Branding today, lots of pics!

[milkmaid]

Branding today, lots of fun and hard work. Figured y'all don't get to see this done the old fashioned way very often, thought maybe you'd enjoy the pics.

Cowboys hanging out, waiting for the calves

Calves waiting in the holding pen

Bringing calves to the fire

The ground crew

Calves coming in

Branding

My bronc

Hanging out with momma afterwards

This calfie went through a fence on the way back to pasture...

After I sewed him back together...

(I've decided I'm carrying lidocaine, catgut and needles with me when I'm at college from now on - never thought I'd need it when I'm at school - but you wouldn't believe how tough it is to find that stuff on a Saturday from a neighbor. I was ready to try sewing needles, steel and superglue, but was really happy when we finally found the surgery stuff.)

Calves on pasture

 

[FarmGirl10]

Awesome pictures. The ranch your on doesn't happen to be in the Wheatland area? I think I recognize that brand from when I was driving around that area.

 

[Jogeephus]

Thanks for sharing. Good pics. I don't think I'd fair to well around that burning hair. Never branded anything but I imagine it stinks to high heaven.

BTW - regarding the needles and stuff. Do you have any friends who work in a hospital or a doctor's office. If so, ask them to be on the lookout for expired surgical needles. They have an expiration date on them and if they don't rotate them properly they have to trash them. I've got cases of them. Don't know what I'm going to do with them but I can't see how an individually wrapped needle and thread can go bad. Each one is sterile too.

 

[TheBullLady]

Great pics MM.. thanks for sharing. And wonderful needlework! That's always the way.. seems like you never have everything you need for every ocassion!

 

[milkmaid]

FarmGirl-- yep, it is. Good memory!

Jo-- Branding does smell pretty bad. You try not to walk downwind of the smoke, but you do kind of get used to it after awhile. lol. Re the needles - I haven't thought of it before, but that's a good idea. The type you get, are those the ones that come with a needle attached to blue thread?

 

[Ryder]

That ninth picture down shows how to hold a calf down.
It should be studied by drugstore cowboys that think they know better than people who have been there, done that.
You just can't get it through their heads that the man holding the back leg is supposed to sit his rear end on the ground.

 

[Jogeephus]

The type you get, are those the ones that come with a needle attached to blue thread?

I was given these about two years ago and just stuck them in my medicine area of the barn and can't remember the thread color but yes the needle is attached to a thread inside a little pack. They are sterile and they look like they are packed in a little alcohol or something cause there looks to be a clear liquid in the little pack. The front of the package is white plastic with a label on it describing the needle and the thread type. The other side is clear so you can see the needle and thread. I probably have six boxes of them with each box containing around 100 or more packs. Don't know why I said I wanted them I just couldn't see them throwing them away. I'm a scrounger I guess. But, I really can't see how these can go bad are stored properly. I'll get a pack out today and see the specifics.

 

[Just_a_girl]

MM,

I really enjoyed looking at these pictures...hope that you get a chance to post more like these. :banana:

forgive my ignorance, I see you're pre-vet, but are these pictures from on-holds class from school?

I think this would have interested me more than my computer classes I took in college. I'd probably end being a 'life' time student. :lol:

Great job on the calf. How is the little calf doing?

 

[bigbull338]

those are some great pics.you just cant beat the smell of burning hair an hide during branding.you done a nice stitch job on that calf.

 

[1982vett]

Glad y'all had enough help and didn't come get me. :nod:

 

[Auburn_Ag]

Great pictures!!! Thank you for sharing!

 

[milkmaid]

The calf - I checked on him today, wouldn't have found him without the ear tag I put in. He found his mother and was snoozing in the sun. Looked a little sore, but otherwise you wouldn't know he's got about 15 stitches across his back. He'll heal up real nice.

Just-a-girl -- nope, I finished with the semester Friday. These pics are from a relative's ranch; they schedule some of their big events around my going to and from college. This is my stopping point on my way home... I'll actually be back in Idaho tomorrow.

As a random side note for anyone who's interested; the bottle of lidocaine I borrowed from the neighbor had an expiration date of 01/1997. Yes it was at least 12 years old. Worked fine, calf never flinched while I was putting the stitches in, fellow said he was told as long as it stayed in the fridge, stayed out of the sun, and didn't crystallize it would be good forever. I found that rather fascinating.

 

[larryshoat]

Great pics milkmaid . How many did you have to do ? Looks like fun .I noticed you're using an electric branding iron, do you have a hard time keeping that hot enopugh ?

Larry

 

[milkmaid]

Larry -- I think there was around 300, more or less. Not sure about the branding irons, but it seemed like the folks using them weren't having problems. (Well, except for the time the "9" iron got unplugged, LOL.)

 

[TexasBred]

I always love to see those "old time" branding activities....just seems like a lot of unnecessary work tho when a good chute, or headgate and an electric iron would make it so simple. Course you also gotta have elec. available. ;-)

 

[Gate Opener]

How long do you leave the iron on the calf? Thanks for the pictures.

 

[TexasBred]

How long do you leave the iron on the calf? Thanks for the pictures.

Til that brand is about the same color as a brand new baseball glove in all areas.