Shipping Calves

It was about four weeks ago that we weighed our calves and found they needed to gain a little more weight. Now they've put on the pounds and are ready to head out from our isolated ranch. Three empty livestock trucks arrived yesterday morning and we followed them down to the feed yard.

As one of the truck moves into position, the calves are watching. The calves get excited anytime anything different is happening. There typically is one that will go out ahead and do the investigating while the others hang out in the background and wait for the sign that it's okay to approach.

Any time cattle are bought or sold, the brand inspector has to be present. The brand inspector is a state position started in the old days to prevent cattle rustling. Cattle rustling might sound like something from the old Wild West days, but it still unfortunately occurs.  

Here are some of the calves waiting in a pen to be weighed. The basic process for shipping calves is to gather them, weigh them, and move them onto the truck. During this process, the brand inspector checks them as they pass by.

Here are some of the calves walking to the scales. This one in the front is a black baldy, with a red angus behind. You can brush up on your cow knowledge here.

About 30 calves were weighed at a time, using the Howe scale inside the scale building. They weighed about 800 pounds each. My husband would like to point out that the Howe Scales sign is made of enamel and is at least 50 years old, but still looks like new.

After being weighed, the calves are sent up this chute to the waiting truck. The chute makes them go one by one, or at least that's the idea. Sometimes they get overly excited and try to jam in there and get a little stuck. Frequently they aren't too keen about leaving the sunny desert, and don't really want to get on the truck, so have to be prodded.

Here's a view of the chute from the side. The livestock drivers and a cowboy are doing most of the work getting the calves up the chute and into the trucks. The number of calves going on each truck is determined by weight, with a 50,000 pound maximum load. That means each livestock truck carries about 60 calves for this trip. The trucks have upper and lower levels and gates inside to keep the cows from getting all bunched up.

As the last of the calves are being loaded, it's time for the business transaction. As you can see, it's a little informal out on the ranch. No big hardwood desks are needed--the trunk of a car will suffice. 

The ranch sells calves a number of ways. Some are by contract a year in advance, locking in the current price. Others are by auction. And this bunch were sold by contacting Producers Livestock and having them find a buyer and arrange shipping. They are sold at the current market price, which is down about $0.30 per pound from last year. Ouch. With the much higher fuel and fertilizer prices this past summer, it makes it really hard to make any profit.

Next it's time to write a check to the brand inspector for his services. The truck drivers are standing on the side, chatting before they get in their trucks and drive 12+ hours to eastern Colorado.

With a loaded cattle truck in the background, Desert Boy can't resist taking the opportunity to get on Kate. He likes being up high, pretending he's a cowboy. He's gotten old enough he can stay in the saddle by himself, so it probably won't be too long until he's riding for real!

Today there are six more livestock trucks coming. The calves that are leaving were born last February or March. Just a few days ago, the first calf of this year was born--we'll be heading out to visit it soon!

The Extraterrestrial Highway

I saw this lovely cow crossing the ranch road the other day. Now, for most people, this would not be a memorable moment. But there was something in the cow's stature, the far-off mountains, and the winter lighting that made me remember of a trip I took a few years ago, a trip not to be forgotten.

That trip was out to a desolate highway, with plenty of open range, except the open range wasn't quite the same as it is throughout the rest of the West. This open range had the special designation shown above the cow on the sign. (Photo from rachel-nevada.com website). I kept expecting to see cows being beamed up, and the music from Close Encounters of the Third Kind played in my head.

This trip was out on the Extraterrestrial Highway, Nevada 375. This 98-mile long highway only passes one town, Rachel, NV. Calling it a town is a bit of a stretch, with just a scattering of buildings. Normally it would be totally ignored, but it has the fortune of being close to the infamous Area 51. If you like UFOs and aliens, this is a mecca. 

The Little A'Le'Inn is a restaurant and hotel. When I went in, some folks from the military base were enjoying a little time off by entertaining themselves with looking at the numerous photos covering the walls of UFOs and clippings of strange sights seen in the area. Locals offer tours to special spots where outsiders can peek into the ultra-high security area and try to determine what's happening inside. (By the way--the magnet above is a bit old--the new area code is 775, but the rest of the phone and fax numbers are correct.)

At the time I took my trip, the Nevada tourism office was offering a promotion that if I turned in a couple receipts from the ET highway, I could get this cool bumper sticker. I still haven't ever seen anyone else with one. I wonder why not??

And after recalling that wonderful trip and all the potentially strange things happening over the Great Basin desert, I look closer at the image of the cow crossing the road. Maybe some of those white clouds really aren't clouds after all...

Looking for the Model Cow

I was hangin' out with the cows the other day and decided to take a closer look at them. Which one would be my model cow? 

I had my requirements:

-a cow that wouldn't run away from me

-a cow that showed some personality

-a cow not afraid to grace my blog.

A couple early contenders are shown in the picture above, but they didn't stick around, so I had to search for another cow to be my model. I looked and looked, and then I found her.

Number 69, with broad shoulders, a shapely figure, wide set eyes, a pierced ear, interesting facial striping, a warm nose, and to top it all off, a little frozen drool on her whiskers. How could I resist?

Number 69 struck a pose, and I snapped away. The Brooding Look.

The Don't Mess with Me Look.

Yikes, here's number 142 trying to steal away the attention with a come hither expression as she wags her tongue.

 
But I won't sway, I'm back to Number 69, with that drool dripping down further.

