Ranch Traditions: Branding Part 1

My favorite part of any cattle working day

is roundup.

It is still crisp and cool.

The prairie is bathed in gold

that outlines 

the prairie grass and the backs of cows.

The prairie stretches out huge

and endless

a golden ocean

and

we move under the big sky.

Branding day begins that way.

It is a moment of beauty before the real work begins.

When roundup is complete and the cow-calf pairs are gathered,

it starts with sorting the cows from the calves.

The cows go out and the calves stay in.

It becomes especially noisy because the cows are calling to their calves.

They know one another's voice.

It is fascinating how they find one another afterwards if you really think about it.

But then, I guess I could find my kid in a crowd.

Branding season is one of those traditions

that unites a community.

"Neighboring" is another way of saying that you "trade help" with your neighbor.

And that's what we do on this day.

Even the kids "neighbor" because it's fun and that is how they learn.

One of the benefits of neighboring, just like any other situation of working together,

is that your neighbors have strengths to offer.

Our family is not a roping family, but we are sure glad that our neighbors are.

We mostly hold our calves steady with a roper and a "nordfork",

but we also have teams that wrestle.

{I do not know why it is called a "nordfork".}

The fork helps when you don't have lots "wrestlers" and when your crew is getting older.

Plus it is a good solid and safe way to hold a calf

so that the process of branding, vaccinating and castrating is quick.

That way calves are right back on their feet again

and having some of mama's milk.

That's my son operating the fork above.

Once the calf is held steady

it's time to "work" each one.

Because I am sharing this publicly,

I will address the most common questions about branding.

Why do you brand?

Branding marks the calf for the owner to find lost calves and to prevent stealing.

Calves can easily crawl through fences that will deter most cattle,

which is one of the ways they get lost.

They also get lost when you move a group of pairs from one place to another

and a calf escapes before "pairing up", which means finding it's mother, 

and returns to where it was moved from.

Cattle also get lost when storms come through, either summer or winter,

which cause them to drift and wander with the wind outside of fences,

sometimes many miles from home

and mixed up with other herds.

Brands help to identify your cattle from other ranchers' cattle 

when these kinds of things happen

And, YES, people do steal cattle.

Tags are another way of marking calves, but the tag is marked with a number to identify the mother,

much like bracelets in the hospital mark mother and baby.

Tags also come off easily.  A thief can just cut the tag out of the ear.

A brand is permanent.

Does branding hurt the calf?

Well, yes.  They obviously don't like it.  They bawl.

But cattle hide is different than skin.

It is tougher.  Much thicker.  

It allows an animal to be outside in cold up to 40 below zero in a 3-day blizzard

and survive with no damage to the hide what-so-ever.

A person would die.  Freeze to death.

Or serious permanent damage would happen.  Frostbite.  Loss of fingers and toes.

Cattle hide is tough and thick.

Again it is different than skin and responds similar but still differently.

Cattle can also be outside in 120 degree heat and not get burned.

Branding should not go too deep.

The hide will peel a while later much like a sunburn.

We take care to do it quick and clean.

A cattleman doing a good job with the iron will take care to get it right.

Otherwise it could get infection and cause the calf to get sick.

It is just meant to scar enough to damage the hair follicles so hair doesn't grow back.

The calves are running and bucking immediately afterwards.

So does it hurt?  Yes and no.

Momentarily yes.  Permanently no.

They are up and at it right away.

Seriously, calves are doing much better after being branded

than I am after spending a day in the sun without sunscreen.

Making sure they have healthy bellies is much more serious.

Lungs and digestion are two things to keep eagle eyes on.

We check our baby calves regularly to see who needs attention.

In our family, one brother brands and 

the other brother cuts.

(That's my guy with the knife in his teeth)

More on this in Part 2.

The Character Built In Losing

We work and go to school and live

in a world that ranks us.

By age, weight, grades, dollars, status, followers, numbers.

I have loved ranking when I am doing well

and despised it when I am not.

I leaned on it heavily as a student in school and in my career as an early adult.

Leaned on it to determine my value.

And eventually had to realize that neither high or low ranking determined my value as a person.

Something we are told.  Something we know.

But when the time comes to really learn it, it can be a hard pill to swallow,

but brings freedom in the end.

So how do we navigate those waters of ranking

without ranking our value and self-worth by those numbers?

How do we teach our kids to navigate the numbers?

This is the gist of what I told my kids.

There is value in doing things in which you will not be the best.

There is character to be built in losing as well as winning.

There are areas where we are strong and areas where we are weak.

It is good to recognize when we do well at something.

But our performance compared to other people does not determine our value.

It is good to cheer one another on and be excited for your friends when they do well.

But it is not ok to wallow in jealousy of them nor to idolize them for their excellence.

There are whispers in our thoughts that come from what we see in the world.

Whispers that we need to be cautious about believing or agreeing with.

Whispers that say, "You suck at running, so you suck as a person."

{By the way, I hate that phrase, but it is one that kids "hear" in their heads...I have too.}

The whispers can also say,

"Wow! You sing unlike any other!  Your voice makes you so valuable."

When there is danger either way in determining our value from our rank and performance.

We are more than a test score, more than a number on a ribbon, more than the pounds on a scale,

more than the dollars in our checking or savings account, more than the debt we owe, more than the house we live in, more than the list of accomplishments we have achieved, and more than the failures and mistakes we have made.

I told my kids that is why we have to lean so heavily on God

and learn who He is and learn what He says about us.

Because if we lean on what the world tells us, we will develop a false sense of our worth.

But our worth in Christ is solid.

We were worth dying for.

We were worth His life.

Because He loved us in the worst of times and the best of times.

We are made in the image of God.

That is solid.

When He is the rock we have built our life upon,

the recognition we receive is like sprinkles on the cake.

It's bland and blah without the cake,

but a pleasant extra with the cake.

When He is the rock we have built our life upon,

the times that we come in last place

or somewhere close to the bottom or even in the middle,

we can have courage and confidence

to applaud the winners

because we know we are solid, we're good, we're golden, because of Him.

When we do the things we won't be best at,

it takes courage

and

courage is valuable,

it takes character

and

character is valuable,

it takes grace

and

grace is valuable,

it takes being humble

and

being humble

has great value.

Courage.  Character.  Grace.  Humility.

Each have far greater value than any ranking.

We have to lean in close to God.

We have to listen to His voice and be wise to know what to believe and what to let go.

There is good to be gained by being "in the arena"

and that is why it is good to play the game 

even when you know you won't come out on top.