most likely not be done the same day, and I called Donna to come get me.  I told her not to arrive before 3 pm, after I found out what the problem was.

It wasn't quite 3 pm yet and my stock trailer hadn't arrived yet.  I had to call State Farm roadside assistance again as I forgot the name of the towing company that towed my pickup.  Again roadside assistance told me the insurance on my pickup was suspended.  I had to again call my local State Farm agent, then the national State Farm office. I asked where my stock trailer was.  To make the explanation of my 45 minute phone call shorter... they now said that my insurance didn't cover stock trailers towed by my pickup.   Really?!   That's a change from what roadside assistance told me earlier in the morning.  I had used one of the repair shop's phone to make the call.  I think they were taking pity on me as they said I could use one of their older pickups to tow my trailer since the distance was short.  I did as I wanted to stop arguing with State Farm about them saying one then then another, and I wanted to just go home.  The repair shop let me park my stock trailer in the back of their lot as I didn't want to leave my stock trailer on the side of the highway where the pickup had broke down.  Who knows if the trailer would still be there the next day if left on the side of the highway.

My 'new' differential assembly arrived this past Tuesday.  I also had the repair shop do a courtesy check and change the pickup's oil.    The cost for the repair was about five dollars less than what I got for the two cows.

Donna drove me to Ronan on Friday and I got my pickup and stock trailer.   This day snow was south of Flathead Lake to Ronan.  And due to an inversion it was extremely foggy south of the lake to Ronan.  It was hard to see.

So, my pickup and trailer is back home.  Usually I clean manure out of the stock trailer when I bring the trailer home, but it has been a week since the temperature was above freezing, and the manure is frozen.  It looks like the trailer cleaning won't be done until Spring.

My pickup and trailer at the livestock auction.

A few views during my drive home before the pickup broke down.

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.

Flathead Lake cruise

Earlier on my hiking blog I had posted about Wild Horse Island.

http://tallpineshiker.blogspot.com/2019/07/wild-horse-island.html

As the island is only accessible by boat, this is how I got there.   Donna's family held a family reunion back in July.  On July 26 a number of the family members at the reunion rented a pontoon boat to cruise on Flathead Lake and go visit Wild Horse Island.  One of the local family members is an experienced boat pilot.

Donna's zodiac sign is Cancer.  And Cancer is a water sign.  I'm a Cancer and love water, and all the Cancers I've know love water.  Not Donna.  She doesn't even like drinking water.  I wonder if she really is a Cancer?  Anyway, Donna wasn't planning on going on the boat ride.  But her sister visiting from North Dakota talked her into going on the ride.  So I also went along as I love water and lakes.

It was a warm sunny day.  The wind was light, unlike the previous day and the next day which were both windy.   It was a beautiful day for a boat ride on Flathead Lake.

Mission Mountains

Mission Mountains in the back.  Wild Horse Island on the right.

South side of Wild Horse Island.  The slight hill left of center is near where Skeeto Bay is on the north side of the island.

Looking at where the highway goes away from the lake and over to Hot Springs.

The next two photos are of an island owned by, and a large ugly mansion on it built by, a guy from Las Vegas.

The next photos are of the most expensive house (and property) in Montana.  The property is an island.

Mini-island.  As far as I know it isn't owned by some rich person.

The trailer is on an island.

Smoke from a forest fire near Ronan, Montana.

Mission Mountains in the foreground right.  Swan Mountain Range is in the back.

The Starbucks COO had a funicular built so he could go from his house down the very steep hillside to the lake.

Calves to market

It was time to take the calves to the livestock auction for the auction on Thursday.  A shame as I have grown attached to this group.  But the grass is low and it is time.

I have 12 calves, and 8 calves went to auction.  I kept 4 heifers as replacement heifers for Toby next year as he will be a new bull to them.  I kept Beulah's calf, Red's calf, Maria's calf, and cow 90's calf.  I kept cow 90's calf because she was born without a tail.  If I sold her as a heifer I would get docked in price, even though she will do fine as a cow.

Loading the calves into the stock trailer went relatively good.  Donna and I had to do some extra work as one calf kept turning around and then blocking other calves from moving forward.  In the meantime the calves already in the trailer turned around and wanted to come back outside.  At the auction yard the calves didn't want to come out of the trailer.

The trailer was pretty full.  Maybe - if I had to - I could have squeezed in one more calf.  I certainly could feel the weight as I pulled the trailer of calves to Missoula.  I expect the calves to weigh about the same as last year - if not more.

The drive to the auction yard in Missoula went well.  It was a beautiful sunny day, and in Missoula at least it felt warm at near 60 degrees.  Kalispell was about 10 degrees cooler.

Apples as a treat the day before the calves left.

Mama's calf

A pretty full trailer.

Strap is extra protection against the door from coming open.

Mission Mountains on the drive home.