Ranch Traditions: Branding Part 2

As I left off in my last post,

in our family,

one brother brands calves. 

The other brother cuts,

or castrates the bull calves

and then they (the bull calves) are known as steers.

And the father, as most patriarchs on ranches,

has graduated to the vaccine gun.

We have a two iron brand called a quarter-circle star.

A star with a quarter-circle over the top.

If you have questions about branding,

you can read my first post here:

Branding Part 1.

Although, I am probably not all that qualified,

I do my best to share about it.

I should probably have my husband write all of the ranch posts

because I likely make some mistakes in writing

and sometimes I put up a photo that I shouldn't

in my own ignorance of being a photographer more than a cattlewoman.

You can also refer to Ree Drummond's blog The Pioneer Woman

and the posts by "Marlboro Man".

He does a great job of explaining many things about ranching.

One of my favorites is this:

The Cow-Calf Operation.

Although every ranch is a bit different,

this is a great explanation about the business.

My husband is a cutter.

He's the one with his knife in his teeth.

By the way,

you might be concerned about him

getting sick with that knife in his mouth.

But I have been around him for 21 branding seasons

and he has been healthy every single one of them.

Actually I think it builds his immunity.

He rarely gets sick.

Ever.

I think it is Copenhagen and cutting calves.

And fresh South Dakota air.

At our branding, he probably kneels down and gets up

about 250 times that day.

Which keeps him in fitting well into his Wranglers.

He is one of few that do this job 

. . . passed down to him by Karl, I believe.

I try to tell him it's good exercise that keeps him young.

But he is not so sure anymore.

He is a cutter or the cutter when he "neighbors" at other places too.
So by the time the season is done . . .
I suppose he has done well over 1000-1500 lunges/squats.
Don't quote me on that . . . it is just my guess.
Maybe I should take up that job and my jeans would be fitting well
 . . . or not.

On the branding stove you can see the

Rocky Mountain Oysters

a.k.a. "nuts",

or other various names,

cooking under our "chef", Karl's, knife.

Karl does more cooking that cutting these days.

We have several men that run the branding irons also.

It takes a lot of good hands to get the job done.

Although my husband is a cutter,

he is not an eater.

When the cutter doesn't eat them, maybe that is a message...

It is getting to be time to pass the knife,

or at least get some back-up help.

Which brings me to my next topic . . . 

One of my favorite parts of branding 

is how the men take time to raise up the kids to learn to work. 

It means so much to the kids to be treated with respect.

The kids learn to wrestle calves and how to hold them

so that they lie still.

As my husband says, it is more about technique

than it is about strength.

This was the year

that my son

branded a calf for the first time.

It is a proud thing

to brand your own calves - -

like a rite of passage.

As the day winds down to the last few

pens of calves,

the kids get more attention.

Here, Jake is helping one of our lil' friends

who was all excited about working calves.

Not an ounce of fear

and several pounds of enthusiasm.

It is good tradition

to have family and friendly neighbors

raise up the next generation by teaching them how to work.

It is good tradition

to have your friends take your kid

under their wing

and treat them like they are 

capable, responsible, strong.

It is good tradition

to have neighbors work alongside

helping and growing courage and confidence

in the next generation.

It starts early.

So you might as well show up, geared up.

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.

Tradition

4th of July Traditions

Creek wading in Vanocker Canyon

Catching Minnows

Getting wet

Finding snails.

Homemade ice cream at Walker's Cabin.

Wildflowers to photo.

Especially daisies.

Family.

Cheesy grins.

New traditions.

Boondock's south of Deadwood

No lines.

Personal ride attendant.

20 times around on the roller coaster

or "roller poster" as Erin calls it.

Patriotic face-painting.

And cuteness facepainting.

Glow necklaces & bracelets.

Tailgating party for fireworks.

As we were loaded up,

headed for home

4 year old Erin says,

"Do you know why we do fireworks?

It's the party for the

American world."

Happy Birthday U.S.A.

Independence Day 2011

We are grateful

for this nation where we live

free

to

live

love

work

play

dream

speak

build

grow

worship.

Thank you service men and women

past and present

for giving and for

living a sacrifice

so we all may enjoy

a day like this

and a life of freedom.

Soli Deo Gloria Sisterhood.

To God alone be the glory.

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