Getting too old

[Dave]

Here, unless they are skinny scanks, the auctioneers usually present BM cows as young with a chipped tooth. Don't understand how yours are 10 to 12?

We were expanding but the market felt toppy, so I bought a lot of cross bred BM cows in 2013. I sold the last ones as pairs this summer. Should have sold them in 2015.

The auctioneer here has nothing to do with calling age. That is all done at the vet chute. He just reads what they have marked. Also bangs tags have the year they were installed on them if you know how to read the code. I know at the vet chute they read the bangs tag number before they do anything else. Here is a couple of the cows I bought on Thursday. The majority of the cows were way out in the field this morning. Either a long walk or a cold quad ride. It is a bit frosty this morning (17).

 

[76 Bar]

2015...

 

[Stocker Steve]

Jockeys buy thin cows in the Dakotas, TMR them for a couple months, and then resell them to hobby ranchers here. Most years there is an old boy who gets smeared when his bargain range cows calve.

Not a lot of Bangs vac here. Vet actually discourages it. So its all about teeth. Problem is some check closer than others. I have bought BM cows and some of them called solid mouth a year later...

 

[Bigfoot]

We reach an age, where we just can't do things we used to do. I hung my saddle on the wall last fall. Sciatica, broken bones, pins, arthritis, I loved it, but it wasn't for me anymore. Took it hard, still am actually. All three of my kids are hands, I guess I'll just watch them be handy.

 

[Dave]

We reach an age, where we just can't do things we used to do. I hung my saddle on the wall last fall. Sciatica, broken bones, pins, arthritis, I loved it, but it wasn't for me anymore. Took it hard, still am actually. All three of my kids are hands, I guess I'll just watch them be handy.

I hung mine up a few years ago. Every year at the brandings B offers to put me on a horse. I just decline the offer and pick up the vaccination guns. Occasionally the branding iron. When it comes to moving cows, I am the guy on a quad taking the two track with the main herd in front of me. I let the young guys on horse back take the sides and flanks.

 

[SmokinM]

The old Garth Brooks song " Much to young to feel this damn old" came on today while I was seeding and I thought of you Dave. As bad as getting old is it sure beats the alternative!

 

[Dave]

The old Garth Brooks song " Much to young to feel this damn old" came on today while I was seeding and I thought of you Dave. As bad as getting old is it sure beats the alternative!

I about drove off the road the first time I heard that song. It is about a rodeo cowboy. It really came to light to me that person who wrote the song knew something about cowboys going down the road with a line that says worn out tapes by Chris La Doux. I rode bareback broncs. Competed against Chris. Had tapes that I wore out which I bought from Chris.

 

[SmokinM]

I am a big Chris Ledoux fan too. Still have a few of his tapes and believe it or not I own 3 vehicles all of which have working factory tape decks! Always regretted not getting to seem him live. He was the real deal. " it ain't the years it's the miles"

 

[farmerjan]

One of my favorites also.

 

[Huntet02]

I am a big Chris Ledoux fan too. Still have a few of his tapes and believe it or not I own 3 vehicles all of which have working factory tape decks! Always regretted not getting to seem him live. He was the real deal. " it ain't the years it's the miles"

I got to see him live at Iowa state fair right after a rodeo bareback horse jumped clean over the stadium railings —- it was an awesome couple things to see to bad I was alone. Loved Chris.

 

[Dave]

There is a lot of nice guy who ride in Rodeos. Chris was one of the best. And that was before he sold a single song. I have a hard time believing that the fame which came along later would have changed him one little bit.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

If I could just remember, It is better to have too much grass than too many cattle,,,,,,,,

 

[Dave]

I haven't got any younger over the last couple weeks. So the boss asks if I was going to the sale on Thursday.He had a couple yearlings that escaped up on to the BLM last spring that needed to go to the sale. I replied that I wasn't doing anything so I could haul them in and stick around for the bred cows. Turned out that it was a special feeder calf sale. They had 3,500+ feeder calves plus 400 kill cows. This place doesn't run smooth as glass on a normal day. Yesterday it was a real cluster. They sell the bred cows after the feeder calves and before the kill cows. They had around 24 bred cows. I bought 6. That happened sometime between midnight and 12:30. I know because as soon as they got done with the bred cows I went to settle up, get my paper work, and the brand inspection. It was 12:30. I pulled off the freeway at 1:57AM. That puts me at home about 2:20AM. By the time I unloaded, tossed them some hay, and chopped the ice off the water trough it was nearly 3:00. I really need to get more sleep than this. I see a nap in the near future.

For the first time I bought a cow without bidding. I was looking at this cow and thinking she was too cheap. The auctioneer said sold $750 to #908 (me). I would have stopped thing right there but it should work. A big framed 1,435 pound solid mouth cow that pregged 6 months. I had already bought some cows for under my budget so even with this cow my average is still a tough below the projected budget.

This is a picture of 5 out of the 6 I bought. The no bid cow is laying down in the middle of the group.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Cows look good. Appears you don't buy the skinny ones.

 

[Dave]

Cows look good. Appears you don't buy the skinny ones.

Camera angle, makeup, maybe photoshop by the cows? There are some that little extra meat on their bones wouldn't hurt a thing. This group is all good framey cows. The one 1,435 pounds, 2 that are over 1,300, and the other 3 are all over 1,200. With grass this summer they should all fill out and be worth more at the kill plant than I paid for them.

 

[bird dog]

Also a long day for them cows and I bet they were standing through all of it.. Looks like they have settled in though.