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HDRider

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I had just poured my first cup of coffee and I hear a calf bellow. I figure it is my neighbor's close up to the fence across the road.

Eventually my wife gets up and then she hears it too. She suggests I take a look. Dang calf in the front yard. I step back in to get ready to help it get back with the cows. A neighbor drives up and tells me I have a calf out, and I tell him I know, and point to it. He says there is another one up on another rode across from my steers. about 3/4 mile away from the house.

We put the first one in with the cows and go to get the other one. Sure enough, there she is. I get her put up and realize she is not mine. Could be, solid black like all mine, but it has a white tag in one ear.

I go back and check the other one, and it is not mine either. It has no tag, but I can tell by how the cows are acting and how the calf is acting, it is not mine. I have it in the corral now.

I have called around. No one knows where they came from.

It did solve my first question. Why did two calves get out at the same time from two altogether different pastures? Turns out, they didn't.

Nice brisk day for an early morning walk about.
 
I learned the hard way to always make sure my calves have an ear tag with my name and number on it. About four years ago I took my calves to the sale barn, and decided that they didn't need a ear tag, they were branded. The sale barn put my calves in with someone else's, and well they lost two. They found on was sold with another guys calves, and they never did find the other. They tried to tell me I miss counted when I brought them in. I said I am pretty sure I can count up to twenty without any problems. They finally made good, but I am sure I took it in the shorts. I won't ever make that mistake again.
 
Two boys just showed up.

I asked if the seller called them weaned. He said they were just weaned. I told him they was weaned about 20 minutes before he bought them. He's young. He will learn
Least them boys are making an effort!
That's worth a bunch eh?
 
I learned the hard way to always make sure my calves have an ear tag with my name and number on it. About four years ago I took my calves to the sale barn, and decided that they didn't need a ear tag, they were branded. The sale barn put my calves in with someone else's, and well they lost two. They found on was sold with another guys calves, and they never did find the other. They tried to tell me I miss counted when I brought them in. I said I am pretty sure I can count up to twenty without any problems. They finally made good, but I am sure I took it in the shorts. I won't ever make that mistake again.

I know auction barns operate different in different parts of the country, but that wouldn't happen here. Here the cattle are tagged before being unloaded, and the seller gets a ticket with each tag number and a brief description.
 
In these parts you fill out a Form 3 manifest before you leave anywhere with cattle on board. At arrival at the mart the brand inspector counts and verifies that the manifest is accurate and signs off on it. If the manifest says you brought 10 steer calves then that's what you brought. There is no argument.
 
Here there is a guy that receives them, and is supposed to get a count; they give you a ticket, but somehow I guess I didn't catch the count when I unloaded them. It is later when the brand inspector looks at them. I am sure that the put them into pens with other calves due to not having enough pens for all the smaller producers. There was a lot of calves that went through the sale that day. I will never sell another critter without one of my tags in its ear. I think I am the only one in the area that also used the neon green tags, so I usually can tell when mine go through.
 
Here there is a guy that receives them, and is supposed to get a count; they give you a ticket, but somehow I guess I didn't catch the count when I unloaded them. It is later when the brand inspector looks at them. I am sure that the put them into pens with other calves due to not having enough pens for all the smaller producers. There was a lot of calves that went through the sale that day. I will never sell another critter without one of my tags in its ear. I think I am the only one in the area that also used the neon green tags, so I usually can tell when mine go through.
One lost calf would buy a lot of RFID tags. Of course, if nobody is reading them I guess it wouldn't help.
But it makes me wonder how you guys can keep export markets when there is so little ability to trace back.
 
The grandmother "Violet" called me earlier today. She was apologizing for the the calves getting out.

She is a real firecracker. She told me a cow had a calf last Monday, and it stayed hid out. She decides last Wednesday to go check on it. The mamma cow head butted her to the ground and rolled her around up to the edge of a deep creek. She said she just played dead until finally her dog came down and the cow took out for the dog.

She is sore. She does not think anything is broken. She had hip replacement surgery in June. Tough bird.

Any of you old buzzards want me to introduce you to her?
 
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The grandmother "Violet" called me earlier today. She was apologizing for the the calves getting out.

She is a real firecracker. She told me a cow had a calf last Monday, and it stayed hid out. She decides last Wednesday to go check on it. The mamma cow head butted her to the ground and rolled her around up to the edge of a deep creek. She said she just payed dead until finally her dog came down and the cow took out for the dog.

She is sore. She does not think anything is broken. She had hip replacement surgery in June. Tough bird.

