The Christensen Angus Ranch bull sale started at high noon Friday, March 14 as winds gusted up to 65 mph in southern Kingfisher County and across the state.
By nightfall more than 130 wildfires were reported in 44 counties in the high wind. More than 200 homes and buildings were destroyed in fires Friday and Saturday in Oklahoma.
Todd Waltman, manager, said he expected a great sale Friday, despite the winds. That was a couple of hours before it got even worse. As the winds picked up during the afternoon, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety reported heavy vehicle travel was suspended in northern and western Oklahoma counties. The counties were Canadian, Kay, Noble, Osage, Payne and Pawnee.
The previous year, the bull sale weather was rainy and cold with sleet.
“We’ve got a lot of good people here. We can survive the wind,” Todd Waltman said.
Around the ranch vicinity, the wind turbines worked extra hard as the wind whipped up dust on the ground.
“It was rain and sleet last year and this year it’s the wind we’re fightin’. But we’ve got a great sale, good lookin’ bulls, good lookin’ stock so I think we’ll do well,” Todd Waltman said.
The ranch is located three miles west of Piedmont Road and two miles north.
One family arrived at the sale from Arkansas Friday morning. Jonathan Dunn and his son Russell, 3, were with granddad Dale Johnson, all of Hackett in Sebastian County, Arkansas. Brandon Smith of Hackett made the trip from Arkansas Friday, the land of few trees at the ranch.
The Arkansas travelers have a ranch near one that the Christensens had in Arkansas.
“The Christensens used to have a farm next to ours in Hackett and they used to do sales there in Hackett,” Brandon Smith said.
As the wind continued to make it hard to hear a person talk from four feet away, Smith commented on the landscape he saw after getting out of the truck with trailer that would take back a bull or two.
“It is windy here. I know it’s windy all the time but especially today,”
Smith said.
Before the sale started, Rhys Williams and Cooper Hill of Livestock Nutrition in Guthrie fired up an outdoor cooker pulled by a pickup that parked next to the sale barn. To the north lies a wheat field. The wind whipped flames in the cooker and sparks flew inside. None got out into the wind. A high wind warning was issued by the National Weather Service Friday, as livestock trailers and pickups navigated the unpaved Kingfisher County roads between Piedmont and Okarche. Skies were dry, which helped the challenge. Low visibility from dust however, did not help.
