On Monday, we borrowed a stock trailer from Aaron's grandparents and went to get ourselves some cows. We had been wanting to for a while but we had a really dry summer and a busy summer. It finally started raining in July so we decided to go get some cows with more of a long term view in mind. The girls and I wanted a calf/cow pair and Aaron wanted a steer. The nearest sale barn is in Calhan which is about an hour and a half to the east of us. The sale started at noon. We got there and got our number. They were auctioning pigs at the time so we decided to get some hamburgers and corn dogs at the sale barn cafe as we weren't interested in pigs. The food was good. We finished eating and then watched some goats and sheep get auctioned off. Finally it was time for the cows.
We knew there weren't many calf cow pairs available so we were nervous about getting one. The first pair that came out was really pretty but went too high. The next that came out had a wild mamma. She ran around the ring, nearly trampling her calf. She butted the rails. As soon as she came out you could just feel everyone in the sale barn saying, not taking that one. They finally separated her from her calf and sold her by the pound and then sold her calf separate. They also randomly threw out single calves. Some had bunged up legs and went for very cheap. They put an bigger bull calf in that looked healthy. No one was bidding on him. The price went down to $150 and we decided to take him. He was smaller that what we were originally planning to buy but it was a deal that we couldn't pass up. So that took care of the "steer". They sent out a bony and old mom and calf and then finally another mom and calf that had come of f of drought range but still looked decent and the mom seemed docile. We waited for the bid price to go down as no one was bidding. The auctioneer finally took them down to $800 and us and one or two others started bidding and we got them for $860. Mom looked a bit bony but she still weighed in at over 1000 so felt like we did good with that as well. We got our tickets payed and were loaded by 3:00 or 3:30. We headed home and go them all unloaded into the corral without incident.
On the way home the girls named the calf/cow pair Midnight (calf) and Chloe (mamma). The bull calf was named Mooey. Mooey has turned out to be a very appropriate name. Mooey apparently misses his mamma very much. He has a very loud voice and has bawled a lot since coming to our place. Hopefully he will quite that in another day or two or we may have a problem with our neighbors. He is a very friendly little guy and likes people and likes having his head scratched. Chloe seems very calm but she is not to interested in people coming close to her or her calf.
I will try to get better pics of the herd later. The grass in the corral was so tall we could hardly even see the little calf one we unloaded everyone.
We knew there weren't many calf cow pairs available so we were nervous about getting one. The first pair that came out was really pretty but went too high. The next that came out had a wild mamma. She ran around the ring, nearly trampling her calf. She butted the rails. As soon as she came out you could just feel everyone in the sale barn saying, not taking that one. They finally separated her from her calf and sold her by the pound and then sold her calf separate. They also randomly threw out single calves. Some had bunged up legs and went for very cheap. They put an bigger bull calf in that looked healthy. No one was bidding on him. The price went down to $150 and we decided to take him. He was smaller that what we were originally planning to buy but it was a deal that we couldn't pass up. So that took care of the "steer". They sent out a bony and old mom and calf and then finally another mom and calf that had come of f of drought range but still looked decent and the mom seemed docile. We waited for the bid price to go down as no one was bidding. The auctioneer finally took them down to $800 and us and one or two others started bidding and we got them for $860. Mom looked a bit bony but she still weighed in at over 1000 so felt like we did good with that as well. We got our tickets payed and were loaded by 3:00 or 3:30. We headed home and go them all unloaded into the corral without incident.
On the way home the girls named the calf/cow pair Midnight (calf) and Chloe (mamma). The bull calf was named Mooey. Mooey has turned out to be a very appropriate name. Mooey apparently misses his mamma very much. He has a very loud voice and has bawled a lot since coming to our place. Hopefully he will quite that in another day or two or we may have a problem with our neighbors. He is a very friendly little guy and likes people and likes having his head scratched. Chloe seems very calm but she is not to interested in people coming close to her or her calf.
I will try to get better pics of the herd later. The grass in the corral was so tall we could hardly even see the little calf one we unloaded everyone.
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brittany