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Some pictures of a branding last week

Soapweed

Well-known member
A neighbor had branded most of his calves by hiring some high school kids to wrestle the calves, and they had already branded on at least three other occasions. Somehow the oldest calves were farthest from the place, and were the last bunch in line to get processed. He was worried that the calves were big enough to really put wrestlers to the test, so I offered to let him try out our "calf trap" contraptions. Being "machines" it doesn't matter how big the calves are.

My neighbor is only three months younger than me. We grew up together, as he is also my cousin and life-long friend. I told him we'd loan him our outfit, and our crew would come along just for the fun of it, to "teach" them how to use it. It was a pleasant morning, and we did 164 great big ol' Charlais cross calves before noon. His delightful bride of quite a few years prepared a wonderful dinner to top off the day's activities. Three of their four boys were on hand to help, as well as a couple of their ranch hands. A lady and her son from sixty miles away came to take part in the adventure, and they were both top hands at dragging calves to the fire. Everything went pretty slick, and no one got wore out from having to man-handle the calves.

Thebosssupervisingtheroundup.jpg

The boss supervising the roundup
Saddletrampinaction.jpg

Saddletramp in action
TheKosmoKiddemonstratesthecalftrap.jpg

The Kosmo Kid demonstrates the calf trap
PeachBlossomisconsideredarmedanddan.jpg

Peach Blossom, considered armed and dangerous
Thecrewinaction.jpg

The crew in action
Theladyguestwhoisatopcowhand.jpg

The lady guest who is a top hand. She took most of these pictures using my camera
Hersonwhoisasuperlooper.jpg

Her son, who is a super looper
Wheretheressmoketheresabrand.jpg

Where there is smoke, there is a brand
Thebranderwiththebossintheback.jpg

The brander, with the boss in the background
Thebossandhisnumberoneson.jpg

The boss and his number one son
Thebosssnumbertwoson.jpg

The boss's number two son
Thebosssyoungestson.jpg

The boss's youngest son
Mehavingtomuchfun.jpg

Me, having too much fun
Menwithmuscle.jpg

Men with muscle
Goodshot.jpg

Good shot
Happeninglikeitshould.jpg

Happening like it should
Efficientcrew.jpg

Efficient crew
Settingatrap.jpg

Setting a trap
Mom.jpg

Mom, Help!
Upandover.jpg

Up and over
Thingsgettingdone.jpg

Things getting done
Gettingadvicefrommykid.jpg

Getting advice from my kid
Closeup.jpg

Close up
Kickinhighbutstillcaught.jpg

Kicking high, but still caught
Bringinghimin.jpg

Bringing him in
Attackingfromallsides.jpg

Attacking from all sides
Anotheronegoestothefire.jpg

Another one goes to the fire
Abouttobecomesubdued.jpg

About to become subdued
 

ranchwife

Well-known member
Dang, soapweed....can't let the demodriver see these pix...she might think that going to Gonzaga (spokane, Washington) for her pre-med is a bad idea and she just might start looking around in your neck of the woods!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 

Brad S

Well-known member
Wish you'd have gotten rained out.

The little black horse looks all business. The young guys got no sleeves - the old guys got long sleeves.

Wrestling those calves on the ground would have been a challenge even for the game young guys on the crew. I like the calf hanger.
 

Tap

Well-known member
You did your usual good job here Soapweed.

I think the picture of the boss and his oldest son together will be one they will especially like. They are all good though. Looks like he has lots of good help coming up in the future.
 

Jinglebob

Well-known member
Good pixs.

I see Saddle Tramp is enjoying his new summer straw hat. You must not be working on haying equipment, as I see he hasn't got any grease on it yet. :wink:

So did you neighbor appreciate your new and inovative way of holding calves to brand them?
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Jinglebob said:
So did your neighbor appreciate your new and inovative way of holding calves to brand them?

