3 Bulls --> 3 Steers

[Karin L]

Finally got an appointment to get those three bulls done this afternoon. Our vet had built a new working pen system in the back, made of solid iron, and a lot better and more efficient than the old wood ones he had before, and they sure came in handy for those three.

The first animal, the brockle-face one, went in okay, no problems from him but the second one, the herfy cross, he went plumb wild, first because he went with the first bull into the clinic (we were trying to bring them in one at a time), and the vet put him in a pen behind the squeeze that the first bull was in, and I think the smell of blood was doing it that herf.

Put the first into a separate pen, and the herfy bull, bawling and blowing and snorting, sure went into the headgate in an awful big hurry. Dad, he had the job of holding the tail up to stretch the hamstrings so's the vet wouldn't get nailed, and that herf nailed Dad in the knee (no, I think it was just below, I was busy with the other animals I didn't notice), but he's okay.

And last, but certaintly NOT the least, the Limo bull. (I thought he was red angus X but after reading and looking a bit more I learned otherwise). He was a bit of a pain in the behind to get into the clinic, obviously because he didn't like the blood smell and going into a darker area. But I got him in after giving a good swat on the rump with my sorting whip.

So, anywho, they're done, so now I'm just going to wait for a couple weeks before taking pics of them, to see how they're doing.

[Ken Scharabok]

Did you have fried mountain oysters the next morning?

[Karin L]

Lol no we didn't. The vet has a few dogs there so they had raw prairie oysters for a tea-time snack.

[Up North]

Do you intentionally wait until bulls are larger and require a chute, or did these three just get big while you folks were busy with the rest of farming?

[Karin L]

The latter Up North, unfortunately.

Last year we had a stag that needed to be castrated and we were so busy we didn't get to getting him in until around June.

With these bad boys, the corrals were very muddy, making it hard to get a truck in there (we haul them out in the ol' grain truck, we don't have a livestock trailer (don't ask why)), and the only time we could get at them was this time. And during the winter, well, it was pretty busy around then too.

Dad's told me to remind him to get the bulls in earlier, like December/January, instead of waiting til right before seeding time to get them done.

Thanks for asking, btw.

[Up North]

That's Farming. The difficult we do today, The Impossible just takes a little longer.