Have you ever been curious about the chutes and pens located in a grassy field east of Motley?

The site is a working scale yard owned, operated and maintained by members of the local Minnesota Cattlemen's Association.

On June 6, the association held their Scale Yard Clean-up Day and Open House at the rural scale yard located one mile east of Motley on the south side of of Hwy. 210.

"We had a great day," said Gary Sampson, a member of the Minnesota Cattlemen's Association and their secretary. "We know we have a great group of people involved and willing to pitch in, but we really had a great turn out."

Forty-five members attended the clean up day and were joined by 25 more people during the open house festivities.

During the open house, people were encouraged to walk through the facility with members who explained what goes on at the scale yard.

Members bring their privately owned cattle to the scale yard. The cattle are brought into holding pens and then specific animals (steers or heifers) are sorted off into smaller pens, then escorted across the certified scale.

Fix-it time Members checked gates, chutes, railings and more at the Minnesota Cattlemen's Association Scale Yards during a clean up day June 6. (Submitted photo) The cattle are weighed either in small groups or individually, then sent back into larger holding pens for loading. "There's plenty of room and three chutes for semi trucks to efficiently load the cattle," said Sampson. Cattle are delivered to anywhere in the United States. The scale yard is state certified and has a one-time capacity of 650 head.

The Minnesota Cattleman's Association was organized 44 years ago as a non-profit organization. The constitution and bylaws were incorporated in 1964. The area served includes

all of Cass County

and the surrounding area. "You buy fresh calves direct

from the ranch and you get them home fresh

with very little stress."

Cattle feeders are welcome to visit the ranches and look at some of the 10,000 calves produced in the area.

The annual Minnesota Cattlemen's Association tour will be held August 15 (North/West Region, Wadena and Hubbard counties).

Ranch babies Calves born and raised at the Sampson Guiding Star Ranch owned by Gary and Nancy Sampson of Motley. (Submitted photo) This year's association includes 60 plus members from Motley, Staples, Leader, Pillager, Backus, Pequot Lakes, Browerville, Henning, Sebeka, Verndale, Wadena, Brainerd, Pine River, Akeley, Fort Ripley, Eagle Bend, Crosby, Walker and Deerwood. Officers are Tim Nolte, president; Denny Blowers, vice president; Gary Sampson, secretary; Dean Johnson, Treasurer; Luke Noble, Austin Young and Dick Wiese, directors; and Al Krupke, scale master.

For questions please contact a cattlemen's member or the scale master. According to the feeder calf website, anyone wishing to sell and/or weigh cattle at the scale are required to purchase a yearly mem- bership (good Jan. 1-Dec. 31) and pay a per head fee (check the feeder calf website for more information).

"Our members bring their own work crew to the scale yard to help sort, weigh and load," said Sampson. "Usually our family and neighbors. We move ours through and make room for the next person's livestock."

Work crew Some of the work crew members at the June 6 Minnesota Cattlemen's Association scale yard clean up day were, above left to right: Louise, Rita and Eva Nolte, Kay Huffmann, Brittany Young, Nancy Sampson and Jill Johnson. Following the morning's clean up, a meal of hamburgers and hot dogs were supplied by members including salads, cake and ice cream.

Everyone attending the day's festivities received one of the many door prizes collected from "many dedicated, local businesses from Motley, Leader, Staples, Pillager, Aldrich, Verndale, Sebeka and Brainerd.

"You probably know a lot of us," said Sampson.

"We would sincerely like to thank everyone who attended our clean-up and open house and thank all the local businesses that donated the door prizes," said Sampson. "The Mayor of Motley, Konrad Alexander and city councilman Rob Sampson also came and brought their families," said Sampson.

The Minnesota Cattlemen's Association holds their regular monthly meetings at the Leader Town Hall, except in March when they are busy calving (and November when hunting). Their next meeting is July 10, at 8 p.m.; the ranch tour is August 15 and the fall scale yard clean up day is Sept. 12.

Below: A meal was enjoyed by all including left to right Duane Dickey, Barney McCoy, Denny Blowers (walking), Konrad Alexander, Lou Alexander and Allen Krupke. (Submitted photos) For information about the Minnesota Cattlemen's Association, contact any member. For scale yard information, contact Al Krupke, 218-352-6587 (scale yard telephone number is 218-352-6783). The website is www.feedercalves.org.