late branding

[R A]

I was waiting for the calves to get a tad older earlier in the year, then the heat moved in.....I decided to wait to brand and work them so I wouldn't stress them so much. I caught back up yesterday.

My crew was is in watching cartoons and drinking milk.

sorry so many pics


Calves filtering into the branding corral.

little pee wee...my one late born heifer

They all came in easily except 2 pair.

Headed to go get the two pair. One of the cows and the two calves came right in.

The one cow thought it would be funny to go into a pond and not come out. I fished her out....

...and started working her. Took a bit to change her mind to just go right back into that pond.

Next time don't do that..

How I pour my cows.

Rope tied to the gate to bring it to me so I can handle two gates easier.

I couldn't find my pour-on gun....so I used this baby bottle to measure it out.

In from one pen...worked....out to another.

My first calf to brand.....and my least liked calf this year.

roped and the start of the circle

finishing the circle

down

first time using INFORCE 3....I hope I did it right.

legs are tied together and the rope is moved from head to back legs...he holds the rope tight.

branded....L&H irons. I gave the hiefers I am going to try and keep herd number brand also.

circling another hiefer....going to keep this one.

I started way too late and it got dark on me...heifer I'm going to keep. I held a flashlight in my mouth for knowing when the brand was done and vaccinating.

How I tie off.....around the horn....around the cantle.....around the horn the other way....and a half hitch or two.

Really quiet steer. He's been free to go for a little bit. I gave him a scratch.

Done....cows and calves are back out to pasture.

 

[Anonymous]

What works great for pouring just a few cows when working alone is one of those kids "super shooter" squirt guns...Saw the neighbor use it on a couple of lame cows he had in the corral- so got one...
Works great for the bulls without having to run them thru the chute- pour a little grain in the trough- and just walk along and squirt them... The one I have measures out to 3 squirts for a cow- 2 for a calf/yearling for the pour on I've been using...

 

[leanin' H]

RA, If ya werent such a bad neighbor, ya could get a neighbor to help ya! :lol: :lol: :lol: That's how we get anything done out here, even on the bigger outfits, is to neighbor with each other when we work calves. I like your inginuity and work ethic and how ya make do with what ya got. I resemble the last part myself. :wink: Not to stick my nose in your bidness, but ya may rethink your tying off, while off your pony and working on the ground. I know you're in a corral and have a fine horse, but one wreck could hurt horse,calf and you. I like a slip knot and keeping the tail of your rope where you can untie in a hurry. You can have no troubles for 10000 calves but on 10001 it can get ugly. Seen it happen and it sucks. Anyway, just my opinion. Other than lack of friends, ya got her done and got it made! Thanks for the pictures. Oh and one other thing i'd like to critic you on..........that brand should be an H kinda tilted to the right a tad. How can i rustle your calves if you brand em' wrong? :shock: :lol: :wink:

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

I know your not doing big numbers but an automatic syringe would be a lot handier. If the INFORCE 3 is a intra-nasal vaccine that plastic should fit/screw right onto the syringe and not have a needle inside. The automatic syringes also seem to make better spray pressure to blow it into the nasal passagesas well as measuring the dosage.

Calves look good.

 

[Faster horses]

RA, If ya werent such a bad neighbor, ya could get a neighbor to help ya! :lol: :lol: :lol: That's how we get anything done out here, even on the bigger outfits, is to neighbor with each other when we work calves. I like your inginuity and work ethic and how ya make do with what ya got. I resemble the last part myself. :wink: Not to stick my nose in your bidness, but ya may rethink your tying off, while off your pony and working on the ground. I know you're in a corral and have a fine horse, but one wreck could hurt horse,calf and you. I like a slip knot and keeping the tail of your rope where you can untie in a hurry. You can have no troubles for 10000 calves but on 10001 it can get ugly. Seen it happen and it sucks. Anyway, just my opinion. Other than lack of friends, ya got her done and got it made! Thanks for the pictures. Oh and one other thing i'd like to critic you on..........that brand should be an H kinda tilted to the right a tad. How can i rustle your calves if you brand em' wrong? :shock: :lol: :wink:

RA, H gave you some excellent advice. I know you think enough of your
good horse to give it some thought. He's exactly right, it can go good
10,000 times, but that next one could go bad and you've got a wreck on
your hands.

