Brand!

It was branding time for the Nelson's this weekend, so we all loaded up and headed up past Spring Coulee to the branding corals. Brody got to ride a horse with Dad while Mom watched nervously on. I have only seen Kevin on a horse one other time since we met, so I wasn't 100% sure he knew how to ride very well... Let's just say, for someone who has a family with a bunch of horses, I haven't been able to get him to take me riding even once. (I think this is because he doesn't know how to properly saddle them, but he denies this.) Anyways, I guess Brody was worth getting on one for him, and Brody seemed to enjoy it, although he was mostly interested in trying to get the reins into his mouth.

First you have to wrestle the calves...

Kevin's job, as he doesn't know how to rope them. If the ropers miss, then Kevin and the other 'younger men' have to literally chase them and wrestle them so that they don't run past and join all of the already-branded calves at the other end of the coral. This year Kevin only got one good kick to the stomach and to the arm, both delivered by the same calf.

Then the calves get branded, get their vaccination shots, and sometimes, get castrated...
You have to feel bad for the poor little guys, but when you're the wife of a rancher, you just have to learn to deal with it... and the smell that accompanies it.

My Dad really seems to like to come out branding with us when we go, so he took charge of the actual branding part of the job. Lets just say that he didn't smell too great on the way home, but he seemed to have fun. Thanks for your help Dad!
(He is in the purple sweater here)



You also have to guard the gate. Usually you have to watch the unbranded calves to make sure that they don't run past and joing the already-branded ones. This year, however, we had even worse luck with calves that were already branded joining the ones that weren't yet. That really makes for confusion for the ropers, so on the next bunch we switched the gate guards (I being a new one), and we then only had two sneak back in, in comparison to the roughly 20 that snuck back in for the first bunch! You'd think those calves wanted to be branded again!

Here is a picture of my nephews Noah and Orin guarding the gate by Kevin. The pole Orin is holding is more to wave in front of the calves to scare them away, and it usually works. The calves are so jumpy that they run away from you as soon as you make a movement... unless they sneak up behind you to get back into the pen, like they did yesterday. If that's the case, your only hope is usually to wave and yell, and then move out of the way fast if that doesn't work.


Break time!! Brody came out to see Dad while we waited for the branded calves to get counted. He was pretty excited!

Roxy, my sister-in-law, helped Maysa and Kasen lead the horse around the now-empty coral. Maysa is fearless. If no one had their eyes on her, she would wander down to the end of the corals with the calves and try to pet them. I finally picked her up to keep her from wandering away, and she fell asleep in less than a minute. She napped for the next three hours. I guess all of this branding wears a little girl out!


My other sister-in-law, Brett, tried out the ropes on her husband, Shawn.
Preparing to swing...

Success!