BRANDING AT REVERSE 7 OVER X CATTLE COMPANY AND BOOKCLIFF WALKERS UPDATE:
Before we could brand, we needed to move the cattle home from winter pasture (this year, we winter pastured the cattle at two different ranches). Then, we had to tag the calves and attempt to match the tags between the cow-calf pairs. After that, we were ready for branding, castrating, and vaccinating the herd. So when we talk about branding, there are many parts that led up to that one-day event.
Most of the herd was just north of us on 430 acres of desert and irrigated hay fields. To gather the cattle and drive them home a half mile, we asked some friends to come assist us. This ranch is not cross-fenced and has a wash going through the middle of it, so it can be difficult to get the cattle gathered together with newborn calves and drive them away from nice green hay fields with an abundance of grass still in them. Many of our friends showed up. Laura on her Peruvian and her father Roy on his Quarter Horse. His wife, Mary, decided this year to lead the herd on the 4-wheeler with hay. That freed me up to ride Colors, Lyle was on Ditto, and Travis was on Dusty--all our Tennessee Walkers. Bill Hype showed up riding his wonderful single-footing stallion, with Brigitte on her Paint. Rudy on his Quarter Horse was also of great assistance. Chance assisted with walkie-talkie on his 4-wheeler, and away we went. We sent Chance up on the hill side to watch from above and spot any escapees from the drive.
I had been feeding the cows hay along one hillside with a short stretch of fence to get them accustomed to coming to one spot for the gather. Travis, Lyle and I had been riding out on weekends horseback to get the cows accustomed to being around more than one horse again. I rode out and checked cows daily, but normally I did that alone. We wanted to keep the cows as calm as possible for the drive.
The drive was uneventful. Everyone knew their job and our plan fell into place without much fuss this year! We owe it all to the experienced help we had and great horses we were riding. Last year, it took us two days to do the same thing; the difference was we had enough help this time and lots of experience in the group. We had the cattle home and horse unsaddled by noon. The hieferettes had been pastured in a smaller place in Palisade; we just had to haul them home from a corral.
The next week to our surprise, while Chance and Travis were our irrigating, they found a calf we left behind. A week alone and he was still full of spit and fire. They chased him down from the 4-wheeler and bulldogged the little guy to catch him, threw him on the 4-wheeler and brought him home. No cow would claim him, so I ended up bottle feeding him until we found someone with a child in the 4-H Bucket Calf program that needed him.
To tag the calves, I had Travis rope the calves off Dusty and drag them to safety so I could spot the cow and then know the number I needed to put on each calves’ tag. We moved a few pairs at a time into the small corrals and roped each calf then waited for a cow to claim that calf. Luckily, Travis had a few days off school so we could get this important job completed. Chance assisted with the smaller group of heiferettes on anther evening after school.
By branding day, all cattle had been moved home, calves tagged, more calves born by then and we were ready to go, and food prepared for a group of up to 40 people. We got up at 5:00am to start the brisket and hams, get all the last minutes things completed for the big day. By 7:00am, friends started showing up. Cattle had been feed heavy the night before, four tons of hay, so they were full and in the corrals that morning. We moved the fat steers out of there pen and moved the bulls into the sorting pens too, so we had room to bring the cows and calves in to be sorted. Full, happy cows made moving them easy, and the fact that they saw the bale of hay the bulls had left behind made them want to go south to the pens. More friends kept arriving and walking out to help push the cattle in--no horses this day, which we missed sorely when one calf jumped out of a 5-6 foot pole corral and launched himself into the hay field. But between friends on foot, cattle dogs and 4-wheelers, and Travis with his rope, we got the little bugger back in place. Quickly the cows and calves were sorted then it was time for a coffee break with fresh cinnamon rolls that Mary made.
We gathered all the materials into the corrals and started the hard work. While Roy and Harlon kept the calves in the chutes, Travis was on top the chutes pushing each calf up to the calf table. Mikey and Sterling assisted in running the calves up the lane to Travis. Lyle was castrating the bull calves on the calf table; Phil pulled the table over each time, Allen pulled a leg back, Stan branded, Joe held the head so Russ could put fly tag in the ear, Brigitte and Mark each gave shots in the neck, and Sue kept track of calf tag numbers. Ron watched which animal needed new tags and made tags, Pam was Lyle’s surgical nurse handing tools and receiving testicles, and me I was running between doing a little of everything. David, Mary, Jess, and Laura turned the calves as they came off the table. Blister and Billie, two border collies, ran the calves away from the people. We had enough people that I didn’t have to do as much--normally I give shots and fly tag, etc.
During all of this, Mary, Barb, Chris, and Cindy took care of the kitchen so we had a wonderful barbeque ready when we finished the work--full course meal with everything form brisket, ham, six salads, beans, rolls, to home made ice cream and cookies. There were a few beers drank, some moonshine drunk, and just a wee bit of tequila drunk after the branding was all over.