So I picked out and purchased my new Jerseys, but I couldn't take them home that night. On our way out to go shopping, we drove out to the farm to hook up the trailer. We got hooked up and were pulling out when we realized that we didn't have any trailer lights. So we backed it up and unhooked it and left it there for the night. What a waste of time and gas. So we went ahead and went shopping, but made other trailer arrangements for the Jerseys.
We STILL needed to use the trailer to haul the Brown Swiss nurse cow and three others to the breeder.
So the following Monday, Mom tried to get me up and out the door, but I'm not a morning person and I was not cooperative. She told me to grab a water on the way out, but I said no, I was fine. We rolled out of our neighborhood about an hour later than she had planned, but we still had plenty of time.
We went to pick up the trailer again and load up...but the trailer wasn't there. It had been borrowed the night before. He used it at night and got back to town late and didn't want to wake the homeowner when he brought the trailer back. Luckily, since he used it at night, we knew that the trailer wiring had been fixed! So we had to go out in the country to pick it up from his house because he was at work and wasn't able to bring it to us. This was going to take time.
We found the property just fine. But today I could not get the trailer hitch lined up to save my life!!! Usually, I'm an AWESOME trailer hitcher. Eventually it looked like I had it, but because I'm not as big as everyone else, I have to shove the jack handle really hard to get it going around. Because I was shoving so hard, and because someone ripped the foot off the bottom of the jack, and because no one ever puts blocks behind the tires, the trailer rolled off the block, rammed the jack into the dirt and kept rolling. Finally it dug in so deep that it stopped. Thank the Good Lord that my mom had just bought a floor jack and put in the truck. It was still in the box in the bed of the truck.
We put a spare receiver hitch behind one of the tires to block it. Put the floor jack under the tongue of the trailer, jacked it up, put the block back under the trailer jack, and started over. FINALLY we got to leave. That took a LOT of time we hadn't counted on. So we sent the breeder a text.
We got back to the farm and improvised a loading chute with the trailer gate and an extra cattle panel wired to the other corner of the trailer. We haltered and loaded the nurse cow. We haltered Fara and tied her up. I caught the Milking Shorthorn and got her to the trailer but she WOULD.NOT.LOAD!!! After about ten tries, Mom had me tie her up. I got Fara half into the trailer and she decided to lay down. So we boosted her up and put her to the side while we took another try with the Shorthorn. Mom took her out away from the trailer and circled her back. She stepped right up that time! We got the two big ones in the front and closed the divider gate. Now it was time to load the little bull. Had to follow him around the pen two or three times to try to keep him from doubling back. Then he just jumped right up in the trailer with Fara. We got the gate closed and reached through to turn Fara loose from her halter. We didn't want her to get hurt by the bull so we let her loose to move around on her own. That took even MORE time than we had thought it would. We texted the breeder to let him know we were on our way. (I'm glad my mom shared her ice water with me.)
FINALLY we were on the road. We had a window of 11-1 to be at the breeder's. We were twenty minutes late.
The GOOD NEWS about this day is that we had given the breeder a heads-up on our situation and little did we know he was busy with the hoof trimmer. When we walked through the door, they had just sat down to have a sandwich. Sadly, if we had been there sooner, we could have told him that the nurse cow needed her hooves done.
I cleaned and washed out the trailer. Mom was EXTREMELY impressed that I didn't complain and that I did a PERFECT job without having to re-do anything or be told what to do. :) Woo Hoo!!!
I got to bring Juicy home from the breeder. She got to be penmates with Carmelita. I worked both of them and Stop and Stare with show halters. Gotta get them ready for Sooner State!
Anyway, I learned several things. Yes, my mom actually made me discuss them out loud with her in the truck on the way home. :(
#1 Just do what your mom tells you.
Always start a job early. Give yourself extra time.
How to recover a dropped trailer
Always block trailer tires.
Call ahead.
Confirm plans you made the week before (like borrowing the trailer)
Bring emergency tools/supplies.
Carry ice water.
This did not start out as a happy day, but it got better as we went. That's another lesson in itself. Just because things start out bad, doesn't mean they have to stay that way. :)
I LOVE YOU, MOM! :)
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