May 3, 2016

[Soapweed]

Early morning checking cows yet to calve

Sorting cows away from calves to brand

These are all first-calf two-year-old heifers and their calves.

A little alfalfa helps lure them out the gate.

And they are coming out very well. This age group of cows is always about the hardest to get separated from their calves.

Getting set up

An electric generator keeps the branding irons hot.

The Ranger makes a slight noise barrier, although it isn't terribly loud.

The trailer we use to haul the calf table and stub alley.

179 calves to do today

About ready to go

With a little snack before we start

Head honcho Kosmo Kid. He implants with Synovex-C and castrates not to mention running the chute and tipping the table.

Peach gives three vaccinations.

My sister Sybil puts a rope on the hind legs of the bull calves to hold them steady.

Jesse does a super job of always having a calf on deck. We never have to wait.

Calf secured

A Peach and an old geezer that needs a haircut. The geezer applies the iron. The calves get either our Spearhead, or Kosmo Kid's Circle M brand.

Crew in action

Feeding hay later in the day

Green grass is starting to make an appearance.

Puddles abound after six and a half inches of rain in the month of April.

It's nice to have some carry over hay.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

6.5 inches WOW that should get things off to a great start.

Looking good down your way.

 

[Nesikep]

Nice pictures.. I was helping the neighbors brand today, got 60 head done in a little over an hour.. they downsized this year, they used to have about 90-100 and that took 2 hours.. Lots of hands on deck, no calf tables or any of that fancy shmancy stuff

 

[mrj]

That calf on the table looks like a nice solid calf! We are winding down calving, too, a little later than we prefer after a Mid-March start for the cows. Hope we can tighten that up next year. Do most ranchers have that "next year!" mindset??? Three of our crew have been to several brandings in the area and we have three of them scheduled be the end of the month, if the weather cooperates. Looks like you were blessed with a very efficient crew, Soapweed. And a beautiful day. Weather has so much effect, even control all too often, in our lives. Maybe some of us let it affect us too much. I sort of scoffed at reading about 'Seasonal Affective Disorder'....and don't recall the symptoms of it...but do seem to get a bit 'down' when it is cloudy for too long without producing measureable rain. These smoke clouds we have had for several days are even worse, for worrying about how those directly affected by those fires are affected. I did see a bit of sun in the past hour, but is pretty murky again.

Yes, it is GREAT to have hay left over in northern ranch country! And we saw lots of it in about 150 mile loop around some pretty remote areas of western SD. Took a drive after an errand in the area north of hiway #14 from Wall almost to Cheyenne River, then east and south coming back to #14 on Big Foote Road east of Quinn, then back to Midland. That is an area where people probably try to have carry over hay, but our climate doesn't often cooperate. We saw LOTS of farm land, and an plenty of very rugged cedar breaks which ran for miles along a creek, then the cedars played out, but was still rugged, very good grass country coming back south from the north end of our jaunt. The people up in that area are WAY out in the country. We feel a little spoiled, living within about 30 miles of three county seat towns (Kadoka, Philip, Murdo), and two smaller ones (Midland, Belvidere) where you can get at least some gas and a cold beverage and sandwich, most of the year. Even having medical facilities within 30 miles is quite a luxury.

Time to slice some good beef roast (cooked slowly, overnight) for a Mothers Day/Graduation celebration at our church. Then off to the art show in the Badlands for a fun afternoon.

mrj