Branding Day
The guys started early that morning over at our other place that we lease, gathering cattle, sorting out the calves and trucking them back here to the ranch and putting them in the lot.
Mom and I got up early and started preparing food for all the hungry men that we had to feed at lunch. I made a fresh apple cobbler for dessert, then we cooked steaks, fried potatoes, corn, bread, gravy, and I can't even remember what else! All I know was my feet were killing me and I was exhausted! After lunch was cleaned up, I headed outside to see if I could be of any assistance to the guys. Sure enough, they had just started working the calves (i.e. branding them, ear tagging, shots, cutting, etc...) and needed someone (me) to keep track of the ear tag numbers and write a short description of each calf. So, we all worked in the scorching heat from about 12:00 to 5:00 that evening. It was a long exhausting day, but praise the Lord we got them all worked and nobody got hurt! And that evening we got some lovely rain. It interfered with our branding for a little bit, but it soon past over and we're able to finish up. I'm not trying to say rain is unwelcome or anything, we LOVE rain!
So minus a few sunburns and cuts, everyone came out unscathed!
Mom was wonderful, she continually brought us cool liquid to drink. There is no telling how many gallons of water we guzzled down, along with lemonade, and energy drinks!
Later that evening Mom and I were out doing chores and taking our evening walk and we saw this horrid sight on the barn....
I promise we didn't commit a murder.
Some of the calves had some horns that needed to be cut off, so after we turned them out of the chute, they ran over by the barn and bled on it. Lovely, I know. I knew my readers would appreciate it. ;)
Have you ever worked cattle before? Did you pick the hottest day possible to do it? We certainly did!
Blessings -
~ Aspen
I was privileged to help a friend with branding one spring a few years ago. They live in South Dakota and my brother and I headed out for our first visit to a working cattle ranch. It was mid-May but of course the hottest day so far that year! They rounded up the cattle on horseback, which I was thrilled to be a part of, then later on in the day we helped with the branding. Rode out to the corrals in a huge horse trailer, about 15 of us and all the gear. :) I started off being part of the crew that wrestled the calves and held them down for branding, tagging, shots, "fixing", and dehorning...then I was recruited for assisting with the shots. I managed to stick myself once pretty good right in the leg, and thankfully no harm came of it. :) My friend said I was cured for life from ever contracting black leg! I well remember the dinner that day as well...boatloads of chili and chocolate chip cookies and other goodies. Definitely a day I'll always remember. And what made it extra fun was that everyone present was Christian and most of them were homeschool families. :) Glad to hear your branding day went well. :)
ReplyDeleteOh wow! What a great opportunity! I am so glad you're able to have experience.
DeleteBlessings -
~ Aspen