Shipping Day

Tuesday was shipping day for the calves on our ranch. Again this year I had to work (at school-- not on the ranch) on shipping day. So, I've never actually experienced it in person, but I'll do my best to describe what goes down. Thanks to Jeff for answering all my questions and walking me through the events of the day!

So what actually happens on shipping day? I had Jeff talk me through the day's events. My gracious husband did take photos when he could, but that was rare. Obviously, he was more concerned with working the 

First, he and Tom rounded up the herd of cow-calf pairs and brought them into the corrals. They sorted the calves away from the cows, and also sorted out the heifers we'd keep for our herd. By this time, some friends and neighbors had arrived with a whole bunch of trailers. The calves were loaded into the trailers and taken to Chester, where there's a big scale, and where they'd be picked up for shipping. 

Photo courtesy of Jeff Bangs.
Calves loaded into all those trailers, and hauled to Chester.

Once in Chester at the scale and accompanying corrals, the calves were weighed. It would take nearly a million years to weigh each calf one by one, so they weigh the calves in groups, then average all the weights per calf. The steers are weighed separate from the heifers. I did get the following text from Jeff while at work, regarding the weights:

Our steers weighed 756...heifers 685...100 lbs bigger on the steers than we have ever been...dad's steers 783.

So that's cool. That means we raised them well and both the calves and their mamas had good nutrition and a healthy life while they were on our ranch. Calving went well, we had good quality pasture grass and hay over the past 6 months, and they were relatively stress-free.

Once the weighing was complete, the calves were loaded onto a big semi and hauled down the road. Our calves were actually sold over the summer, and then we continue to graze them on our ranch. On shipping day, they are officially weaned when they leave their mamas for good.

I always get a little sad to think about our calves leaving, because the cows and calves are pretty much my favorite part of what we do up here. But, before you know it, it'll be late February and a new bunch of calves will enter the world. Part of the cycle of life on the farm. I already can't wait for calving, my favorite time of the year!

If you have a few minutes, check out this really well-written blog post by Ryan Goodman on his Agriculture Proud blog: http://agricultureproud.com/2014/10/29/4-frustrating-agriculture-messages-we-need-to-fix/. He takes a few of the most confusing issues surrounding the way beef is marketed these days, and explains them clearly. Check it out!