How Much Is A Pet Steer Worth?

This happened this morning. I wasn't there. I had hired an experienced woman to oversee the loading in rural Wisconsin. My goats and my pet steer were to be moved from my old farm to my new property.

Yesterday, the trucking supervisor went to the farm. He said the steer was too big to fit into the semi side door, and might not even fit through the back door. So I hired a gooseneck cattle trailer guy to haul the steer.

This is how the story was told to me. I have it from three people: both shippers, and my supervisor.

I had hired two livestock trucks. One has a semi (tractor and 50' stock trailer). The other has a one-ton truck and a 30' gooseneck trailer.

150 goats were loaded into the semi trailer.

One giant, 12 year old, pet steer was loaded into the 30' trailer. Steer was 6'6" tall and weighed 2500 pounds. A gentle giant. My buddy.

I had been told by the head shipper that the steer would not fit through the semi side door. The farm where they were loaded did not have a loading ramp, which meant the steer could not be loaded through the back door. The side door is relatively low. The back door is more than 4' off the ground. The side door is fine for goats and sheep and pigs and calves, but not large bovines.

After all the goats were loaded on the semi, and the steer was loaded in the 30' trailer, the two drivers decided that they would put the steer in the semi.

My steer was safely loaded in the gooseneck. He would have travelled just fine that way. I did not mind paying both drivers to move my animals.

My supervisor objected to putting the steer in the semi trailer, but the drivers insisted that they knew better, that the steer would fit through the semi's side door. She tried to get them to stop, but again, they said they knew better. They ignored her. They backed the gooseneck trailer up to the semi's side door and tried to push the steer through the door.

The steer got stuck.

Instead of letting the steer relax, and figure out his own way to back up, they decided to drive the semi backwards against the gooseneck to force the steer free.

The moment they moved the semi, they broke the steer's pelvis. Effectively killing the steer.

At this point, the steer is immobilized, and stuck, 3/4 of the way inside a semi.

The gooseneck driver pulled forward, leaving the steer's back legs hanging in the air. The steer collapsed onto his front legs. You can imagine his cries.

The two drivers used a loader-tractor and chains to yank the steer backwards out of the semi. With a broken pelvis, the steer could not stand.

This is when I got the first phone call that things had gone terribly wrong. My supervisor was crying.

I immediately called the sheriff and a local vet. The sheriff basically ignored me. The vet, who has been this steer's vet since 2012, went straight to the farm. There was no saving the steer, and the vet euthanized him while my supervisor cradled his head and told him that he was a good boy.

Now the shippers are both claiming it's not their fault.

I have no idea how to value my steer. He was my only steer. He was my buddy. My pet. Totally tame. At night, at the end of a long day, or the end of a good day, I liked to smoke a cigar and drink a beer and just hang out with my gentle giant.

Now he's dead.

Me? I want financial vengeance. Since the sheriff says it's civil, I have one question: how much was my pet steer worth?

Edit: I know how to calculate the local beef prices and multiply by how much he weighed. That's easy. But I wasn't taking him to slaughter. He wasn't for sale.

I was going to spend at least 3,000 to ship him from my old farm to my new property, 2,000 miles away. I already spent tons on shipping horses. It is $9,000 to ship the goats.

Also, terminology matters to farmers: a steer is a castrated bovine. A cow is an adult breeding female bovine. A bull is an intact adult make bovine.

This guy was a steer.

Steers like him, especially of his size and athletic ability, were called oxen.