Branding Season

Cows are done calving. Now, the next thing to do is brand calves. Much to some people’s surprise. Branding on our ranch is just another job that needs to be done in the spring. 

Steer calves get a diamond T on their left rib and heifer calves get an F9 on their left rib. Steer calves also get their manhood taken and a white tag in their left ear. Heifers just get a yellow tag in their left ear. 

This is also a time that we take advantage of vaccinating every calf that comes through. They all get a multi-mineral shot. A shot that fights clostridium diseases and a vaccine that goes in their nose to get soaked up through the mucus membranes to prevent any sort of respiratory problems. 

Since we can only get our hands on our calves about twice a year this is an opportunity that we take to give the calves a real good look over. 

The tallying of how many steer and heifer calves also happens during this time. That’s an important thing to note. Especially of your paycheck depends on having a certain amount of steer calves to fill the truck in the fall. We always tend to shoot for 120 steer calves. Just so we have some wiggle room for either death loss or calves that just don’t make weight.

We are truly blessed with the ability to live the life we do and to raise the calves we do.