Our Branding

Monday was our branding date and so we been working on cleaning up the yard and the house and cooking and working on getting everything ready for the big day.  Sunday night we headed out to another branding so we had to be ready before that.  I like that we go in the evening so we have all day to finish up small stuff.  I headed to Drum Monday morning for buns and Tim Horton's donuts (a regular for dessert around here) and we hadn't forgotten anything else so that was all this year.

 (roundup help)

 (High five)

(draggin in a little one for the kids)

(lots of wrastlers!)

It was cold and rainy and windy and just plain miserable but as long as it didn't pour we were going.  And so we all wore coats and worked faster cause it was cold but we got done.  Neil's sister volunteered to help finish up the meal so I could go roundup and so I took her up on that.  It worked well, I had pretty much everything done so as long as it was warm and served up when people started coming in she could make coffee it was perfect for me.

(working hard)

(Ropin one)

(I think this one is cool with horses going both ways)

(the branding pot is a few years old)

(coiling up)

Nothing ever goes as planned, lol.  We got them in and as we were sorting a calf got out cause I scared him when I went to move and slipped on a fresh cow pie and went down on my knee, boy did that hurt!  Flt like my kneecap moved sideways. OUCH!  But I kept on and we thought we just get the calf back in and go again, but as we were not looking he run all the way back to the far end of the field, so we had to grab our horses and lope out after him and about 3 cows and we got him back in - bad calf!

(branding smoke)

(Haha -HI)

(freshly branded lazy E over 4, right hip)

(Bringin in the second bunch)

(Me and Jess and Levi and his good mare)

(Jess matches the cows)

We did that bunch and then we had a bunch of cows in another bunch and so we went to get them, I didn't want to ride again as i was sure my knee would be sore but no one else wanted to take my pony and so I did and it wasn't bad, surprisingly.  They were only a mile away so it was pretty quick and all went well except the cow and her calf that ran through the fence into the hay field and we never did get her back but at least her calf was a heifer so no brand and vaccination for her but at least we don't have to worry about castration, might have to take her to the neighbors when they brand and so she can get done.

(Big Boy, Stoney)

(in the herd)

(weird the moon was up)

(calmly draggin one in)

(supervising)

(Smokey castration)

We finished and headed to the house for supper and no one even stayed late, but it was chilly and they all seemed to want to go home.  That was alright I was tired as well and so an early night it was.