Branding methods.

[Silver]

I'm wondering what methods people are using to brand their calves. Allways interesting to see how other folks do things.

 

[Jinglebob]

Silver;

Hot iron from a fire wood and propane heated.

Rope and stretch calves between to horses and riders.

Knife cut bull calves.

7 way and whatever else they claim you need for shots! :lol:

Drink beer if any, only after the work is all done.

 

[sw]

Rope and drag, two hocks or git off. Horse holds back end, one wrestler. If we have lots of help, two wrestlers. I band at birth, give alpha-7 at birth so all they git is an iron. Almost got the horns bred out of them so that is it. We also brand on or near Halloween, this year if you are not in costume, you don't rope! HA HA

[/img]

 

[Jinglebob]

SW

Looks like my son, on a gray horse we had! Even the same color and style of hat!

Good to see a lady in a hat. I just love ladies in hats!

Good lookin' country. Was this picture taken this spring or last year?

I see you got some of them baseball cap wearin' cowboys in your country too. It ain't what you wear, but what you can do. But I prefer a good hat. If it's a good one, wind ain't a problem.

'Course they don't come cheap!

Although I've had good luck with some of them palm leaf hats.

Hope you got good moisture out of this last one.

 

[Shelly]

sw, why so many people? Seems like alot of them are standing around doing nothing. Don't you trip over each other when there's so many of you?

As for the poll, it's quite surprising to see the calf table method is the one with the most votes. What's up with that? Where's all the "cowboy" votes?

Sorry, if I seem sarcastic, I'm just blowing off a little steam. Don't mean to offend anybody.

 

[sw]

JB,
The kid on the gray horse is a nephew of one of our neighbors, he's about 23 or 24. Helps us every year. BTW, I am the one branding in this picture. We brand on the neck, we get more money for the hide. Shelly, it may seem like a circus to you, but we get the job done quickly, since it is late October of last year and it gets dark early. The one thing we DON'T do is invite any more than we need to do the job. Lesson learned in the past, so we aren't getting a bunch of "greenhorns" or "wannabees" showing up and messing things up, since they really don't know what they are doing. We also hide the beer until lunch. When I worked at the "Lazy W" , ran 700 cows, they branded with a table which took 4 days and everyone hated it. I bet the boss a half gallon of Lambrusco if we roped we'd be done by 3:00 in one day. We were playing volleyball by 2:00 as I was sipping a glass of Lambrusco. :wink: :wink:

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

Good picture of you sw. I would recognize you any where. :wink:


The fellow sitting with his back to me looks like a friend of mine but i know it's not him. Nice thing about ranching is that there might be different ways of doing thing they aren't all wrong. We branded with 2-3 people and use a table , it takes us awhile but we do the job we want. Fall gather is where we get a bigger crew. We switched from yearlings to cow a few years ago so were used to doing it our selves.
Interesting about the neck brand,something dealing in generic beef you wouldn't beable to cash in on.

 

[Saddletramp]

Good branding picture sw. I guess most folks know how we're doing it this year. It just doesn't seem like a branding if you don't use horses. I agree about double hocking them. I'd rather miss than just catch one foot high up on the hock.

I know there are various reasons for useing a table but pride and tradition should still count for something.

Thanks for the Pics.

 

[Jinglebob]

As for the poll, it's quite surprising to see the calf table method is the one with the most votes. What's up with that? Where's all the "cowboy" votes?
.

I didn't even see the poll until I read your post. It has changes some since my vote! :shock: :lol:

Anybody wants a table, I've got one for sale, cheap. Guess it's a good one. Ain't seen much use since Dad didn't get a say in how we branded!

As for the comments about "cowboys", this is RANCHERS.NET not COWBOYS.NET !
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Don't matter how you do a job as long as it gets done well. If people want to do things the hard way, I've gotten to the age where I just bite my tounge and let THEM do it. :lol:

I'm not in a bad mood. 1.5 inches of rain, got my saddle almost built (and it the prettiest one yet) and I'm leaving in the morning to see my kids and GRANDSON. I don't want to be a braggin' grampa, but he's the best lookin' grandkid I've ever seen. Nope, doesn't look anything like me! :lol:

Well...... we both got kind'a fat little faces! :lol: :lol: :lol:

I'll check back on all of you folks when I get back home in a few days so don't have any good fights until I get back! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Maybe I'll go post a brandin' poem on Coffe room.

 

[ropesanddogs]

Sw,nice picture,geeze,i dont think theres that many cowboys within 200 miles of us lol,but its good to see there are large amounts left of us somewhere.Have you ever tried branding on the jaw with a 2 incher? Or would it save the same amount of hide?The company my dad buys for brands all of their turn out yearlings on the outside left ankle i guess youd call it,but ive seen plenty of blothches,even though they use squeeze chutes.Lol,thats the only place i see one of those big whinin slammin things useful,because depending on the runs they may have to process a few hundred head to a few thousand a day,ranging from ropin calves to seedstock bulls.Depending on my dads mood we usually rope and drag all of our calves,and maybe team rope a small cow or two lol,but if he's in a bad mood or a hurry to get to another place for whatever reason he makes us use the chute...sour puss X(

 

[Northern Rancher]

WE number branded all our yearling heifers on the rib last year using horses-single foot them then headed them and then tailed them down-run the tail through their back legs and over then overcenter them. There were four of us and we couldn't keep the irons hot enough lol. I have some buddies are virtuouso's with 60 footers-me I'm more of a plunker with a 35 lol. Actually at some brandings if the winter calvers call us late we single foot those big calves and take them out real slow let them kinda hop out then thro a head loop on them and tail them over-easier on those big calves. I feel pretty good after one of those deals but I always feel like the 'F' word -farmer-if I use a table lol.

