Knotaklu: Branding 2013

My annual trip to the cardiologist in Kalispell for testing went well. The abnormalities are still there, but no change from last year.

Then off to Glacier National Park for a few days. It was considerably colder this year than in the past but I was able to get two good days of bicycle riding in. I enjoy these bicycle trips up and down the Going to the Sun road this time of year. Traffic is not an issue yet spring is well on it's way with things turning green and the snow melting. I rode all of the road that was open to bicycles, about 20 miles worth. On the weekends it is open for recreation an additional 5 miles or so. The road is spectacular any time of the year, but especially so in the spring.

After a few days in Glacier, it was off to Branding. I won't go into details since I've written about it each April for several years. You can check out those blogs to learn what its like for a city boy working on a ranch once or twice a year. Here are a few pictures of this years branding...

My connection to Branding is my son-in-law, Stan. This is Stan's best friend growing up, Suny, who now also is his brother-in-law. Isn't it interesting how things turn out sometimes.

The family needs all the help it can get for Branding to be successful. Friends, neighbors, family and extended family all congretgate at the ranch on a saturday in April and make it happen. That's Suny and Sue's youngest boy grabbing the calf to flip it with his older brother and friends running in to help. The boy in front is one of their foster boys whose job, with another boy, is to spray disinfectant on the wound site after branding, dehorning, etc.

Rail fences are just the best places to climb and watch all that's going on. It won't be long before this guys are helping. That's my grandson, Raif, on the right.

There are several ways calf branding can be accomplished. The best and fastest seems to be the old fashon method, wrangling. This year there was enough help that we didn't use the shute at all.

My son-in-law, Stan, is de-horning while Liu is helping keep the calf under control. My daughter, Michele's, life long friend is Christi. Liu is her husband. I'm sure that in a perfect world, Liu and Christi would be ranchers in Montana as they both seem to love branding, coming all the way from Tacoma Washington each year.

There was lots of help this year. It may look like chaios, which at times it is, but everyone has a role and things move along pretty fast. My role in the morning is giving shots to cows in the next corral over. You can imagine all the activity with cows being herded for shots while calfs are branded at the same time. In the afternoon I take pictures.

The future cowgirls. That's my grand daughter, Saray, on the left. Christi and Lui's daughters, Kayla anb Maya, are in the middle and Faith, on the right, is Suny and Sue's daughter.