#10 - Cattle Branding

This was the real deal - a no-holds (or horns) barred, cowboys, spurs and chaps cattle branding!  Where to begin?  Some neighbors go to church with a family who manages an 87,000 acre ranch about an hour southeast of our house, Chico Basin Ranch, http://www.chicobasinranch.com/ . We have been out to the ranch a few times, but this trip was above and beyond our usual adventures. 

I could go on and on in detail, and I probably will--even though it will be a long post. We arrived around noon, but the cowboys had been working since 4:00a.m. when they saddled up and headed out to round up the herds of cattle and drive them to the corral.  There were two brandings occurring that day. After the cattle were corralled, they began branding the older calves.  These were huge calves, some as old as 9 months. The kids and women didn't get involved in holding down these guys. It usually took about 4-5 men to tackle these cattle AFTER they had already been roped.  (However, two of the daughters of the staff did the branding and vaccinating. These girls were in 7th grade and 4th grade!) The branding consisted of giving a vaccination, branding the hide, cutting off the horns and cauterizing the resulting wound (that part disturbed me -- too much blood), clipping the ear and band-type castration. This means the there's no cutting of the family jewels. Instead a large rubber band is tightened around the base of them, and they will eventually wither up.   After the branding was completed, the calves were kept separated from the mommas, as they were attempting to wean them.  Here's Craig holding down one of the big guys after he (the calf, not Craig) was taken down.

There was one tragic casualty of the morning. One of the very anxious, jumpy calves broke his leg. We're not entirely sure how it happened, but he came into the branding area with a hind leg flopping around like a rag doll. It was really sad, and it meant they would have to put him down, which they did (and then proceeded to gut him and throw the carcus on the modern-day chuckwagon to be taken back to the kitchen and butchered--this is the real world!). I asked one of the cowboys if such an injury was common. He said he's been doing this for 10 years, and this is the first time he had seen that happen. 

After the larger calves were done, we broke for lunch.  A modern chuck-wagon (old dumpy pick up truck with a huge water tank on the back) had come out to the field a few hours earlier, and the cook set up kitchen over a campfire.  He had the biggest wok I've ever seen, and he fried chicken fajitas.  Everyone ate a rustic lunch and then we headed for round two. 

The afternoon branding was quite different from the morning session. We were dealing with calves so young that the umbilical cords were still drying up.  The mommas and the calves were all together in a large corral. The mommas had ear tags with numbers on them and BIG horns.  The momma and calves were all mixed together in a huge herd (well over 100). The cowboys rode their horses into the herd and would lasso a calf. It was imperative that momma was nearby, because they needed to record momma's tag number along with the tag of the calf  in order to keep track of offspring. These were breeding stock, so this type of information was important. The cowboy would then drag the calf through the herd to the branding area, hollering "Incoming," so that the crew would be prepared.  Momma usually came close behind, very nervous that her baby had been abducted. At the branding area, the tag numbers were recorded, the calf held down by two people and the rope removed, and then the calf received a vaccination, an ear tag (kinda bloody) and a brand (since there were breeding stock, no castration took place).  It took at least 4 people per calf: one to tag, two to hold down and one to vaccinate.  Keep in mind that there were 3 or 4 cowboys dragging out calves at any given time, so there we usually 2 or 3 simultaneous brandings occurring.  To call the whole process "controlled chaos" is probably too generous. I think it was pure chaos!   From this shot you can sort of see the size of the herd.  Look closely. That herd goes back quite a ways.

AND...don't forget that we were sharing this corral with a huge herd of nervous, angry mommas with big horns. Some mommas were shooed away from the crews easily, but other were very stubborn and aggressive. The whole process required at least 3 - 4 people who were constantly eyeing the herd and shooing away any cows that were getting too close.  It didn't always work. When you have an angry, 1000lb horned animal coming at you, if she doesn't want to turn away, there's not much you can do to change her mind.  Our neighbor took a horn to the abdomen and is sporting quite a bruise today.  At some time during the afternoon almost all of us had a "too close for comfort" experience with a mad momma. When we encountered a really aggressive one, the cowboys stepped in to help keep us safe. They would ride between us and the cow and would swat the cow with rope.  Sometimes they would drag the calf back into the herd to lure the angry momma away. One momma got so aggressive that they had to drag the calf back into the herd, rope and contain momma, then drag the calf back out to the branding area while 3 cowboys contained a bucking momma at a safe distance. 

During this session, just about everyone had the chance to participate. I vaccinated for most of the afternoon, and then I played "shoo the mommas." Craig, Hunter and Josh held down cattle and shooed.  It is quite an experience. Before we knew it, we were all covered in dirt, blood and manure, we had all been kicked by squirming cattle, and we all thought it was about the coolest thing we had ever done.   Here are some snapshots of us hard at work (I'm giving the shot) and taking a breather after the branding was finsihed.

It was definitely an action packed day, and we were all exhausted when we finished at about 5:30.  It is really cool to think that, while this was an adventure for us, this is all in a day's work for some people. This is their reality--and it is a very physical, dangerous reality. It was also amazing to see the kids who grow up in this environment illustrate such responsibility at a young age. For heaven's sake, I had a 9 year old girl training me on how to vaccinate cattle and how to refill the gun with vaccine!  We were all amazed to watch a 7th grade girl brand cattle without flinching and, rather than crying with the calf broke his leg, she calmly asked her dad, "Are we gonna eat him, dad?"  It is such a different reality for these kids than what our sheltered, comfortable city kids experience.   It also occurred to me how incredibly dangerous this type of work is.  The potential for injury or death is unbelievably high.  Carpal tunnel is not of concern to them--getting gored is. One of the boys who lives on the ranch (about 13 years old) started his day by getting thrown from his horse.  My boys like to show us the bruises on their shins where they got kicked by calves, and as a mom I find myself so thankful that they only received bruises.  If you are an adrenaline junkie, I highly suggest cattle branding!

There's one final topic I must address. I stressed about it for a couple days -- all needlessly.  I thought I would have to make a tough decision on branding day as to whether or not I would also undertake New
Experience #11 ---- too eat or not to a Rocky Mountain Oyster (if you don't know what they are, you can Google it--but it has nothing to do with water, and if you read on, I'm sure you'll figure it out).  After all, it WOULD be a new experience--but not one I necessarily wanted to have!  For the couple days leading up to the branding and that morning, my family kept asking me if I was going to do it.  I didn't know if I had it in me. I felt that if, perhaps, others there did it first, that MAYBE I could get one down me.  Well, Praise the Lord, I did not have the opportunity.  Since the older calves were band castrated, and the younger calves simply weren't castrated, there was not a single Rocky Mountain oyster to be found!  If my luck holds out, I'll finish all 40 experiences without eating anything that "tastes like chicken, only tougher." 

We sure had a blast. Everyone on the ranch is so friendly and incredibly appreciative of the help. That's one aspect of this experience that was so cool--we all felt like we REALLY did contribute. I didn't feel like they were being nice to me by letting me play cowboy simply so that I could check off another adventure on my list of 40. This had the feel of an Amish barn raising - everybody pitching in to tackle a huge job.  We are welcome to come back for a future branding. There are about 10 more scheduled this spring.  I'd love to do it.  If they can assure me that there won't be any Rocky Mountain oysters, I think I'll be back for another round!

Here's the whole crew after the branding was finished.