On the front page we now are featuring sets of greeting cards, with pictures taken by Melissa Rosengreen, a longtime friend and neighbor. Of course there are plenty of stories that go on behind the scenes of a ranch. This is one of them.
Bronc in the Branding Pen
Cowboy Up! Wesley roped a calf and his colt went to bucking! Wes is riding
it well! The cowboy you see standing is Sam keeping the colt from bucking
over three wrestling teams holding calves on the ground. In a small corral,
this is not what you want to happen. This colt's show was nice for a picture
but made for some pretty tense minutes in the branding pen.
Every spring, we have a month or more of brandings. We neighbor, meaning,
the ranchers in the area help each other with branding the calves born that
spring. So, every spring, we go to lots of brandings at ranches in the area.
In turn, when we have to brand, they come in and help us. It is a good way
to get a great crew, but it is also a social time. For some of us, it is the
only time of year we see each other. As neighbors, we catch up on the past
year, renew old friendships and enjoy a lot of joking and tall stories.
We start early in the morning, shortly after sun up gathering the cattle
herd and bringing them to the branding corral. Many times the air is nippy
and the horses are full of ginger. Some ranchers choose to sort all the
mother cows out of the herd of calves that will be branded while others sort
about half of the cows off. It seems to settle the calves to have at least a
few old cows in with them. The corral boss then asks certain men to rope.
There are a code of ethics in the branding corral. One is to rope when you
are asked and NOT to rope when you are not asked. Wait to be asked! Usually
the older men are asked to brand the calves because they are steady, not
easily spooked and know their way around a branding pen. When the calves are
all branded, we all sit down together to a very nice meal provided by the
ladies of the ranch. Swapping tales and visiting is a cowboy's favorite
pastime..........but only after the work is done.
