Late branding

[Dave]

Had a late branding here in more ways than one. The majority of the brandings happened a couple weeks ago. Most cattle have been gone to the hills for a couple weeks. This one was suppose to start at noon. I went by at 9:30 and they were nearly to the corral with the cows. I thought good they will have the cows sorted off and ready on time. So I show up on time. All of the cows and calves are together in a big pen. Horses are saddled up and tied to the fence in the pen with the cows. And not a soul in sight. Something is wrong here. After some waiting and research I found out that there was a fire. Virtually everyone here are members of our rangeland fire protection association. All of the ranchers and cowboys were playing fire fighter. They got the fire out before it burnt too much. Only about 20 acres. But the wind did make it interesting for a while. So our 12:00 start didn't happen until a little after 4:00. We started short handed but the crew built as people were able to get there. We did 170 (+/- ?) head in about 3 hours. No wanna be ropers. No beer drinking. This was a get it done deal.

 

[Silver]

Glad everything worked out well in the end.

But.... no beer drinking?? Don't really seem proper.

 

[Dave]

Glad everything worked out well in the end.

But.... no beer drinking?? Don't really seem proper.

We started with a pretty short crew. So it was a slow start. They didn't get sorted so the ropers were having to search through the herd for calves that hadn't been worked. I think people were looking at the number of cattle in the pen and the position of the sun and worried about getting done before sunset. What is funny is that at an earlier branding at this place he ran out of beer. So this time he made sure he had plenty. He had plenty left over and he doesn't drink...... Oh well, he will have another branding in a week or two.

 

[snoopdog]

The sweet and lovely had a very concerning question from the tax lady, about how she could be so sure of the amount listed for farm labor, such and such, right down to the penny. She told her, it's amazing what you can get done with fried chicken, mashed potatoes and beer!

 

[gcreekrch]

Got our 3rd big bunch done yesterday. A couple of smaller ones and we should be all but done. 240 yesterday, cows go through the chute for a vaccination and poured, calves put in barn and through the table. Rained hard about the time we came in for lunch after sorting and the cows were done. Was a nice afternoon. We were eating supper at 6 pm. Very thankful for the great crew we have at present.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

It's like hearing about days gone by. Never saw anything like that. Guess never in right area. Started with cattle in the late 60's in Kansas - then moved to NY in late 70's. NY has banned all hot brands.

 

[Dave]

This bunch we did last week and another bunch both went out on private pastures early. The calves need branded before going to the BLM. There was one particularly big Char cross calf the boys struggled a bit to tip over. The owner said brace yourself for that next herd, there will be a bunch of calves like that. Good thing I was just giving shots. Like an old west gunslinger with a pistol in both hands.

 

[gcreekrch]

It's like hearing about days gone by. Never saw anything like that. Guess never in right area. Started with cattle in the late 60's in Kansas - then moved to NY in late 70's. NY has banned all hot brands.

Trust thyneighbor, but brand all your calves! ;-)