Shipping Yearlings

It's payday in the Sandhills!!  Time to ship yearlings to buyers. Rows and rows of cattle trucks (pots) sitting along the road just waiting to be loaded.  Another time when neighbors gather together to help other neighbors do a job and enjoy not only work, but the fruit of  the last year's labors. 

We used to save all of our calves (except for replacement heifers) over to yearlings.  Like many of our neighbors, that made Fall the only time of year for a payday.  Several years ago now, we lost a lease on some pasture where we used to take a good share of our yearlings, so we started selling heifers and part of our steers as weaned calves in February.  Now we only sell a small bunch as yearlings. 

Some of our neighbors, like us,  raise everything they sell, called "home-raised" cattle (for obvious reasons).  Other neighbors "put together" bunches of weaned calves like we sell in early spring and put them on grass to be sold to buyers with feedlots at this time of year.  Still others raise some of their calves and buy some to add to their bunch. 

Last week, my friend Bill shipped his heifers.  He puts together a really nice bunch of heifers to run over to yearlings.  Bill grew up on a cow-calf/yearling operation much like ours.  His dad and my dad were friends and neighbors.  Still are for that matter.  Bill and I are the same age and quite literally, grew up together.  His mom was gone at the same time mine was, so our dads just toted us along wherever they went.  We ended up being decent hands around yearlings because we grew up working around them.

I always get a little nostalgic whenever I help Bill with his heifers because we have so much history together.  I think about the time Dad and Carl (Bill's dad) were to gather some yearlings for Red Mann, a friend of my dad's.  Bill and I were probably about ten years old at the time.  Since yearlings are not always the easiest cattle to handle,  GOOD help is what you need.  You don't need people getting in the way and you don't need people who don't know what they're doing.  You just need good help.  Dad and Carl both showed up with a little kid...on a horse.  That often means the dad will spend more time making sure either the kid doesn't fall off his horse or making sure the kid is out of the way for the people doing the work.  Red wasn't too thrilled to see our dads bringing us two kids.  I guess now, I don't blame him.  But Bill and I were fairly soggy hands by then.  We helped gather and sort, didn't get in the way and did a good job.  The buyer of the cattle called Bill over and gave him a $20 bill....which he was supposed to share with me.....and never has.  I remind him of that once in a while!!

Bill's heifers came in heavy from the weight he had sold them. I have been giving him a hard time about spending all of his time counting his money. 

The Sandhills have been good to just about everyone grazing cattle this year.  Cattle have gained well and the market has been good, very good.  I think it's safe to say that Sandhills ranchers have a pretty good start on another year.