Phone call you don't expect to get

[Dave]

I have a new one on the list of phone calls you don't want or expect. Yesterday morning along with two friends loaded up a pot load of feeders to go to a feeder sale at Toppenish today. I had 42 of the 75 calves on the load. About 3:30 in the afternoon I am at the office and I got a call saying that the truck wrecked. Of course that first call had little information, The driver was ok, but the description we had dead calves all over the place. I raced home and was getting ready to go over to the wreck site. I finally got a hold of my buddy who had lined up the truck. They had his number and he had the whole story as it came in. The wreck occurred a lot closer to the other end of the trip. It would be near dark before we could make it over. The guy who owns the sale yard was contacted right away (I heard about it more than an hour after the wreck) and he had sprung into action. Got in touch with some ranchers who live near the wreck. They got down there with horse to keep the cattle from spreading to the far corners of the earth. He sent a load of panels up to build a corral to catch them in. 4 or 5 goosenecks to load them up and haul to the yard. He got it all handled so we didn't need to go over last night.

Turns out there was one dead calf and one crippled calf. I know that the dead one was mine. From the description we aren't sure which one of us owns the crippled calf. My buddy talked to the the driver, the state patrol, and the guy from the sale yard. All of them said we were real lucky. From the looks of the trailer they all should have been dead. Any of you who have driven highway 12 over White pass know that there are lot of places that there would have been no survivors. The truck and the trailer are both totaled.

I am leaving in a couple hours to go over and look them over. Hopefully they are in as good a shape as I am hearing and not all skinned up. The sale is not until this evening. So hopefully they look good and sell well. I would prefer to get a check from the sale yard than to deal with the trucker's insurance, although I know that he is buying me one calf for sure.

 

[bigbull338]

yes your real lucky to loose only 1 calf,an have 1 known cripple calf.but i bet youll find alot more cripple stove up an sore calves today.does the trucker have ins to cover your loses.

 

[Farmerjon]

I was wondering too, they probably will walk and look stiff at the sale. People will be hesitant to bid. Even if they sell, will they sell well? If there is a noticeable difference in the sale price of your calves and other comparable animals, will his insurance cover that loss also?

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Oh, shyt, Dave!! Where was it? Have not seen it on the news. Anything I can do, since I'm close(er)? LMK if you need to know how to get accident reports, etc. I can guide you on that -- or whatever.

 

[Gale Seddon]

What a terrifying thing for all concerned! I sure hope the losses are minimal.

 

[hillsdown]

Very scary, I too hope that the calves are alright and the damage is minimal. Best of luck and keep us posted Dave .

 

[GMN]

That is terrible, what caused the accident?

 

[Dave]

Well, other than the one dead the crippled one was my biggest steer. They held back three smaller steers from the sale that were still a little shakey. The rest sold and sold very well (steers at $1.46-$1.35). They will hold over those three for a later sale. I can't say enough good things about the staff from Toppenish Livestock. They really stepped up and took care of things. They had all of the calves caught and hauled to the yard before I could have made it to the wreck site. They put them in a pen with plenty of feed, water, and space and then allowed them to just rest for as long as they could.

We got lucky in that the roof blew out of the trailer when it went over. That allowed most of the calves to escape quickly. Only the calves in the lower deck were trapped. Of course that is where my calves were. But even those they got out pretty quick. They said most of the calves walked down by the river and went to grazing.

We can't figure out how the driver missed the road there. Fell asleep, on drugs, or just stupid. We know he didn't do it on purpose but.... For those of you who know the area. Think from the elk feeding station, around the corner heading toward Naches. About 200-300 yards after the corner. No reason to miss the road there. Today I get to find out how good his insurance is.

 

[rockridgecattle]

Dave, I am glad you got a decent price. I am also glad that no loss of human life. Sorry to hear about the injured and dead.
I have a question though. Those that are kept back for the next sale, are they wet nosed, just weaned calves. If they are, and if you have the feed, might be better to bring them home some preventative antiboitics and stuff and feed them out for a while. My reason for this suggestion is, wet nosed loose alot of condition in the first 4 weeks of weaning. Add in the stress of the accident, rounding up, and still in the feed lot, and they might shrink out alot in the days to follow and possibly get sick from stress. Then when they sell, they won't look as good and sell pretty cheap.
Now if they have been weaned awhile...different story

 

[Dave]

Dave, I am glad you got a decent price. I am also glad that no loss of human life. Sorry to hear about the injured and dead.
I have a question though. Those that are kept back for the next sale, are they wet nosed, just weaned calves. If they are, and if you have the feed, might be better to bring them home some preventative antiboitics and stuff and feed them out for a while. My reason for this suggestion is, wet nosed loose alot of condition in the first 4 weeks of weaning. Add in the stress of the accident, rounding up, and still in the feed lot, and they might shrink out alot in the days to follow and possibly get sick from stress. Then when they sell, they won't look as good and sell pretty cheap.
Now if they have been weaned awhile...different story

They were weaned, vaccinated (ultrabac 8, Bova shield Gold, One shot, Imovec) with boosters and eating out of the bunk before they left home. They were just moving a little short. Probably a little sore. They feed better hay at the sale than I do and it would be a 180 mile trip home. It was better to just leave them there.

Yes, I too am glad there was no loss of human life. It was actually about the best location on the whole trip to have this happen. But now that it is over I would like to choke the stuffings out of that truck driver......