Branding Day

Wrestling cattle, sunburns, manure, heavy smoke from burning hair and flesh, lost boys, ropes, horses, hoots and hollers.  All the components of a full day of branding.  There were two waves of branding, during the first of which I learned how to work both ends of the calves, though I didn't get very good at it. It takes a lot of work; those little babies can pack a whollop!  The second bunch, I distributed immunizations. It took more running around and paying attention, but much less man power, and therefore, I felt more fit for the job.

This is me working the tail end.

The organized chaos ensues...

Here's how it works:
There are two to four people on horseback doing the roping.  They rope the calves by the back leg(s), and then drag them into the "fire" or the group of wrestlers (there were a good 20 or so of us), and pairs run up on either side of the horse.  The person who works the front of the cow goes to the left of the horse and grabs the cow by the tail and pulls him over (with the help of the person on the other side who has the rope that is wrapped around the ankles).  Then both jump on the cow bracing the legs in such a way that the calf can't kick and struggle as much as possible. Then the immunizations come; one sub-dermal in the neck, and one intramuscular in the rear. the cow's marked (so the ropers know that he's done), and then the hot iron comes.  One tip: do not breathe in when that iron hits that cow. That smoke smells so bad and burns the esophagus like none other.

Then everyone jumps back, and the calf runs off to join the throng of calves at the fence. 

The other day (I've lost track of what we did on what day), we built a nice fence around the area between the barn shed and the brown shed, and then planted all sorts of things to grow and eat! I dug my first post hole, and introduced everyone to Gnan.

Before... (That's Faye in my post hole on the left and Josey on the right)

..And After!

I also got new lawn mowers!

I must say, they're much cuter than that little black mowing machine.

They stayed in my yard over night, and I got to fall asleep to their soft munching, lowing, and now the faint smell of cow is in the yard.  It's a nice scent really, like freshly mown grass without the overtones of burning fuel.  I like it. I like them. I think they're incredibly cute.

Gnan came along on a little chore I had to do, and the cows liked him very much. 

The bear was slobbered on in the taking of this picture. Poor Gnan undergoes such hardships for my photo needs!

Lastly, here's a little introduction.

This is Blizzard (or Blizzy).  She's quite young, and runs along with the 4x4s right in front of the front wheels. It's a little nerve wracking, but she always seems to stay out of the way (if only just). She also chases the cows, then gets them to chase her, which causes quite the problem when you want them to be going the other way.  I do like her though.