Branding - John Wayne's Calves

This weekend we finished up the branding around here, branding John Wayne and I's calves.  Thankfully, we had a good crew and not too many to do, because Saturday turned out to be a scorcher.

John and Wayne and his brothers.

One of our dear neighbors, and a good friend that we don't get to see often enough.


John Wayne's Dad branding a calf, our nephew and one of John Wayne's best friends flanking.


The Little Lady and her big cousin watching the action.

John Wayne flanking.

 

Good help.

John Wayne has a really nice set of calves this year and with a little help from the hay wagon, the mamas still look good too.  We're headed to our summer pasture next week, but as you can see in the background of the picture above, this country is dry.  Please pray for a good drink of water for this parched land and so much land around us.

Branding season is always one of my favorite times of year, a chance to work with and spend time with good neighbors, but it's also something that I'm always kinda glad to be done with too.  This Saturday, the meal was my responsibility.  It's not that I mind cooking the meal, but since our cows are 60 miles away at John Wayne's Dad's place that we lease from him, I have to haul the meal over there.  It kinda feels like how many coolers and crock pots can I fit in my Suburban!  But with help on this end from my Mom and once I got there, help from one of my sweet friends, it wasn't bad at all.  And with that, branding is done for the year.