Cattle

Not sure what to title this one. I'd been dreading and stressing about this day for weeks. A mix of sadness and relief that the yearlings went away on the cattle trailer this morning. Glad to see those two little horn headed yearling bulls go as they were getting to be a problem. The two heifers, I could have kept as replacements at least one anyway. I kind of regret letting the best one go.  Maybe next year.
It went surprisingly well. I was out at the shelter in the dark shortly after 6:00 am. Could not sleep anyway so might as well get to work. Luckily it had warmed up to -5F or so and the relentless wind had dropped.
I got lucky, the four I wanted were still in the shelter/confinement area. Wearing my trusty headlight and throwing down some hay to occupy them, I was able to pull the steel gates in place to pen them up. Then wait til the extra cow and bull were ready to walk out and let them out of the gate. So far-so good. Now to clear the snow away so the truck and cattle trailer can get around. The 2090 started fine seeing as the block heater had been plugged in almost 24 hours. My half mile riveway was heavy going with hard packed snow drifts but they reluctantly yielded to the mighty 8 foot Cancade dozer blade. The yard took a little longer as I needed to clear a big "turn around area" for the truck and trailer. That goes slow with an angle blade pushing less than 8 feet. But not bad work with the heater blowing warm air and CBC radio to entertain and inform me what is happening in the rest of the world.
The trucker showed up in good time considering I was ready about 3 hours before the appointed time. No great drama or excitement with the loading. Only one of the four remaining cows seems to be concerned about her missing calf but its for the best he is gone. The last thing that old decrepit cow needed was to keep feeding a big calf. Now she can concentrate on getting herself back in good shape maybe.
No video from today. I just could not bother with a camera this time. Later in the afternoon these cats were sure enjoying the sun on the sheltered side of the barn so I took this shot.