And I too, admire your work ethic and how you've got things figured out
for working alone. A good hand told me once, "you can do anything if you've
got enough crew, but if you are alone, you better figure out how a cow
thinks."

 

[dakotasky]

You did a lot of multi-tasking to get the pictures of the process, especially in the dark -but it made for a great post.

 

[Soapweed]

Great pictures, R A. Your system reminds me of a young fellow's quote. He said, "I've worked a lot of times all by myself, but have never been short-handed." This seems to sum up your situation.

 

[burnt]

I found out once why you "don't tie off - just dally"! :?

Great pictures and story!

 

[JF Ranch]

I like your method. I've never tried it myself, but I'm tempted to!

To make it work, you've got to tie off. I'd like to see the horse face the calf though. I'd probably use a neck rope or tie a rein to the lariat to keep him faced up.

If you hadn't taken time to photograph it all for us, you would have gotten it done before dark! Thanks for the photo essay.

 

[LazyWP]

I don't care what any of them say, THAT was AWESOME. Only thing you needed to do differently, was to have your wife back into that hot iron. Don't ask how I know.

 

[R A]

What works great for pouring just a few cows when working alone is one of those kids "super shooter" squirt guns...Saw the neighbor use it on a couple of lame cows he had in the corral- so got one...
Works great for the bulls without having to run them thru the chute- pour a little grain in the trough- and just walk along and squirt them... The one I have measures out to 3 squirts for a cow- 2 for a calf/yearling for the pour on I've been using...

All kinds of ways to do stuff...

 

[R A]

RA, If ya werent such a bad neighbor, ya could get a neighbor to help ya! :lol: :lol: :lol: That's how we get anything done out here, even on the bigger outfits, is to neighbor with each other when we work calves. I like your inginuity and work ethic and how ya make do with what ya got. I resemble the last part myself. :wink: Not to stick my nose in your bidness, but ya may rethink your tying off, while off your pony and working on the ground. I know you're in a corral and have a fine horse, but one wreck could hurt horse,calf and you. I like a slip knot and keeping the tail of your rope where you can untie in a hurry. You can have no troubles for 10000 calves but on 10001 it can get ugly. Seen it happen and it sucks. Anyway, just my opinion. Other than lack of friends, ya got her done and got it made! Thanks for the pictures. Oh and one other thing i'd like to critic you on..........that brand should be an H kinda tilted to the right a tad. How can i rustle your calves if you brand em' wrong? :shock: :lol: :wink:

Let me start raising some cattle worth rustlin' and I'll brand them with the leanin' H for ya... ...I'd hate for you to have to go through the trouble of rustlin' them, just to have to bring unsellable/unkeepable cattle back....

Yeah...lol..the lack of neighbor help....I couldn't decide what to have for the after branding meal for everyone, so I just went out and did it myself....hahaha. I absolutely love working cattle alone!

I appreciate your concern and it is noted on tying off like that!!! That's a pretty special horse to say the least (my first horse)....but anything can happen. The only thing I'll probably ever regret with that horse is not riding him picking up at an actual rodeo. We started pickin' up at a practice pen and now I can't afford the fuel to keep going. He has saved the day so many times over the years, it isn't even funny!

I can't wait until my roan colt is in the branding pics! I've started my training on him and he is doing great! It'll be a few years before I start riding him, but am looking forward to it big time! Hopefully I can add another ranchy lookin' little turd to the string next year and so on and build up a few really solid using horses for when my herd as grown a lot bigger....can't wait!!!

 

[R A]

I know your not doing big numbers but an automatic syringe would be a lot handier. If the INFORCE 3 is a intra-nasal vaccine that plastic should fit/screw right onto the syringe and not have a needle inside. The automatic syringes also seem to make better spray pressure to blow it into the nasal passagesas well as measuring the dosage.

Calves look good.

Thanks! I'll look into what an automatic syringe is! INFORCE 3 is an intranasal vaccine. I was thinking maybe the few hundred tips they set me were needle guards. They aren't threaded, but do fit right on the sryringe. No needel next time, got it! I appreciate it! If I don't read it or see on here or tv....I don't know it.

