No there is not another forest fire, it has actually been raining for the last month, it is actually the burning flesh from the branding of over 900 new calves from Pape ranches. This was Allie's first branding and she didn't really enjoy the smell of burning flesh by any stretch of the imagination. So what exactly is a branding you might ask, well it happens every year on every ranch in the west. The main thing of course is "branding" which is burning your ranches symbol into the side of the new calves so when they get mixed in with other calves or cows from other local ranches you can tell them apart. Basically a group of mama cows and calves are run into a pen. Next "cowboys" on horseback rope them by the neck and drag them out where we wrestle them to the ground and hold them there while many things are done to keep the calves safe. The branding is first, then they are given shots for diseases, the male calves that they don't want breeding are castrated, and the ones that are growing horns are dehorned by cutting them out. After all these things are done they are marked on their back with a special marker so they are not pulled out again. The day started out at about 6:30am with a group of about 500 calves and about as many mother cows. Then at about 10am we moved to a different pen with approx. another 400 calves and mothers. Then at about noon the branding was done and the women of the ranch cooked an amazing lunch buffet with about every food imaginable.
Running the last few calves and cows into the pen.
I am stretching the legs while Ben holds down the head. The man in the grey cut-off is dehorning while the man in the blue shirt is preparing the brand.
Allie loving the smell of the buring flesh.
The smoke from the brand and the other cows and calves in the background.
Closeup of Ben on the head and the brand. As you can imagine when a hot iron is put on the calf he is not very happy and moo's horribly as well as trying to break free!!
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