Home on the Range

Our humanitarian mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints finished on 29 April 2009; and we flew to Salt Lake City where we were met by Ryan & Tani, Todd & Beth, and Doug & Shannon and their families at the airport. As we came down the escalator, it was fun to see the grandchildren standing there holding a "Welcome Home" sign with big smiles on their faces.

After spending two days in Utah, we drove to our home in South Dakota on Saturday where we were greeted warmly by Brent & Tauna and children. To read more about our homecoming, please go to our "Ireland's Mission in Russia" blog at:

http://irelandsmission.blogspot.com.

Now it almost seems like a dream that we were in Russia, as our life has quickly returned to more usual routines associated with life on the farm. Saturday, May 9, was our annual branding, which is one of the traditions still remaining in rural America where neighbors come together to help one another.

Sam changed his missionary suit and tie for
ranch attire and is seen here branding a calf.

The cowboys first round up the cows and calves and then sort the calves off into a pen away from the mother cows. As soon as a calf is branded, vaccinated to keep it healthy, and has an ear tag attached, it goes to the pasture where the calf and mom soon find one another.

We had a nice day for branding with the temperature moderate and very little wind; and since there was some rain the day before, it wasn't dusty (which can be a problem with all those moving hooves).

A cowboy on horseback ropes a calf by its hind
legs and pulls it to the waiting calf wrestlers.

Quickly, one wrestler takes a front leg and holds
the calf on the ground while the second calf wrestler
holds onto the back legs, and the rope is removed.
(Colin Peterson, one of our hired men,
is in the right front corner of the photo.)

The calf is ready to receive the ranch owner's brand, which makes it easier to return to the rightful owner if the calf should ever stray into someone else's herd or get separated from the owner's property. Although not the problem it used to be in the Old West, cattle rustling still occasionally happens when cows are stolen to be sold illegally. Brands make it more difficult to sell cows belonging to someone else.

The younger kids wait for a smaller calf to be roped,
so they can be a "calf wrestler."
(Sam and Rachel, first two on the left,
are our grandchildren.)


It sometimes helps to have two on the back legs
when the calf is much bigger than the kids.
Sam's brother, Roy, is putting a tag on the
ear to keep the flies away.
(Weston, wearing the green shirt,
is our grandchild.)


Our son, Brent, is branding this calf that is
being wrestled by his son, Sam, named after
his grandpa. Sam is a good calf wrestler, and
he also is a good wrestler on the mat.


Julia, Brent and Tauna's exchange student
from Germany, has the calf's front leg
and is holding the head down with her knee.
Our granddaughter, Rachel, is helping on a
back leg while her dad, Brent, does the branding.


It takes two brand irons to make the
Ireland Bros. brand. The brand is a "Bar V Open A."
One iron puts on the top bar; a second iron
adds the V below the bar and then the iron is
turned over to make the open A beneath the V.


Here is a sketch of what the
Ireland brand looks like. It is
placed on the left rib of the calf.


Sam is getting another hot iron from the fire.
Brands have to be registered with the state and
there is an annual fee to keep them registered.


Brent is branding one calf,
and Sam is nearby with another iron.

With all the good helpers, the 300-plus calves were branded with the "Bar V Open A" brand and were back with the mother cows. (Last month, they had what we refer to as the "little branding" of about 85 calves born to the two-year old heifers.) Now it was time for eating, visiting, and relaxing.

Barbie, (Roy's wife), Tauna (Brent' wife), and I (Sam's wife) prepared the meal, which was served at Roy & Barbie's. There were over 40 who had helped with branding, and this was probably the biggest group we have had in recent years. They had healthy appetites, but we were glad to see that there was enough food for everyone to go through the line once; and only the mashed potatoes were completely gone at the end of the day.

When we finished with dishes and cleaning up, we divided up the leftover turkey, roast beef, rolls, salads, and desserts. It felt good to have branding over for another year, but it is an enjoyable time when neighbors and friends work and visit together.