A hundred or so calves face off against ‘real’ cowboys on horses and ranchers waiting to ear tag, immunize, castrate the bull calves, and brand.
Sounds like fun, right? It is! Unless your one of the calves…
We haven’t just been caught up in doing our Easter Countdown this past week. Branding was on Wednesday, while Friday and Saturday was spent traveling to take Bon Bon and Semisweet to my parents. They get to go to BARCELONA for ten days!! {{I will not be jealous…I will not be jealous}}
Enjoy the photos of the branding. I tried to post them in order of what happens to the poor little calves.The ‘real’ cowboys are friends and cousins who came to help. The calves were all too little to run them through the squeeze chute which means they get to be roped and held down instead.
A special corral was built with hay bales to keep the cattle in one spot. The cowboys ride in and find the next victim.
Here my sister-in-law’s father eyes the calf. . .
and ropes his hind legs on the first try.
Once a calf is roped . . .
it is brought in to the rest of the crew waiting to do their individual jobs.
Someone is waiting to hold the calf down.
The calves ears are tagged, meaning they are cut and marked in some way. Ours get a slice cut off the top so the top of the ear is straight.
Then the calf gets immunized.
If it’s a heifer calf it will branded right after that.
If it’s a bull calf it gets castrated and becomes a steer.
Usually this all happens at once. See all the ear tops laying in the dirt above?
The whole time that is going on the cowboy is waiting patiently on his horse.
The calf is let go to join his mama back in the herd. The rest of the photos are just random scenes from the day.
Branding irons heating up
Kids watching from the safety of the pickup. We did take a video but can’t upload it as the two oldest took the camcorder with them to Spain. Look for the video in a couple of weeks.
Hershey and Mr. Ferrero Rocher while he takes a break from the castrating. Did I tell you he doesn’t like branding time very much? Because he is the “knife” expert (I never have dull kitchen knives!) he gets stuck with the dirty job. 😉
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Ooooo, my dh would be so jelous! He LOVES branding time. He is crazy like that. 🙂 He pretty much likes every job, but he doesn’t do it every year so maybe it makes it less exciting when you have to do it. 🙂
Your girls are SO lucky! What a fun vacation!
Oh my, the memories! I used to watch with the same kind of smiles your little gals had on their faces. . . after I was through gathering cow pies for the fire. No propane burner on our little farm!
When I raised goats for the milk, I had to burn their horn buds and for our safety, and that was not fun at all. Not a smile could come to my face for a hours afterwards. Made me wonder what kind of a child I had been.
P.S. You have my permission to be a little jealous 😉
This was great! I love to read about what people do on their farms and ranches. Maybe if I read enough, I’ll finally have the guts to raise animals too.
love.Love. LOVE. the pictures! Where abouts in the world are you located? It seems very dry there, but maybe thats the time of year?
Here in QLD, we are blessed with a high annual rainfall and this year was one of the best in the last 20 years, so everything is REALLY green! (We also have a property – ranch – so its great to see what its like elsewhere!)
Also, very innovative, using the hay bales as a makeshift corral! 🙂
Great post! Thanks for all the pictures! 🙂
Sweet photos! That brand looks so cool!
Okay – I just have to ask. Did yall have cow fries/rocky mountain oysters once you were done? My husband took some scouts (from the city) out to a ranch several years back to do this. They were so proud when they got back. It was something I just took for granted but those boys still talk about. Should I be concerned – you’re jealous about Barcelona (rightly so 🙂 ) and I’m jealous about you working calves 🙂 Thanks for the pictures!
Oh my gosh. Can I come ride your horses sometime? Please please please pretty please?! That buckskin and the gray one are so so pretty. Well they all are, but I’ve always been partial to buckskins and grays 🙂
What is your brand name? Bar W? Rail W? Do you make Rockie Mountain oysters?
Odd questions, I know.
Your lucky girls to go to Spain. It is beautiful.
Aw, I love branding time. Definitely some of my best memories were made there. And it looks like you had an awesome crew! Thanks for sharing this with us at the Homestead Barn Hop!
Branding day is bigger than Christmas (almost) at our ranch. But we’re right in the middle of calving right now and won’t brand until late June.
WOW! Thanks for the pics — Doc’s grandparents had several cattle ranches, so he tells me stories but I could never picture it. I’ll have to show this to Buddy — REAL cowboys!