We worked our little bunch today. Weather has been a typical spring and every time we though about it the sky would change our mind. But today was a fine day. So with perfect weather and both of our parents out to help us we put some iron on some calves. We spent all evening last night looking for our camera. Still havent found the son of a gun. :???: So mom brought hers and every picture out of 58 looks like we were branding on the sun.
Managed to screw around in editing and find 4 pictures to show ya'll. Dragging a beef to Soapweed inspired branding apparatus.
This year we penned the calves in a panel corral making the drag longer. Next year there will be a completed working corral around our gizmo making life easier. Today we learned a lot and have a couple alterations to do. My duckbill vicegrips need to be 6 inches lower so they dont wear my rope out. And my roping skills were pretty rusty thanks to shoulder surgery and being unable to rope for the last 6 months. But we got them all worked.
Left our two best bull calves bulls. Just didnt have the heart to cut them. We've had quite a few neighbors express interest in buying a bull or two. Guess ya gotta start somewhere eh?
My Mother-in-law had her camera and hopefully her pictures turn out better.
We had the biggest calf escape early on. He hung around the perimeter a while till he got where we could trap him. Somebody thought it would be a good idea to just dab a loop on him while a foot, snub him to a tie and work him right where we trapped him! :shock: Next time I have a great idea like that, would one of ya'll slap me up side the noggin? He is a tank and like to knocked the stuffin out of me. But we managed to work him. Thanks Dad and Dad-in-law and wife!
After the calves were marked and vaccinated, we ran the cows through the chute for pour on, shots and tagging. Had a couple I had to re-ink and a couple to replace. Sorry for the horrible pictures. I hope we find our camera soon. Thanks again Soap for the gizmo idea! Sure made some belivers out of us after using it today. The one calf we didnt use it was tougher than all the rest combined. And it's our first try with it. Hope to get better as we go.
This year we penned the calves in a panel corral making the drag longer. Next year there will be a completed working corral around our gizmo making life easier. Today we learned a lot and have a couple alterations to do. My duckbill vicegrips need to be 6 inches lower so they dont wear my rope out. And my roping skills were pretty rusty thanks to shoulder surgery and being unable to rope for the last 6 months. But we got them all worked.
We had the biggest calf escape early on. He hung around the perimeter a while till he got where we could trap him. Somebody thought it would be a good idea to just dab a loop on him while a foot, snub him to a tie and work him right where we trapped him! :shock: Next time I have a great idea like that, would one of ya'll slap me up side the noggin? He is a tank and like to knocked the stuffin out of me. But we managed to work him. Thanks Dad and Dad-in-law and wife!
After the calves were marked and vaccinated, we ran the cows through the chute for pour on, shots and tagging. Had a couple I had to re-ink and a couple to replace. Sorry for the horrible pictures. I hope we find our camera soon. Thanks again Soap for the gizmo idea! Sure made some belivers out of us after using it today. The one calf we didnt use it was tougher than all the rest combined. And it's our first try with it. Hope to get better as we go.