Any of you old buzzards want me to introduce you to her?
I bet the old buzzards couldn't handle her hot a$$!
🤣 🤣 🤣

That and a Pepsi would cause a heart attack!
 
This story came to an end last night.

The young man thought he might get off at lunch and come get his calves. As things go, he got covered up with work. He texted me he'd be here around 5:30. It was dark and about 5 BIG field service trucks showed up to help.

They set up a little catch pen on the south end, close to the road and the growling trucks. Those guys never turn those trucks off.

Imagine 6 testosterone laden 20 somethings trying to get a single 500 pound calf in a 10 by 12 pen setup in a 15 acre field. They chased it around, hollering, whistling, running. I am not sure who got more tuckered, the boys or the calf.

As you might guess, that calf did not go in the catch pen.

I asked him what his plan was when they came to rest back at the pen. He said everyone can go home and he was going to stay until he caught the calf. He had a good dose of stick-to-itness.

I had first suggested we walk it down the road and pen it with the other calf, but they wanted to try the catch pen idea.

I told him to turn all the trucks off and turn off the 100,000 watts of LED lights they used to light up the world. I put them each at places I knew cattle like to veer off the road.

The calf was on the far north end. I slowly walked the calf along the fence with three of the boys in a crescent shape behind me to discourage the calf from bolting and turning back.

She walked out the gate. We got her headed the right way. Walked down the road and right in the gate of the pasture with my corral and the other calf. I had opened the three exterior gates so she had her choice of entry. She passed the first gate, made her way around to the second gate and heard the other calf holler. In she went.

Game over. We backed the trailer in and he was very good at backing up a trailer. Loaded them up in about a minute and off they went.

Watching six or 7 young bucks chasing a befuddled weaner is kind of fun.
 
I learned the hard way to always make sure my calves have an ear tag with my name and number on it. About four years ago I took my calves to the sale barn, and decided that they didn't need a ear tag, they were branded. The sale barn put my calves in with someone else's, and well they lost two. They found on was sold with another guys calves, and they never did find the other. They tried to tell me I miss counted when I brought them in. I said I am pretty sure I can count up to twenty without any problems. They finally made good, but I am sure I took it in the shorts. I won't ever make that mistake again.

I always get out of the truck and make sure each one has the sale sticker on his hide. And, I make the intakers write the calf ear tag number for each sticker on my ticket.
 
This story came to an end last night.

The young man thought he might get off at lunch and come get his calves. As things go, he got covered up with work. He texted me he'd be here around 5:30. It was dark and about 5 BIG field service trucks showed up to help.

They set up a little catch pen on the south end, close to the road and the growling trucks. Those guys never turn those trucks off.

Imagine 6 testosterone laden 20 somethings trying to get a single 500 pound calf in a 10 by 12 pen setup in a 15 acre field. They chased it around, hollering, whistling, running. I am not sure who got more tuckered, the boys or the calf.

As you might guess, that calf did not go in the catch pen.

I asked him what his plan was when they came to rest back at the pen. He said everyone can go home and he was going to stay until he caught the calf. He had a good dose of stick-to-itness.

I had first suggested we walk it down the road and pen it with the other calf, but they wanted to try the catch pen idea.

I told him to turn all the trucks off and turn off the 100,000 watts of LED lights they used to light up the world. I put them each at places I knew cattle like to veer off the road.

The calf was on the far north end. I slowly walked the calf along the fence with three of the boys in a crescent shape behind me to discourage the calf from bolting and turning back.

She walked out the gate. We got her headed the right way. Walked down the road and right in the gate of the pasture with my corral and the other calf. I had opened the three exterior gates so she had her choice of entry. She passed the first gate, made her way around to the second gate and heard the other calf holler. In she went.

Game over. We backed the trailer in and he was very good at backing up a trailer. Loaded them up in about a minute and off they went.

Watching six or 7 young bucks chasing a befuddled weaner is kind of fun.
Well worth the entertainment!!

Those hootin' n hollaring knuckleheads always crack me the hell up!!
I've ran off help like that... if they'll shut up, they can run a gate.

I bet he was a bit embarrassed after you showed him how it's done tho...
 
Well worth the entertainment!!

Those hootin' n hollaring knuckleheads always crack me the hell up!!
I've ran off help like that... if they'll shut up, they can run a gate.

I bet he was a bit embarrassed after you showed him how it's done tho...
It was entertaining. One of the boys started yelping in our final sweep. I told him the calf might do better if we didn't holler at it. Never heard another sound out of him.

I enjoyed seeing the young people make all that effort. His friends really pulled together for him. I think they all worked at the same place.

I don't think he was embarrassed. He was grateful. He did say he would listen to me next time.
 

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