He did. Even though there were twelve of us on the crew that morning, and even though there were some mighty tough muscled-up high schoolers on hand, they would have been plumb tuckered out wrestling those big hard-kicking Charolais calves. The calf traps sure made the day much easier on all of us.
 

Ranchy

Well-known member
Awesome pics, Soapweed! That lady must be as good a photographer, as she is a cowhand!!!!!! :nod:

Thanks for sharing with us........I love seeing how folks in different parts of the country do things, and I'm still so very impressed with your little invention.......what a time and work saver it is!!!!!!!! :nod: Did you use wheelbarrow rims on these? Bet they're a lot lighter and easier to set up than the regular pickup rims in the older pics were.

:cboy:
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Ranchy said:
Awesome pics, Soapweed! That lady must be as good a photographer, as she is a cowhand!!!!!! :nod:

Thanks for sharing with us........I love seeing how folks in different parts of the country do things, and I'm still so very impressed with your little invention.......what a time and work saver it is!!!!!!!! :nod: Did you use wheelbarrow rims on these? Bet they're a lot lighter and easier to set up than the regular pickup rims in the older pics were.

:cboy:

Actually all of our calf traps have the "wheelbarrow" rims. The older pictures had the calf trap mounted on a fence post, where the difference now is that they are mounted on our Hydra-Bed.
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
L.E. Stevens said:
Those "calf traps" are pretty impressive, but during the "heat of battle" do ya ever get the brands upside down :???:

Even when two people are holding a calf down on the ground, the brander has to "put the brand on upside down". The calf trap works the same way. The brander just applies the brand in similar fashion.
 

Ranchy

Well-known member
I knew something was different. Impressive little contraption, if ya ask me.......:nod:

So, Soapweed, is that the same gal that Tap has a pic of in his branding shots? Inquiring minds want to know........ :lol:

:cboy:
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Ranchy said:
I knew something was different. Impressive little contraption, if ya ask me.......:nod:

So, Soapweed, is that the same gal that Tap has a pic of in his branding shots? Inquiring minds want to know........ :lol:

:cboy:

There is quite a resemblance in the two ladies, but no they are not one and the same. The lady in my picture is probably quite a bit older though she looks very young. She and her husband have three boys, and the youngest will be a senior in high school next fall. He is the young man riding the black horse dragging out calves.
 

Ranchy

Well-known member
Wow. :shock: You could knock me over with a feather! They really do look alike!

Thanks for straightening me out, Soapweed!

:cboy:
 

Tap

Well-known member
I actually don't see a lot of resemblance in the two gals, other than their hair and dress. Of course that is because I know the one gal, and have more to go on than just the one picture. :lol: They are probably both commendable hands in their own right.

Actually, the woman in Soap's picture, sort of looks like the mother of the gal in my picture.
 

Ranchy

Well-known member
LOL.............well, I can say for sure, she's certainly got the guys on here drooling like crazy............



:lol: :lol: :lol:

:cboy:
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
L.E. Stevens said:
Soapweed-Back to the calf trap, what's the purpose of "welder clamp" deal just behind the wheel? Do ya hold the rope with it?

The rope goes up over the wheel rim, and the horse drags the calf until the calf's butt is up off the ground about four inches. Then a pedestrian on the ground clamps the vice grips, which are attached to two 4" x 5" pieces of steel. There is 4" x 5" baler belting on the inside of the pieces of steel. When the vice grips are clamped tightly, the rope is secured between the two pieces of baler belting. This holds the calf in place allowing the roper to grab another rope and go catch another calf while the ground crew works the calf being held. It really isn't too hard on ropes.

The Nord Forks work well for branding calves, but when the calf is in branding position, the roper's horse is holding the hind legs of the calf while the Nord Fork attached to an inner tube is holding the neck. The "advantage" of our deal, is that the roper doesn't have to continue holding the calf while it is being worked, but is instead free to go catch another calf.
 
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