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Cattle Drive

randiliana

Well-known member
As many of you probably remember, I work at the local stockyards. Today was a presort yearling sale, and Wed and Thurs we took in cattle to be weighed and sorted. Not all of the cattle came in on trucks. About 1700 head came in on foot. Here are some of the pictures of the first bunch to come in, they arrived at about 4 pm on Wednesday, Sept 30. There are 900 head and they walked about 15 miles in about 8 hours. The other 2 drives came in on Thursday. At least one of them was a 2 day drive, they brought in 530 head. The last one was about 200 head and it arrived just before noon on Thursday.

It took us (the crew) about 12 hours to sort and pen the 900 head. We finished the heifers at midnight and did all the steers the next day. The other 2 bunches were sorted mostly by their owners, and took quite a bit less time :nod:

Now for the photos of the big bunch coming in.

Here they are about a mile out, making the last turn before the stockyards. They are coming down a grid road.
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All lined out, they probably cover close to 1/2 mile in length
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If you look close, you can see the lead horse. He is there to make sure the leaders don't get into mischief and also makes sure that they turn when they are supposed too. Also he is there to get to the hill tops and warn any oncoming traffic of the herd.
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Crossing the highway, they're coming across pretty good right now. It is just starting to rain.
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They have kinda stopped now. Not sure where they really want to be. A bunch of them did go back, but overall it was an uneventful crossing. Sometimes they just won't cross, or you get 1 or a few that have to be manually forced across (as in roped and dragged) fortunately that didn't happen here. Nothing like getting 900 head of yearlings worked up :banana:
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Ahhh, here they go, heading across. This is the only kinda traffic jam we see in this country :lol2:
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And here they come, the gate they go in is just out of sight on the left.
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Getting closer and closer
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Just a little bit further. ...
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And, in they go
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Pics are just a bit blurry, it was raining, and my horse just would not stand still, but hope you get the idea....
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Thanks, Randiliana. I enjoyed your picture story. By trailing the cattle in to the yards, quite a bit of money was saved that would have been spent for trucking.
 

Whitewing

Well-known member
And here I thought those cattle drives were a thing of the past!

The cowboys at my ranch were fascinated when I told them about the cattle drives of the old west of the US.

One day we were moving animals and I started singing Rawhide.....and I couldn't believe it, they were familiar with the show!!!! :lol:
 

Big Muddy rancher

Well-known member
That sale ring has been operating for over 50 years. My Dad had been to at least one sale every year. He bought allot of cattle out there over the years. One time my uncle shipped 17 carloads of calves from one sale.
 

BlackCattleRancher

Well-known member
Didn't know that kind of thing still goes on. Would be curious how the trucking cost savings stacks up against the added shrink/weight loss from a long walk and manpower required to move that far, especially when you are selling by the lb. Don't know how you would ever keep that many calves moving down a road without wandering into ditches and off the road.
 

randiliana

Well-known member
Soapweed said:
Thanks, Randiliana. I enjoyed your picture story. By trailing the cattle in to the yards, quite a bit of money was saved that would have been spent for trucking.

Glad you enjoyed them.

Yes, certainly a lot of money was saved on trucking, you can probably figure about 12 trucks at around $300 per load so $3600 or more I would imagine.
 

randiliana

Well-known member
BlackCattleRancher said:
Didn't know that kind of thing still goes on. Would be curious how the trucking cost savings stacks up against the added shrink/weight loss from a long walk and manpower required to move that far, especially when you are selling by the lb. Don't know how you would ever keep that many calves moving down a road without wandering into ditches and off the road.

I would be curious to know that too, I can't remember the shrink that the stockyards took on the trailed cattle, 3% I think??, which is a bit less than the trucked cattle. I personally don't think that there would be a great loss of weight from that walk, especially since the weather was cool this year. As for the manpower, it is pretty much all volunteer work. It's one of those you help me/I help you deals. Trailing them isn't too hard after the first mile or so. Once they get their extra energy worn off. They follow the lead horse, and a few riders cover the sides. Once they get going down the road, the just pretty much keep trucking along. The let them have a rest about half way through, somewhere with water when possible. They are a lot like sheep, if you can keep the lead animals in line, the rest just follow along.
 

High Plains

Well-known member
I believe I'd be willing to buy yearlings that came in off of a drive like that. Bet they will go to feed like nobody's business. Course they'd have that CAN on their side if they were fed down here, and that would get the discount started... :roll: :mad:
 

gcreekrch

Well-known member
The last drives out of this are were in 54 or 56 (before my time on earth) and the herd would be on the trail for a month.

Thanks Randi.
 

BlackCattleRancher

Well-known member
Where do most of the feeding cattle out of that auction barn go to be finished? Do they stay in Canada? Is your feeding industry in CA as sorry shape as ours in the US, profit-wise?
 

Big Muddy rancher

Well-known member
BlackCattleRancher said:
Where do most of the feeding cattle out of that auction barn go to be finished? Do they stay in Canada? Is your feeding industry in CA as sorry shape as ours in the US, profit-wise?

The yearlings would likely stay in Canada. Some of the calves go south but lots get backgrounded and then go south.
Yes our feeding industry is in bad shape. Cattle were worth more in the late seventies.
 

burnt

Well-known member
gcreekrch said:
The last drives out of this are were in 54 or 56 (before my time on earth) and the herd would be on the trail for a month.

Thanks Randi.

Why you're just a young feller like me then!! :)



Thanks for the great picture story randiliana!
 

little bow rancher

Well-known member
randiliana said:
Soapweed said:
Thanks, Randiliana. I enjoyed your picture story. By trailing the cattle in to the yards, quite a bit of money was saved that would have been spent for trucking.

Glad you enjoyed them.

Yes, certainly a lot of money was saved on trucking, you can probably figure about 12 trucks at around $300 per load so $3600 or more I would imagine.
you could fill alot of cowboys with that kinda money and still have some cash left over for yourself :wink:
 

bverellen

Well-known member
Thanks for posting Randiliana.

I'll bet there isn't a shortage of folks willing to volunteer for the drive. The Seminole Indian Tribe down here has one of the largest herds in Florida, and every year they have a similar drive with lots of volunteer help.

bart.

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per

Well-known member
Thanks Randi. A few have tried herding here in the past but with the market between the highway and the river it is complicated. It is so busy now that it would take 7 sheriffs and cause a 2 mile line up to cross the road. I have a friend who's ranch is cut in half by the highway. He used to have an underpass but someone set a car on fire in it and weakened it so it was filled in. He then trailed across the highway but it is now so busy that he is forced to haul them across the road. :mad:
 
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