She prefers being photographed from this side. It makes her eyelashes look longer.

Weighing Calves

It's that time of year to weigh the calves and see if they've put on enough weight. Our ranch raises calves until they're about 850 pounds, and then they're sold to a buyer who will finish them, or raise them until they're between 1,200 and 1,300 pounds. Because we live in such an isolated area, it's not economically feasible to finish and ship cows from here. 

First the cowboys gathered up the calves and herded them into holding pens. Then about 50 at a time were send to the scale.

Here's our oldest cowboy, Lee, working on the frigid morning. Not even cold weather keeps him away from rolling out of bed at 89 years and getting his horse ready to work calves.

And here's my sweet-faced nephew Ryan holding the gate open. He probably wouldn't like me calling him sweet-faced, seeing as how he's a college man now. You can see it's cold by all the layers he's wearing, including his thick green hoodie, work jacket, and warm wool cap with ear flaps. Those ear flaps are really nice, they keep your ears nice and cozy.

The calves run past my hiding spot and towards the scale.

The cowboys make sure none run in a different direction. The scale is huge, it weighs semis with trailers full of hay. Once all the calves are on the scale, they close the gate.

Then my brother-in-law Dave goes into the scale house to weigh the load of calves.

It's an old Howe scale, 1930s vintage, and it still works great today. The state Scales and Measures comes out and inspects it every year.

Then it's time for the calves to get off the scale and go to the next holding pen. My brother-in-law Tom tells the calves where to go. (And they actually listen!)

Once a few calves lead the way, the rest are ready to follow.

He's carefully counting as they go by, as are other cowboys. It's important to know how many calves are in each load so the total weight can be divided by the number of calves, and the average weight per calf calculated. On this particular day, the average weight was about 800 pounds.

Here's Kate, ready for the weighing to conclude so she can help move the calves back to the area they came from.

This horse was particularly friendly and let Desert Boy pet her quite a bit.

After the last load of calves has been weighed, Lee and Ryan come out, along with border collie Heidi, and they are all ready to move calves. My husband told me in advance where the next good camera angle would be, so Desert Boy and I started walking in that direction.

Only Desert Boy found a distraction and took off at a run towards this John Deere tractor.

I don't help him climb up--I figure if he wants to get in the tractor bad enough, he'll figure out a way. And he did.

Getting up on the driver's seat was a little tough, but he was determined.

What are you looking at, Mom? Of course I can drive this big tractor even though my feet don't reach the pedals and I'm really bad at steering.
Our little detour didn't let me get in a great spot for photos, but I did manage this one with Lee herding the calves on the other side of the equipment yard fence.

And a few minutes later, all the cowboys were heading back to the trucks, mission accomplished. They know the calves need to eat for a few more weeks before they'll be leaving us. At this stage, they're gaining about four to five pounds a day. I mean the calves, not the cowboys, although hopefully they all had big holiday dinners!

Merry Christmas

Hope you have a wonderful day full of good cheer, good company, and plenty of good food!

The Oldest Cowboy

I'd like to introduce Lee, the oldest cowboy in this area. He recently turned 89, and although he can't see and hear like he once did, he still works and loves to ride his horse and herd cattle.

Lee much prefers to be outside, no matter the weather, than sitting in the house in front of the TV. He became a cowboy at age 13, and has been one ever since. His wonderful wife has kept him well fed so he has plenty of energy to go out and keep the cattle in line.

Here's Lee herding some cattle just a couple weeks ago. He makes riding look so easy. I hope I can be in half the shape he is at his age.

Recently KSL news ran this short clip about Lee to celebrate his 89th birthday. Be sure to check it out--it's quite inspiring, and the comments are really fun to read!

This is How I Feel Today

I have cows on the mind, maybe because we drove through the feed lot today, and then Henry started chasing the cows. Or maybe because I can't believe all the cow-related products that are on the market. Or maybe because Desert Boy says "mmmmm" (his version of Mooo) all the time. Anyway, this cow pretty much sums up how I feel right now. Mooo.

Some Different Cows

Here's a chance to see how good your cow knowledge is. What kind of calves are these? If you need a refresher about different kinds of cows, click here. Then take a good look at the coloring of these calves. 

Okay, if the refresher didn't help much, that's because we don't have this type of cow on the ranch. I guess I'm like one of those mean teachers, trying to get you with a trick question. Don't worry, I do have the answer, it's below the next picture. I just don't want to reveal it too fast, and if you have a big computer screen you'll be able to see the answer before you even have time to think about it. I'm all about suspense.

Answer: These are Holstein calves, and they live at a nearby dairy. Some fun cow facts: Holsteins make up over 95% of the dairy cattle in the U.S. A good milk cow produces about 25 gallons of milk a day, the equivalent of about 400 glasses of milk. In order to be able to produce the milk, the cow has to have a calf, which weighs about 80-110 pounds at birth. The calf is weaned at 8-9 weeks and then the cow's milk is used for production. In the U.S., there are about 110,000 dairy farms with 9.2 million dairy cows. More than 99% are family owned and operated.

Until the 1850s, nearly every family had its own cow and went out and milked it each day. Today we can thank these dairies for providing the milk we drink. To learn how dairies work, you can visit the Fair Oaks Dairy in Indiana, where they even have a virtual tour. The local dairy is much, much smaller, but it still works on the same principal: the cows are milked several times a day, and the milk is sent to a bigger processing plant. As a family that drinks several gallons of milk each week, we sure are grateful to have these cows around!