Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Cattle Sale

Well, we are getting desperate. With Hubby not working for over a month now, (Still waiting on the railroad.) and not having any unemployment, it was getting to the point of selling the fillings in my teeth. (Not really, I don't have any fillings in my teeth.) I always wanted to live off grid, but I didn't want it to be because I couldn't pay my electric bill. lol

Anyway, we decided to sell some of our cattle. Now we only a few cows now and their babies were old enough to go to the market.If you have never been to a cattle sale, you need to go! There is excitement everywhere! From the sales ring, to the cattle pens in the back, you don't know what to watch first.  I love the sales! I like watching the older gentlemen buying thousands of dollars worth of cattle just by one TINY flick of their finger. If you was not watching, you wouldn't know who was bidding. I liked looking in  the back pens at all of the cattle milling around. To watch the cattle, you walk up on this giant catwalk that covers the whole length of the pens. While we were watching, we seen a calf kick the hat off of the guy trying to get him down a shoot. One year we seen a 2400 lbs bull jump the metal panels that made up the sides of his pen. He got his back legs caught in the bars of the panels. We got the attention of one of the handlers to see if he could help him. The handler couldn't get him off of the panel. Hubby had to go down, and with the help of a very big pipe, got his legs untangled from the panel. And then, they run. The bull was not happy. He wanted to hurt something. Luckily, he didn't. lol

Anyway, we went to the sale Monday and sold some of our cattle. We DID learn something while we were there. If it was a black calf, it was worth one third more than any other color. Why? Because of the Angus craze that everyone seems to be in now.  If the calf coming into the sales pen was brown, the auctioneer started the bidding out at $.60 per pound. It could go up or it could go down. It usually went down some. But, if it was a black calf, the auctioneer would start out at $.90 per pound. Then it usually went up! What's wrong with that?! Are they prejudice? lol. Since our cattle is red, we didn't get the best price for them. Although after seeing how the sale went, we are now considering getting a black limousine bull. We shall see. It changes so often. We don't really want to mix our colors. ( I guess we ARE prejudice. lol) 

So that's what's been going on around here this weekend, now we are going to build a goat pen so we can bring our little goaties to our house.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, cattle baron.  hahahahahahaha..pant,pant,pant, hahahahaaha

10 comments:

Grandpa said...

You are very courageous during this trying time - still lol all the time!

Hope things will work out for you soon

Kelle at The Never Done Farm said...

Praying your hubby hear something soon! I understand how stressful it can be, even if we techincally we'ren't unemployeed*wink* Having to consider how much $$ you have in saving, what bills are due when and forget extras. Good thing we all live a simple frugal life, it helps to not make it so stressful*wink*

About the cattle sale, all I have to say it's that's a bunch of BULL,( pun totally intended*wink*) but I suppose it falls back onto the ole' Supply and Demand principle*sigh* One thing black cows are much more frustrated by the heat, thus making them cranky!
Take care, HUGS and we'll keep praying for that call to come through.
Blessings,
Kelle

Nancy said...

That's a bummer. I didn't realize RR employees don't get unemployment. My husband was off work last winter for about a month as well -- it is stressful.

I hope he gets back to work soon. Take care.

Melissa E said...

I hope you hear something soon about hubby's job! The cattle market is a really cool thing to watch!

goatmilker said...

I love going to the cattle auction. My husband and son go every week it is their outing of social time. I totally understand about the black thing. Where we live at the auction they always start them at .90 cents makes me so mad when the other cattle look just as good. Have a good night. Rebekah

Faith said...

Praying for continued peace and provision for you guys. Sometimes the hardest things are the ones that leave you hanging. Your attitude is amazing and I admire your positive outlook, despite hard times.

Praying just the right thing comes along for you.

I don't like sales yards. I mean I love the excitement and such, but I always end up feeling badly for some of the animals, then I go home and can't get them out of my mind... "What became of them....?" Silly.

I have promised to take a friend to a sale though. She's never been, and you ought to try things at least once.

~Faith

Tonia said...

Glad you at least had something to sell besides your none exsistent teeth fillings! Hope the RR comes through soon!
I was talking to a cow guy the other day who gets ticked off about the Black cow prices!Lol He said Just because its black doesnt mean its Angus!!Lol Red and Black Limosines(sp?) are popular around here too. I have a cousin that does the embryo implanting and he gets Big mutt cows and implants High dollar embryos.

Anonymous said...

Sorry his job hasn't started yet. Hopefully they'll call him up shortly. I've been to a cattle sale one time when I was in 8th grade with my little friend who's daddy raised black angus and Tesas Long Hornes. It was fun, but it was a looooooooooog time ago...debbie

small farm girl said...

Thanks for the well wishes guys! You are the best!!!!

Hopeful said...

glad you have something to fall back on and really hope work comes your way before things get too tight. praying for work! the auction sounds fun. be well and enjoy your wednesday!