Calf Sale

Today was a big day for our family cattle operation. Three of our home grown steers we sold at the sale barn in Buffalo. Cool. 

Our plan is to run most of our calves as yearlings. However, we had three nice uniform black steers that would be good to sale and pay the water bill for the summer. These guys have been fun to have around. Now it's time for them to serve another purpose. 

65 was the first out of the three to be born on March 22nd. 

64 followed on April 2nd.

And eventually 69 on April 19. 

We've had all the calves weaned for about 1 1/2 months. On Tuesday, we ran them all in.

And cut out our three blacks.

Ran them down the alley.

Jumped them in the trailer. 

Hauled them to over the mountain.

And unloaded them at Buffalo Livestock Marketing. 

Where Tommy received them for the next day's sale.

This is still high calf selling season. Soon it will wind down as winter sets on. As for now, though, BLM is running wide-open.

I came to watch the sale today and see if I could catch our critters going through. Here's a nice bunch of steers that would probably match ours in weight.

Sure enough, here they came.

One was pretty heavy so they sold the two, 64 and 69, by themselves. They averaged 550 lbs and went for $4.18 a pound.

Then sold 65, who weighed in at 650 lbs and went for $3.57 a pound.

That was fun. Thanks Clint and crew for consigning our cows! 

What a ride. From spring calving to fall shipping, these calves brought us a lot of joy. I'm confident that whoever bought them will get their money's worth. Most of us ranch for the fun of it. Hopefully, that at least pays the bills. When it makes us a little money, all the better. What's great, is knowing that this beef is eventually going to feed someone down the road. In the meantime, we'll keep ranching on.