So the mountain of work is done… everything that it takes to put on a branding… the firewood cutting, the vaccine ordering, the setting up of the portable panels, the moving of cattle, the gathering of supplies, the food and drink for 30 people. It should be sweet sailing from here on out, right? Well,…
Tag: cattle
More Branding – Kids
Kids. They’re *so close* to not needing backup, but it was still there… They took on every job, marking calves, wrestling calves, keeping the fire and irons hot, even vaccinating and branding! Not much is more appealing than to see these young ranchers take their children and neighbor’s children and help them hold calves successfully…
First Branding
First branding is in the books… 231 photos later… prepare yourself for an onslaught of pictures! Thanks to our neighbors who show up and work hard for just a meal!
Maybe Tomorrow?
Somehow, that chicken coop just doesn’t get cleaned… that was my plan until Vernon said we were moving some pairs around this afternoon in order to be prepared for branding. While the cowboys brought the little bunch, Vernon and I zoomed down to move another little herd out of the way. It may not be…
Found Her
Victoria and crew have been here. She kept saying she needed her baby calf fix, so after lunch and a short ranch meeting, we jumped in my little truck to tour around and see what we could see. We drove up to the top of the yucca hill and thought we’d spotted a set of…
Reminiscing XIX
This story is from James Greet, written in 1991 about his life as a cowboy in the 1940’s. (continued from last week) We got to the reservoir rather early. Because the grazing that day had been very scarce, Uncle Fred had arranged to buy a load of hay to feed our beef herd and our…
Lost Calf Video
Yay! I did it! I couldn’t make it on my big computer, so my iPad bailed me out. It’s kind of a quick job, but it works. This goes along with my post from two days ago… looking for the “lost” calf that two mommas had ignored when they both claimed the same baby. Enjoy!
Dismal
The day started out fairly dismal… The sun did come out finally… just enough to dry the cows off and knock back some of the snow. It’s still not very warm, but it will improve through the week. I drove around and around with Brandon this morning though I didn’t do anything. Things seemed fairly…
Storm
A storm blew in… and babies decided to be born in it. The guys went daylight to dark today making sure that each one was up and had something to drink… and that went for the ones a few days old as well. It might mean surrounding the cow so that the calf had an…
Familial Bond
”Meeeeeeh.” I let out a poor imitation of a calf and watched the hillside across the draw. Cows were standing there and I wanted them to go find their calves. A bawling baby will get any mother’s attention, so again… “meeeeeeeh”. I wasn’t very convincing, I guess. Vernon had told me that two cows had…
Reminiscing XVIII
This story is from James Greet, written in 1991 about his life as a cowboy in the 1940’s. (continued from last week) Back on the trail again after our overnight stay at the Mahogany Buttes. Our travel was always gaining elevation to Cottonwood Pass. Our next camp would be at Bate’s Creek. We would put…