Pork At The Pump

Since the distance is 150 miles, cows have to be at the processer on Mondays for harvest early Tuesday morning. The hogs have to be there Sunday for an early Monday harvest. Since we were taking both beef and pork we are allowed to take both Sunday with only one extra day stay for the cows.

We need to bring the cows up Friday or Saturday at the latest. With a half day Farmers Market on Saturday, we don’t like to wait until the last minute in case things don’t go smoothly. They usually don’t. Hogs aren’t quite as bad. We skip a feeding and they can’t get in the trailer quick enough. Of course not all pigs are the same, so things can go badly there too.

Since it is virtually impossible to herd cows on a 4 wheeler, we have to resort to tempting persuasions like treats to coax them up. But not all like the same treats. Some beat me to the corral. Others refuse to come. I always hope the ones we want come in easy. Occasionally it works that way. If the ones we want don’t come up quickly, many times an extra day of temptation works. So, waiting till the last minute is a recipe for disaster. We like to have the cows and pigs loaded by Saturday night so we can leave Sunday morning right after the chores. Six hours of driving and an hour unloading and doing paperwork deserves an early start.

Saturday started well. We made some decent sales at the market. Got home at a reasonable time. Moving the cows up was pretty smooth. Ended up bad. The cow I wanted came in with some others. I closed the corral gate, moved him into a second area of the corral and gave him food and water. Unfortunately, this cow was an Angus, Galloway mix. It seems the Angus in the cow brings out the worst of the attitude. Feisty, anxious, flighty and tough on equipment and corral fence is their trademark, at least at our place. He was pawing the ground, trying to squeeze under the gate to his section and pacing back and forth. Unfortuately, this was the hottest day of the year. It read 100 degrees on our weather station and the humidity was close to 80%.

I went inside to cool off, get some water and change shirts. I sweat a lot, and in this kind of weather, I really sweat. I then went about getting a couple other chores done. I wanted to load the cow tonight in the front of the trailer and then the hogs in the back compartment. I like the cow up front where I can close the dividing gate in the trailer to keep him locked up there. I then can more easily load the pigs.

It was getting a little late so I went back out to work at getting this aggressive cow in the trailer. I looked in the pen before entering and saw him laying down, up against a wall. He was breathing with deep, slow breaths. If he had continued his anxious pacing and looking for an escape route, it might be that he had some heat exhaustion or stroke.I tried to get him up. No response. I got the hose and sprayed water on him to cool him down. I also have a squirrel cage electric fan so I retreived that, ran an extension cord and got that blowing on him. My schedule was now unworkable. I couldn’t load him and I did not want to load the pigs up front. Well that does it. I can’t load tonight. I have a cow in trouble and I haven’t even addressed the pigs yet. Gee. Ain’t it great.

I checked back on the cow 4-5 times. He’s not doing well. This all is going to have to be delayed until tomorrow morning. Now I’m really going to get a late start, if any at all.

After a lousy night’s sleep I go out early to check and my cow is dead. Somewhere along the line I figure God hates me for probably many good reasons.

I should be leaving but I have no cow, that has already been sold, in the corral to take. Our customer not only wanted 1/2 of this cow but 1/2 of one of the pigs I haven’t even tried to load yet. These are the times that farming/ranching is no fun. What to do? I do the only thing I can do. I go back out and try to lure the cows, now back out in the pasture, to come in again. I had one cow left that I could take. I hop on the 4 wheeler with my tub of treats and call them again…Let’s Go Let’s Go. Shaking the tub for them to hear, they all start to slowly follow me again. Slowly, not leaving any behind. The one I wanted turned off and did not come all the way in. But I couldn’t believe my eyes when a steer I had forgot about came into the corral in a group. This was a purebred Galloway steer. Walking slowly and proudly. Part of the reason I like the Galloway so very much. He’s in, behind the gate and acting like he should. Unfortunately, the steer that had died is still laying in the small area. I’ll have to deal with that later.

Now I need to back the trailer up to the gate. It’s in position. I open the gate and he walks into the trailer. As you might imagine, mixed emotions. He’s done me a great service and will not be rewarded accordingly. Farming is full of mixed emotions if you care about animals. They deserve respect as they fulfill a great purpose.

But it’s not over. I still need two pigs. Morning is in the History books. I’m usually arriving at the processer 150 miles away by now. The pigs are in an area with two, low electric wires. I back my pig trailer (I call it my Hog Holler Hauler) down to a two wire gate that is run between two T-posts set apart just wider than the trailer. I can back up to the gate, disconnect the two wire gate and then back in just a bit. The pigs are usually crowed around, concentrating on the feed, not an escape route. I slid open the gate and 6 jump in. I only want two . Fortunately one of them is right to take. I need to get 5 back out without letting the one I want escape. Working the gate carefully and holding my mouth just right, the 5 I want out are now out. The drive to the trailer is easy and so is the loading. Now to return to the hog pen to get one more. It works and both are loaded.

Time has elapsed and the processer is still 150 miles away. A half check of the trailer and a loaded snack and we’re off. Sandy, my wife, usually rides along. You never know if a what if might occur. First stop, 15 miles away is the gas station. I pull in to the pump and start pumping gas. I heard a bang at the back of the traier. Pigs usually bang around in the trailer. To my surprise a young gentleman comes around from the rear of the trailer and says, I closed the door. One was about to jump out. What? The small sliding door at the back had not been latched correctly and vibrated open on the highway. Two pigs running around the gas pumps would not have been what I would have wanted. There is a God.

He asked if his young daughter could look at the pigs. Well, of course, so he lifted her to look through the side slats. Just open the door and she can see better, I told him. I know you can close the door. He opened the door, let her look inside at the big hogs for a bit and then closed the door correctly. I thanked him multiple times. He left, I left and the day ended smoothly.

The moral of the story is don’t forget to latch the trailer door unless you want to meet a friendly person unexpectedly and let a young girl get a taste of farm life at the gas station.