Well......let me tell ya. Those bargain barn deals were sweet, but we got a couple of crazies. We had six to work. One Charolais cow (five months bred), one Charolais heifer calf, one Brama/Charolais cross heifer calf, and three Angus heifer calves. All the calves weighed in at about 450lb.
Everything was going good, we got the Charolais and the cross calves both done and in a holding pen, then one of the Angus (she's a little crazy, but more on that soon) all done up.
Now we just had the cow and two more calves in the lot to push into the chute area. I try to keep the calves and cows apart as we work them thru, but these three all head into the smaller pen together. Oh well, not a big deal. I go into that pen and latch the gate, the Charolais cow gets real wild acting, starts trying to jump over the gate. Within a few seconds she has the gate down, and those three are trotting across the field to get with Doyle's herd.
Well crap......that's a first. Doyle's pen and chute system has never lost a cow, calf, or bull.....till today.
So we get the tractor, use it to straighten the gate back up, then rehang it. Doyle is talking about a new gate out of oak. Five feet high, and real close to the ground. He's not happy about this, and will fix this weak link in the system.
Now, remember the Angus calf that was a bit crazy? Well......I back my trailer in to load her up, and she gets in pretty easy. She's one of those critters that really doesn't do well small places. Before long she is doing her best to either run thru this steel trailer, or climb out. Doyle wants me to put her back in the pen till next weekend and take her back to the sale. Now I just paid .59 an pound for this crazy heifer, and she's done bloodied her nose, and scuffed her head up right well. Hell, I'm set on seeing how she does with the other calves.
My wife and I drive her here to our place, then call up the calves. After they are all standing near the trailer, I open it up. Little crazy comes outta there like she was shot from a cannon. She barrels out across the field, and into the far corner. It's just a small lot by the barn, so the calves catch up pretty quick. They start sniffing around on her, doing a little pushing, but so far, so good. I go put up the trailer, and fetch a bucket of feed. When I get back I just walked to the feed trough and start dumping feed, little crazy is standing four feet away on the other side.
I think she's gonna be fine, as long as she ain't hemmed in.