Cattle Sales...

 

Last Monday, Michael, Saphira and I made it to the local Cattle Sales. It was Princess's first ever 'big' cow sales. We had been trying to get to them every fortnight for months, but something has always come up, and we haven't been able to go. This time, we had a family Chiropractic appointment just prior to the sales starting, so it was all very good planning on my part! :)

 

 

The Friday prior to the sales, Dad and I had been discussing mustering and selling some of our herd. In the process of this discussion, Dad suggested that I give Barry Grainger a call - he is our local cattle transporter. After having an extremely enlightening conversation with Barry (in which he stated that we should not sell! ) we talked about the possibility of buying as Barry had said it was a buyer's market. I kind of got all twitchy at this point and couldn't wait to get home to converse with the Husband.

 

Thus, a plan was made to attend the sales after our appointment with Damien Mammut (cue: The World's BEST Chiropractor!!)

We got to the sales after a super-quick stop at Sharon's (our favourite place to eat) and brought our lunch with us. As Michael is a supremely slow eater, he ate his lunch and minded Saphira while I went up on the cat-walk to scope the potential.

 

I found several pens that were 'possibles', and took photos of each pen I liked. Unfortunately, there weren't any suitable candidates in the heifer section :( Ideally we would purchase heifers, and breed from them to increase our herd, and when they were 'aged' we would sell them off. This would provide us with a moderate income, both from the calves and from the sale of the initial heifer.

 

So, I trotted back to the eatery area, 'tagged' Michael, and I minded the Beb-beh while he went up on the cat-walk. He quickly returned and asked for a figure. As in, what was my 'maximum' that I was willing to spend per head. I said $100. He gave me a look that said 'Dude, you aint getting ANYTHING for $100 a head'. (Just quietly, I agreed!) But I repeated my limit and he shrugged and ran off to the cat-walk again. We have an 'eBay' agreement. When we set a limit, there is always *some* room for negotiation...usually only a few dollars, but there is wiggle room.

 

Meanwhile, I was quietly minding my own business, feeding the Hungry Dragon, when out of no-where I hear:

 

"WHAT ARE YOU DOIN', SPAZZO?"

 

...Enter stage left: Rachael!

 

LOL :)

 

Rachie had picked up an extra delivery on top of her usual run, and was dropping off bacon rashers to the cafeteria :) She then played with Saphira's feet until it became impossible to continue feeding the wriggly worm, and I passed her to Rach for a burp (Bless Rach - baby spew does not phase her!) While they were having a little cuddle, Michael came bouncing up to us and said that my favourite pen had just sold.

 

I asked: "Did we get them?"

He said: "They went for $116"
I said (read: screeched): "And you didn't BID ON THEM???"

 

He smirked, high fived me, and said: "We won the bid. Psych!"

 

ARGH! The man drives me nuts sometimes!!!

 

I then promptly sold one to Rachie for her freezer LOL :) (At cost price Mum!)

 

Then the mad scramble began! We had to contact Barry Grainger, who was absent from the saleyards that day, to come and pick them up. We had to call Dad and get him to get our yards set up, ready to receive our steers, and to pluck my brand (*heart*BB) out from the tub of them, and to get him to get the ear tag box ready. Meanwhile, Michael was regaling us with his story of how he bid on them (by looking disinterested, and casually waving his hand to raise the bid). Rach took off soon after, after having spent her entire lunch break hanging out with us.

 

So we are now the proud owners of 7 steers (until Rachie pays for hers *wink*)

 

Barry dropped them off the following day, and although they were a little stiry, they weren't too bad...certainly not as bad as some of the cattle we've owned in the past/still own now. We quickly ran them through the race and branded/tagged them (3 through 9 - Rach gets number 9 as he's not as pretty as the others/not as white-grey). We yarded them for the day to 're-set' their homing beacons, and then I let them out the following morning. All 7 have remained in a 'safety-in-numbers' group and have occupied a total area of about 3m squared up until yesterday, when they started to really integrate with the rest of our herd.

 

 



 

Our seven steers at the saleyards

Cattle 'terms':
Steer: A castrated male.
Heifer: A female that has not had a calf.
Cow: A female that has had a calf.
Bull: A sexually mature male.
Calf: A baby bovine up to a year old (boy or girl)