It was a day of branding

In the two prior blogs you saw that the ranchers had arrived with their pickup trucks and trailers along with some horses. They would round up the cattle and calves first at the Donohoes and then the Redmans, close to 300 cows and 300 calves in total. The cowboys would separate the cows from the calves, and then the ropers would lasso a calf, remove it from the holding pen, and other cowboys and cowgirls would hold the calves while they were branded, the young bull calves were casterated, and they all got an immunization shot. They calves would then rejoin their mothers. At the conclusion of the branding at the Redmans, everyone was invited to enjoy dinner of beef. There was a beer and soda truck available from the start to the finish. Bud Lite was the beer of choice.

Pictured below is the brands being heated, the actual branding of one of the calves, a mother cow watching her calf being branded, the look on her face says, "what are you doing to my calf" while one of the workers heads for another calf to immunize it, and finally this bucket will find its way to the Cowboy Bar and Supper Club for the annual Testicle Festival which is held at the end of the branding season.