Saturday Is Roundup, And Branding Day

[Dee]

Today I start gathering needed supplies for Saturday. The cowboys are coming, and the cowboy ground workers. My job is to get everything organized, and going in the right direction. I've got vaccines for the calves, wormer for the mama cows, and ear tags for both to buy.
The younger cowboys will do the heeling, and holding, the women and older cowboys the vaccinations, and ear tagging, and I will do all the branding.
It's a little late in the year so we'll start at daylight, but I've bought plenty of water, soft drinks, and there might be a little Dos Eques in the cooler if they look.
If the good Lord watches out for us and nobody gets hurt, it'll be a hoot, followed by a big dinner.

[Ranger99]

Good Luck with all that
I can't think of anything that stinks
worse than a nose full of smoke
from hair branding a calf.
Maybe one that you've had to drag
out to the back corner with the tractor
and the summer sun has given that
gentle baste to it for a couple of days
until the buzzards or the coyotes
finally get through the hide and the
gasses are free to invade the nostrils.

Never had to mess with the volume yall
will have to. Maybe 10-15 and with a
chute ( thankfully) Not as much slobber
and snot to bake into your clothes
during the days work. I haven't kept up
with the signs. is it steer making time  ?
Don't miss any of that business.

Might get a couple someday,  but most
likely a few goats instead. They don't
step on your feet and crush your toes,
 or smash you against a wall of a barn
 stall or fence

[Dee]

Yeah, about a month and a half behind on the steer making.

[Lloyd Smale]

living the dream. how many of us wanted to be cowboys when we were young!

[darkgael]

How many head of cattle are involved?

[Dee]

Little over 60 head Saturday.

[TrumpWon]

First time I got to go branding I was walking around the pen wondering where all the rabbits feet on the ground came from. They offered to show me personally how the rubber bands worked

[Dee]

We use a pocket knife. Banding takes weeks.

[Ranger99]

Used an emasculator years ago.
They wouldn't hold still enough to
try to use a knife and accidentally
poke an unwanted hole.
If you've got enough hands in the
corral, a good sharp knife is great.
And somebody to smear the purple
medicine.

For whatever reason, I was thinking
that they didn't allow the rubber bands
anymore

[Dee]

Nope! Some still band, but I don't.
Myself and others believe banding causes more stress than cutting. Two guys holding a calf the right way there isn't much struggling with the calf.
Also I don't use smear anymore. There's an aerosol that's quick and easy.

[Dee]

Horses are saddled, and we're waitin on daylight.

[Tommyt]

Horses are saddled, and we're waitin on daylight.

Best of luck Hopefully no major injuries

[Dee]

Almost 100 when we finish AFTER a rain shower which drove the humidity off the charts. The folks that sold us the new bull weren't kiddin he hates a horse and go out of his way to fight.
One really good cowboy got throwed TWICE, but the only ones who got hurt were nine little bulls that received sex ual reassignment.
Won't have to do this again until next year and it will be done Months earlier.

[Dee]

Went out to get the leftover vaccine out of the big ice chest. We drank all but 2 out of a 24 pack of water, 4 big cokes out of a 6pac, and a 12 pac of Dos Eques beer.
It was a hot morning. Started at daybreak, and finished at 11:50am. Wormed 38 cows, a feeder steer,, and a very indignant bull. Branded 2 cows, and by now, a very pissed off bull.

R
THEN! Put 2 ear tags in 26 calves, branded and vaccinated all of'em, and turned 9 of'em into steers. Most of these calves averaged 400lbs or better, and had to be headed and healed.

Not bad for 5 hours of work.

[Lloyd Smale]

man thats got to be some HOT work

[Dee]

It was because it was done almost 2 months late. Should have been done the last of may.

[Ranger99]

Using hot irons and a gas heating unit is
an unpleasant task anytime
I guess everybody tags now, and doesn't
ear notch. That's another unpleasant
job, especially if you're using a chute and
it's loose some. They'll shake that head and
coat you with blood to go along with all the
snot and slobber that gets on you throughout
the work day.  Probably the best thing that
I've ever been a part of is going to paste
instead trying to poke a XXXL pill down
with one of those long steel contraptions

[Dee]

If you're talking about worming cattle, we use what is called a pour-on. You hang a 2 gallon jug over your shoulder,  and as they walk down the line to the squeeze chute you squirter a measured amount down their back. Takes a 1 second per cow.

[Ranger99]

Been way too long to remember all the
medications and cure alls that the bovines
used to get. A shot from the big brown bottle,
one from the smaller bottle, two clicks of
this paste from the blue caulking gun,
two clicks from the red one, and a smear
of purple medicine on any fence cuts you
happened to notice. All the while trying to
avoid getting an extra coat of snot and
slobber and blood from any "surgery ",
and trying to keep any splatters of piss
and runny green manure off your boots
and britches legs, and uncle so-and-so
is removing testicles and slivers of ear

If not for good tasting steaks and hamburger
meat, I wouldn't have and never would do
it again.
Thank the Good Lord for the man that
invented the hot shot. Bless him and all
his descendants

[Dee]

Been way too long to remember all the
medications and cure alls that the bovines
used to get. A shot from the big brown bottle,
one from the smaller bottle, two clicks of
this paste from the blue caulking gun,
two clicks from the red one, and a smear
of purple medicine on any fence cuts you
happened to notice. All the while trying to
avoid getting an extra coat of snot and
slobber and blood from any "surgery ",
and trying to keep any splatters of piss
and runny green manure off your boots
and britches legs, and uncle so-and-so
is removing testicles and slivers of ear

If not for good tasting steaks and hamburger
meat, I wouldn't have and never would do
it again.
Thank the Good Lord for the man that
invented the hot shot. Bless him and all
his descendants

LOL! Well,  if you were preoccupied, and concerned about trying to keep cow sh#t, piss, blood, snot, dirt and sweat off your boots and jeans, you probably weren't that much help anyway. 

All of that pretty much goes along with working cattle, but its good honest work, where everyone works together, and is constantly jumping in to bail the other out when things get rough.
I'm gonna do it for as long as I'm able.

[Casull]

If you're talking about worming cattle, we use what is called a pour-on. You hang a 2 gallon jug over your shoulder,  and as they walk down the line to the squeeze chute you squirter a measured amount down their back. Takes a 1 second per cow.

Didn't know they could be wormed externally.  I thought all wormer had to go down the throat.

[Dee]

Lots of things have been learned over the years.

They used to rub Vicks Vapor Rub on your chest for a cold. It works better if you rub it on the bottom of your feet.

If you have doubts, rub fresh garlic on the bottom of both feet. You can taste it in about 10 minutes.