How often does this event take place per year?
Normally four times. That was part of the program that was set up by our Vet to help combat the weakness in our grass (missing selenium and copper). We'd tried liquid supplements. They were very expensive, not cost effective and stupidly labor intensive. and the problem with the liquids and also mineral tubs that we tried was that a dominate cow would sit there and eat all the ice cream and a less dominate one might not get any. With this program of injecting the MultiMin based on their weight, each animal gets what they need not more and not less. Part of the program is that the injections need to be as close as possible to 3 months apart as we can. So third week of Jan, third week of Apr, third week of July and third week of Oct is kinda penciled in on our calendars. We've been following this program for some six years now or so and are very happy with it. This January was the first time, just due to the weather that we've ever had to skip one. It was showing up in the herd.
Notice in this pic the black cow on the left. See how she has a reddish tinge to her? That is a sign of copper deficiency. She should be a true black color looking more like these guys:
She probably is now, as that stuff is pretty fast acting, it just doesn't hang out too long. Which is why the every three months deal. Too much selenium and copper can be fatal so just to be on the safe side we had another Vet come out last year and sucked some blood from the top end of the herd and the bottom end of the herd. He said before the lab work was done that just by walking through our herd in the corrals he coud tell our program was working. Last year was a bad drought year and he told us he sees cattle from all over every day (he's with a practice that only sees commercial beef and dairy herds, he ain't gonna work on your pet rabbit) and just by walking through our herd he was impressed by the program. Said ours were the best cattle he'd seen in a while. The bloodwork confirmed it. His opinion was to keep on keeping on.
Now its important to understand that this is our program, that works for us. Most ranches have their own program that works for them and do things differently. Branding twice a year is not uncommon with the occasional cleanup branding. Some ranches have branding seasons and the large ranches might brand for several months at a time. Its all about what works for you in your area I guess more than anything.
Awesome photos and information
Thank you we'll see if we can't get this branding deal finished off this morning.
Merle said he wanted to cut one more. We never use the term castrate its always cut. Its useful to understand that this is an absolutely necessary process. 95% of all meat in a store is from steers. Steers are our product so to speak. We are what is known as a cow calf out fit and the calf is the product we sell at weaning time (4-6 months usually). That calf will probably go through a couple more owner's before he reaches the table. Most steers are slaughtered at a lil over two years. The average slaughter weight is 1,100 lbs. Anyhoo Merle jumped into Nichole's hands and off he went:
Cutting a calf is a process, its not just grabbing a sharp knife and slicing something off. Nichole has become very good at it and she does almost all our calves and Steve's too. She uses a particular technique that she was taught by our son Logan. He was helping a neighboring ranch where he was at that time and learned what he felt was a better technique than what he'd been doing and he picked it up and passed it on to us. Ya should understand that there are about as many ways of doing this as there are cowboys with sharp knives. But this technique seems to be the less intrusive and invasive that we've come across. They jump up and scamper away when they are done and we've had no issues with infections or other problems. Fair warning the following pics might be a lil graphic. But here's the process:
After the initial cut the knife is not used and the testicles one of a time are milked out of the sack.
The cord is then stripped out and cut flush:
Repeat:
Then we hit it with an antiseptic spray:
Thats it. They don't even bleed much as you can see, although ya will get one occasionally that bleeds a lil more. Tabby came and got Merel and gave him his spa treatment again. She was doing that to Nichole's regular "bull cutter" too as its high carbon damascus. She has a regular EDC knife on over her left hip and the bull cutter she carries in a special boot sheath in her right boot. Its right near her hand when she needs it. Ya can see it well in that last pic where she's spraying the calf with the "blue spray". Everywhere I've ever worked, its always called blue spray. Although I did work one place that used old used motor oil as an antiseptic. They just brushed it on. Worked for them I guess.
A few more calves to do. Josie, the red roan mare that Alyssa was riding photobombed one shot:
Mary K doing an ear tag for Steve:
The last couple where really tough to pair up. In fact we guessed on one. We were wrong, Steve gonna owe us a steer! Got this one:
Alyssa picked up the heels.
As time allows we like to introduce our crew to new jobs. Here Steve was helping Ty to brand his first one:
The very last one was real tricky to pair up. We ended up putting a tag in each ear and then figured out the next afternoon that our guess on who his mom was was correct. I call Nichole "the inside the pen cowboss".
One thing we do that ya don't see everywhere is that we send a few riders out ahead to hold up the cattle when they are released from the pen. We've had frantic calves in years past running all over looking for their moms. With couple of three riders out there ahead to slow em all down it just works out better. Holding up the cattle:
Unfortunately I don't have any pics of the dinner Brother Bill had ready for us. It was great but the battery on my camera and on my cell phone was dead and done buried. Just a couple more. Maybe their legacy some day:
Ya ask a Marine for a lighter he brings ya a flame thrower:
Horsewright
I'm really enjoying your photos and cattle lifestyle. I've been around cows my entire life, as a good portion of my uncles, great-uncles, and cousins were dairy farmers. But that is a whole different arena than what you are showing. The dairy Holstein cattle are mostly tame, and walk themselves to the barn and into their stanchions without too much help from the farmers. And do it twice a day, every day.
When I was on vacation last Christmas, I could have gone horse-riding for a day, but at my age, (having only spent 10 minutes on a horse in my entire life), I figured that would likely lay me out for the rest of my holiday! 
