Branding

  Sorry I have been posting much lately just been really busy.
This last weekend we went to a friends branding at the ID ranch and had a GREAT time. It was so good to see old friends and make some new ones. I took my camera but never took a single picture. I was to busy working. So the pictures Im posting were taken by my wife. I don't know what I would do with out her!
Here is a picture of holding rodear, we are gonna brand in the open. We have a weak 4 wire fence on the right and some panels set up. There is nothing holding the cows but guys on horses. The ropers ride in to the cows and rope a calf and drag it to the fire by the truck at the bottom of the picture.

Here's the some of the ground crew waiting for a calf, watching the fire.

Me dragging one in and Will got the heels. This is on the second day. We branded at a different spot.

A scenic picture.

On the way into the branding.

It was a great time. I hope these pictures help explain why I love the life I have. Until next time take care.

Good day

Spent most of the day horseback under breezy blue Wyoming sky's. We moved the pairs we branded last week to another pasture. I got to rope and Dr. a calf that was sick. I'm learning so much. My boss showed me a way to build my loops faster. So I will be practicing that along with roping the dumby.
   Then we moved some yearling bulls in the trailer to my house. Jumped our horses out of the trailer and moved the yearling heifers to another pasture that has more grass. My boss and I talked about moving heifers and the best way. I'm learning so much about stockmanship.  Sometimes I get so much information my mind swims. Haha At least its swimming and not sinking. I finished the day off by trimming one of my horse's. So really good day.
   Got home to my wife who was working on the garden. I love driving up to the house and being greeted by the dogs every evening. It's good to see the "kids" happy to see me.
  Until next time take care

Book review

  I just finished reading a great book. I would like to share it. The book is "Pulling Leather by Reuben B. Mullins".  Reuben writes about the five years he cowboyed in eastern Wyoming. He talks about the area that I live in. So that is really cool. He talks about gathering cows in the Lance creek area, which to me is something kinda special. We summer some of our cows on Lance creek. It is cool to think I will be riding cows the same way that Reuben did over a hundred and twenty years ago. One of the differences is there are fences everywhere now.
    Its just a really good book and it is one that I will reread again, probably a couple times. It is an inspiring book. I had all kinds of things to write about the book but my mind is going flat. Hope you all get a copy and enjoy it as much I as I have. Well until next time take care

Branding

  We have been busy the last couple days. We branded a big bunch of calves yesterday on the calf table. It gets the job done. We have limited man power here. So we do what we have to to get things done. Make do and improvise is kinda our motto.
      Today we roped and branded. It was great!! The day was perfect, blue sky's with some puffy clouds floating around. We had a gentle breeze and warm temperatures. I'm getting better at roping just need to practice more. Here's a picture of my boss and me roping.

    Some more pictures.

The photo credit goes to my talented wife! She took all of these and more. Until next time take care.

Cow work

    We are getting everything set up to brand next week. So we are sorting pairs and dry's out. "Dry's are cows that didn't get pregnant".
   Thursday we were gonna go sort pairs out of one of our pastures but we ended up sorting the neighbors yearling steers out of our yearling replacement heifers. Jeepers creepers is there is anything dumber than yearlings? It is kinda funny to watch 20-30 yearlings chase a jack rabbit. Poor rabbit.
  Friday we went down and gathered one of our bigger pastures.  Just guessing,  I "we, my horse and I"  trotted 15-20 miles gathering pairs. I felt so good! I love being horseback. I rode my lil mare she still has a long way to go with her training. But dog gone if she cant just step out and travel! I love that she has her motor so so close to the skin. When we got done there we added the finishing touch's on the corral we are gonna brand in.
    My boss had some of his friends come out to help us work cows and brand. They helped us sort off pairs today. It is nice to have the extra help. I got to cut pairs out of the herd today. Pretty cool. I'm learning a lot!
  Sharon and I are pretty excited. We just started looking looking for a riding lawn mower. My wife is AWESOME she found one in Cheyenne. The price is something we can fit in our budget. So unless something happens we will be the proud owners of a Craftsman Riding mower. I am really happy about this it means that Sharon will be able to mower our yard. Hehehe.
  Until next time take care

Wednesday's workings

  Today we worked on building a branding trap. We have an old corral that we are gonna use to brand next week. I'm not saying the corral has holes in it but it holding a tumbleweed is really pushing it. We tightened wires, added wires and put in some posts. It will now hold cows and calves. Woohoo now let the fun begin!
   On my way home I saw some of the prettiest wild flowers I have seen in along time. So I thought I know just the person that if I gave some to would have the biggest smile. I picked a bunch of them for my lovely wife. They wilted by the time I got them home, but the smile was well worth it. Sharon put them in a nice little vase with some water and 15 minutes later there looked great again.
  Finishing the day off with BBQ'd hotdogs, some lame Geogre Clooney movie and my comfy slippers. Life is good. Until next time take care