Branding Calves

Uncle Weston

Steve and the boys went to Idaho on Thursday, to help Uncle Weston brand his calves. It reminded me of the times I helped my grandpa on the Church Ranch brand his calves. Back then, we would get up at 3:30 in the morning so we could have our hair and make-up done before we had to leave at 4:00 a.m. My grandpa would just laugh at us, knowing that after a day in the dirt, grime and cow dung, our efforts on our looks would be useless. But, we had to look good to impress those cows (and the few boys who volunteered to help).

Just before the Nate and Caleb left I gave them a couple tips on handling calves, to help them look more like cowboys and less like "city" boys. Just as I expected, they spent the day pushing the calves down the shoot, since that is the job given to the youngest helpers. When they returned home, I asked the boys if my tips helped them. After a very short pause, Caleb let me know that my tips were all wrong.