FIELD TRIP!

On Wednesday, we got an opportunity to watch a BIG large scale commercial beef operation being loaded up. They are heading to Iowa. We were graciously blessed to be able to come and watch this. Tim was able to help. It was so cold only -2.

This is some of the cattle waiting to be loaded.

They will go to auction on Friday.

They have three big rigs ready to be loaded.

A few helping hands to get the cattle moved.

The trailer is backed up to the ramp the cattle will go up.

 We sat in the truck and watched for a few and then we went into the barn. We were told with the cold weather the cattle were acting up. Was told the night before they took out a gate.

This side is the people door.

The chutes the cattle will go through.

Inside the trailer has different areas, so they carefully count out the cattle and send them up the ramp. It has walls and ramps inside that move. The first to load are taken through the upper level and down a ramp and it closes them off above the tractor axles. Then the top level is loaded. One ramp is closed and another opened. Then the bottom level is loaded. Finally the rear of the trailer is loaded. It takes several people to get this job done efficiently.

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We all got up early to come and watch and help.

There they go!

The guy on the left side moves the gate around and keeps the cattle moving through the chute.

This is an angus bull. He was just in the pen next to the setup. He wasn't getting loaded up, but just hanging out with us.

This trailer has 77 cattle in it.

The sun was starting to rise. Kaitlin was counting the cattle as they were passing by and into the trailers.

The second trailer also got 77 cattle loaded up.

The third trailer was backing up.

Now it's ready to be loaded.

It was so cold I didn't end up taking pictures of the last group going in. I was outside watching them go in. It was just too cold and the wind was blowing. While I was outside the cattle were so loud with the metal walls and floor. One of the guys said when it is totally cleaned out it is much louder. Most of them like to keep a little dirt behind to help dampen the noise. The third trailer loaded up 96 on it. They weren't able to get the last 5 on the trailer. Was told it is hard to calculate how many and their size. The total leaving for Iowa was around 250 head of cattle.

Truck one is already up the road and truck 2 and truck 3 are right behind. Safe travels!