Well we sold the steer calves a week ago.  They sold pretty good , although the average weight was down from previous years.  Lighter weight calves were selling good so we sold more of the younger and lighter calves. Past years we would have kept these young calves and weaned and fed them for a period of time and put more weight on them. Past years grain cost would be less than half of what the costs are this year.  Grass hay which is our primary roughage is in short supply and hard to come by if we would have to buy any.  Fortunately we have enough hay to get us through this winter.

The next day that worked for all of us we weaned the rest of the steer calves and bull calves and all the heifer calves.  The corral was really dusty.  The calves were ready to be eating something better than dry grass.  The mother cows are ready for the calves to be off so they can gain some weight before going into the winter.

The calves wander around and bawl for their mothers.  The more they walk the more dust they churn up with their hooves.  In a week we will see how many sick calves we have to treat.  It seems most years if calves get sick it takes about a week for the sickness to show up with a droopy ear or head down and coughing.  Today it tried to rain most of the day.  It did dampen the dust but didn't get anything wet.  The damp weather should help keep the dust down.  The cows and the sheep loved the dampness on the dry grass.  The dampness makes the grass more palatable.

We still have our lambs and are waiting for the price to move up.  The last sale in Newell showed a market that wanted lambs that were below 90 pounds.  If the lambs are above 90 pounds the price gets lower.  We will probably have to sell lambs before too long and keep the weight below 90 pounds.

Today we sorted our cow away from Ryan's cows.  Then hauled our cows over here at Fairpoint.  That way Ryan has just his own cows at his place..  That way we don't have to sort cows and calves and try to get the right brand on the right calf. We have plenty of grazing over here as this pasture has had no livestock grazing in it since last winter.  We are both looking to buy some short term red cows.  Don't know if we can find any since most cows sold will be black.