 

[R A]

RA, If ya werent such a bad neighbor, ya could get a neighbor to help ya! :lol: :lol: :lol: That's how we get anything done out here, even on the bigger outfits, is to neighbor with each other when we work calves. I like your inginuity and work ethic and how ya make do with what ya got. I resemble the last part myself. :wink: Not to stick my nose in your bidness, but ya may rethink your tying off, while off your pony and working on the ground. I know you're in a corral and have a fine horse, but one wreck could hurt horse,calf and you. I like a slip knot and keeping the tail of your rope where you can untie in a hurry. You can have no troubles for 10000 calves but on 10001 it can get ugly. Seen it happen and it sucks. Anyway, just my opinion. Other than lack of friends, ya got her done and got it made! Thanks for the pictures. Oh and one other thing i'd like to critic you on..........that brand should be an H kinda tilted to the right a tad. How can i rustle your calves if you brand em' wrong? :shock: :lol: :wink:

RA, H gave you some excellent advice. I know you think enough of your
good horse to give it some thought. He's exactly right, it can go good
10,000 times, but that next one could go bad and you've got a wreck on
your hands.

And I too, admire your work ethic and how you've got things figured out
for working alone. A good hand told me once, "you can do anything if you've
got enough crew, but if you are alone, you better figure out how a cow
thinks."

Thanks! I know of a lady that broke both your arms from being thrown from her horse just riding across her yard. :shock: It's funny how we want to ride such a thing. In that situation I don't want the rope coming off the saddle in any way or coming loose. I trust that horse with what we have been through the last 14 years now I believe....little risk there for all....none for me. The calf is vulnerable, I am responsible for his or hers saftey....I got that taken care of if he would for some reason blow up. See I learned right off the bat to tire a horse out real good being ever doing a job. I go ride for quite a spell, then ask them to work.....I didn't account on pulling that cow out of the pond a couple times and working her all the way back to the corrals....so he was done after that, then we went to work....done that for 14 years almost everyday with that one....I'm not kidding!! Holding the rope is rest time, not get goofy time for my horses. Don't worry.. If you see ears in my pictures doing something or a horse doing a job, they are just an extension of me!

 

[R A]

You did a lot of multi-tasking to get the pictures of the process, especially in the dark -but it made for a great post.

Thank you! I remember when I couldn't throw a little 30' team roping rope and handle split reins all at the same time and get it all organized to do any thing....much less take pics of what I was doing. A person just gets used to things, I believe.

Great pictures, R A. Your system reminds me of a young fellow's quote. He said, "I've worked a lot of times all by myself, but have never been short-handed." This seems to sum up your situation.

Thanks! You bet, sums it up great! I am never pressed for time ever, so I like working alone. I love your sayings and quotes!

I like your method. I've never tried it myself, but I'm tempted to!

To make it work, you've got to tie off. I'd like to see the horse face the calf though. I'd probably use a neck rope or tie a rein to the lariat to keep him faced up.

If you hadn't taken time to photograph it all for us, you would have gotten it done before dark! Thanks for the photo essay.

Thanks! I tie a split rein to the rope every time I tie off like that out in the pasture so the horse is facing me and whatever I have roped. I don't mess with it anymore in the corrals like that on him. If he gets tired holding them one way, he moves to a new angle....and knows when he can do it. Yeah, maybe I would of been done before dark not trying to take pictures of this... ....I work at a snails pace handling cattle....it was going to get dark on me no matter what.

 

[R A]

I don't care what any of them say, THAT was AWESOME. Only thing you needed to do differently, was to have your wife back into that hot iron. Don't ask how I know.

Thanks! I imagine that is quite the story...lol. My wife goes passed the back door maybe once every six months....if she came out there, I would be the one backing into the irons from being dizzy with happiness....

 

[R A]

I found out once why you "don't tie off - just dally"! :?

Great pictures and story!

I thought I had this one in there, burnt. Thanks! I won't add to my famous last words any more here...lol. I hope you didn't get hurt finding that out!!!

 

[R A]

One thing that did worry me was if my little pet here would hate me after what I needed to do to her....but luckily she is just as tame if not tamer. I even had to cut the horns off her....her full brothers never had any, but she did. Only calf to have horns this year. This is the only calf I felt I needed to wean early this year. Momma already looks like a different cow.

 

[katrina]

Holy moly...... green grass....

 

[R A]

Holy moly...... green grass....

:shock: