Lambs off to the feedlot

It’s time to load the lambs onto semis so they can go off to the feedlot in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming. They will spend a few months there eating locally grown corn, and gaining around fifty pounds. It is sort of like going on a cruise, only without the tugboats and humidity. Richard Drake will look out for them and determine when they are ready to become lamb chops. It makes for noisy nights around our headquarters, since we separate the lambs from the ewes the night before they load onto the trucks. It is less stress for both lambs and truckers if they are “empty”–off feed and water–when they load. When they arrive at the feedlot, Richard is ready with plenty of feed, water and good conditions so the lambs will thrive. The ewes call for a day or so. My Dad always said that it is so the other ewes will know they are good mothers. The ewes then settle down, and get ready for the winter months.