 

[preston]

sw, why so many people? Seems like alot of them are standing around doing nothing. Don't you trip over each other when there's so many of you?

As for the poll, it's quite surprising to see the calf table method is the one with the most votes. What's up with that? Where's all the "cowboy" votes?

Sorry, if I seem sarcastic, I'm just blowing off a little steam. Don't mean to offend anybody.

=====
Shelly,

I wonder if...calf table....is understood. A lot of extra work. Once they are up there.....lift..back...it is convenient.

 

[ranchwife]

sw...loved the picture...looks like our place during branding time...more helpers than cows at times!! our place is branding on saturday and we will brand roughly 200 head and have probably about 20 or so helpers...most of them will want to try their hands at roping, the younger ones will grab and pull and i will be the lucky one with the vaccination needles....so GET OUTTA MY WAY :wink: :wink: :wink: then, the fun begins...the beer, the barbecue, the fun!!!

 

[Cal]

I know there are various reasons for useing a table but pride and tradition should still count for something.

Don't go and get all emotional now, Saddletramp.

If you only run cattle that's one thing, otherwise, it's pretty tough to get farming, spraying, fencing, etc... done if you spend too much time chasing brandings and following everyone elses schedule. If the spraying especially isn't done in a timely fashion when the whether allows it can cost big bucks. We branded for the fifth time today, ran 'em through 1 a minute and were done and working on other things in 3 hours with only 4 people. 2 more times (maybe 1) and we're done. I think the brand of calf table makes a huge difference. Powder River sucks. Cow Country's is very simple and balanced well with no bars to unlatch; women have no trouble running it. The last 6 to 9ft. coming up to the table should be narrow enough so a calf can't turn around and solid so he can't see out.
I'm just past 40, and pushed every calf to the table today, didn't get kicked but once, and wasn't tired when we were done. A little fine tuning in any process can make a big difference.

 

[Northern Rancher]

WEll we clanged and banged a 100 or so through at the neighbors this afternoon-he's a great neighbor or else we don't go to table brandings lol.

 

[Silver]

I don't think speed is the ultimate objective when branding, at least not here. Granted, everybody has their own schedule they have to follow, and their own different situations. When we brand here all our friends and neighbours come out. It's something people look forward to every year. It's where kids learn to wrestle calves the 'right' way, older kids might start learning to rope, and some knowledge allways seems to get passed down from one generation to another.
There's a big meal afterwards, beer and storytelling, and sometimes guitars and songs around the fire later. To me it's not about how fast or how efficient. It's about good times with good people doing good honest work like it's been done for generations.
We rope and drag, no shortage of wrestlers here... alot of the best wrestlers are women. Normally we brand about 60-80 and hour.... irons dont seem to keep up past that. We casterate with a knife at birth so that is out of the way. Just a couple of shots, irons to the horns if the paste we put on at birth didn't do it's thing, and of course a brand.

 

[Hanta Yo]

That's how we do it here, no other way for the kids to learn. Thanks so much for the opportunity to tell "how we do it" but the way you describe it does the best. That is how we do it, too. Would love to come to one of your brandings, Silver, you are most welcome to ours, even though we are 2 different countries on paper, we don't see those differences ANYWHERE my personal opinion. God Bless and Good Luck to you all.

 

[Silver]

Hanta Yo, you are certainly welcome at our branding..... Montana will be well represented here as it is. I sure would like to get down your way and take yours in as well.
One thing I've noticed on here is that even though there seems to be some outstanding issues that divide us, by and large we are all the same people facing many of the same challenges in our day to day goings on. I hope people keep posting pics because it tends to drive home the point that we all share something special in our way of life.

 

[preston]

Hanta Yo, you are certainly welcome at our branding..... Montana will be well represented here as it is. I sure would like to get down your way and take yours in as well.
One thing I've noticed on here is that even though there seems to be some outstanding issues that divide us, by and large we are all the same people facing many of the same challenges in our day to day goings on. I hope people keep posting pics because it tends to drive home the point that we all share something special in our way of life.

===============
Silver,
You are so correct. Just because we have differences...be it individuals or country...doesn't mean we shouldn't stay focused on common agendas.

There is always room for..one more viewpoint....and many have value..folks love to be able to express it. Doing so,while one has the right to differ, should not cause a lasting negative view of that ..."opinion-nator". 8) I dislike when some allow ...egos...to intervene! :roll:

 

[Rowdy Ranch]

Cal, I would have to agree with you on this one-first off-there aren't many neighbors for branding in our area. Like you stated-when farming also you have to do it the best for your operation. Also this way it is less stressful on cattle when just our family brands- we run 450 prs. thru this way and can work at this and farming in the spring. Guess I should have said that we use the calf table method. What ever works for your operation is the way to GO!!!! HOpe everyone has a safe and fun branding season and gets needed moisture.