Tuesday, May 17, 2011

AMARILLO LIVESTOCK AUCTION

Tuesday, May 17 - Paul forgot to mention on Sunday upon our arrival to Amarillo we decided to top off our MH diesel fuel tank. Loves Gas Station, at the exit for our RV Park, advertised Diesel for $3.99. We topped-off the tank then noticed $3.99 was the “cash” price.....we paid by debit card, price $4.05. That was the first time we paid over the $4 per gallon price.....DARN!!!

What the heck is with this wind? We had to get up in the middle of the night and run in our PS Slides because of all the racket from the slide awnings flapping in the wind. We were afraid they would blow away! You could feel this 30K+ vehicle rocking in the wind. That's the first time we had to bring in the slides due to wind noise since the Quartzsite storm (or was that a hurricane) in 2009. Holy Cow!!!

To our family in friends back in Ohio…We are so sorry you are having sooooo much rain. We wish we could send you some of this dry weather, and you send us some of that rain.

The Amarillo Livestock Auction was our first stop this morning. It is one of the largest privately owned cattle auctions in the United States. More than 100,000 head of cattle are sold in the auction ring each year. The total head expected today was between 1500-1700 cattle. We left before they knew the exact number.

We were one of the few attendees that weren't wearing cowboy hats and boots or that didn't have a wad of chewing tobacco in our mouth.

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They even provided spittoons for the cowboy bidders. These were real cowboys and ranchers buying this cattle. They were buying younger cattle to raise on their ranches. We weren't real sure of the prices being paid. Some seem to be sold by the pound and some per animal. There was no way we “Yankees” were going to ask these cowpokes to explain it to us.....LOL

The cattle were brought into the auction ring for the sale.

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Those cowboys in the auction arena were swatting and poking those animals to show the bidders what they were made of!

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Of course, some of the cattle kicked, bumped and tried to gore the workers with their horns.

After the bidding they were then sent out another gate for sorting in the livestock yard.

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This sorting was neat to see. Each bidder had a number that corresponded to a sorting pen.

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When the cattle came out of the arena, cowboys on horse back lead the cattle to the correct pen of the buyer. This was very interesting!

Marsha waiting to see them bring down the cows.

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As luck would have it, the cowboy unlatched the pen right in front of us.

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Here come the cows.

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They looked so happy to be out of there.

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We really enjoyed this Auction. One of those unusual stops that turned out very interesting and one we recommend for others to see. If in Amarillo on a Tuesday, the only day of the sale, stop in for a short visit.

Of course that isn't all we did. Marsha is working on the pictures from our visit to the Panhandle Museum. Should have those for you tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!

4 comments:

  1. I would LOVE to take your wind in exchange for the rain we have been having in the northeast. Our campground is soaked and still trying to dry out from the flooding of the river!!!

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  2. Sounds like fun to me... I even have the hat

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  3. Don't you love that thing that the gas stations do with the cash-credit deal, we've been caught several times. Prices are still high in this are (Utah) $4.17. Have fun with the cows!

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  4. Looks just like the farm auction in Langley where we used to go. We would go for one thing (usually chickens) and would come home with a lot more. We once drove through the city with 3 goats in our hatchback!!! along with a bag of chickens and three kids.

    Gas is a lot more here!! Converted that's $5.19 a gallon for gasoline!

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