Branding

Last week, we helped friends brand some of their calves.  It was the first time that we, as a family, all had the opportunity to be involved in helping.  It was event that was much anticipated in our home, and we knew it would be exciting and exhausting.  It was definitely exciting!  And it was definitely exhausting!

We started out by separating all the cows from the calves.  It was Molly and Ellie Mae's job to man the gate to the pens of the calves.  They did great!

While many hands makes less work, when you are working livestock, that can most definitely backfire, so some of us had to sit on the sidelines and watch.  That was a-ok too! 

We got to soak  in the sun, and find some baby mice.  Yuk!

The mama's were vaccinated, and divided them into breeding groups.   

Then, we loaded up all the calves and took them to a different part of the ranch, to a smaller squeeze, to vaccinate, brand and tag them.

This was my view for the day.... Hannah and I were in charge of pushing the calves through the chutes and into the squeeze.  I think we got one of the easier jobs, the only downfall was that my foot is fairly bruised from being stepped on. 

Ellie Mae and Art were in charge of running the squeeze, and our friend vaccinated, branded and tagged the calves.

I think the highlight for Hannah was watching a calf being born.  Abby helped "direct traffic", and directed the calves to their groups, according to which group their mamas had been put in.

When we finally ate dinner at 10:30 pm, the girls were both exhausted and proud.  Exhausted from the hard day's work they had put in, and proud of the jobs they accomplished.  Honestly, the older they get, they are so helpful to have around, and it feels like those seemingly endless years of training as they were younger are really paying off.  Way to go, G-force!