Black Angus Branding Day - Herding Cattle On Foot, Rocky Mountain Foothills Ranch

Ranch hand for a day, helping a friend on cattle branding day.
We had just under 300 cows and 275 calves in that field and we had to herd them on foot, separate the cows from the calves and start branding!
These adult, Black Angus cattle weighed between 1,600 and 1,800 pounds, and the calves weighed around 300 pounds.
I was helping out at one of the squeeze stations where the calves are retained in order to safely (for them and us!) be able to mark them with their ranch ID, administer any medications that might be necessary and just do a quick wellness check too.
It is tough, dirty, and can be dangerous work. The real ranchers know what they are doing (me not so much) and have spent a lifetime doing this work every year.
Once the cattle are in the pens, all of the herding and separating work is done on foot. No horses involved. A lot of ranchers these days will use motorized quads to travel around the ranch and rustle up cattle. It's easier to maintain a quad than a horse, I guess.
But we got in there and got our hands dirty.
We did keep one young small calf out of the pen as he was too small to be branded just yet.
Most of the cows are fairly easy to coerce in the direction that you want them to go, but sometimes you get a wild one that wants to challenge you. You really need to be experienced in reading the cows' behaviour to make this go smoothly.
The purpose of branding is to permanently identify cattle for proof of ownership and/or for export.
There are several situations when branding is necessary. Those can include instances of financed cattle, in community pastures where multiple owners run cattle together, or when exporting cattle, for example. Some provinces require brands on animals going to crown range.
Livestock Identification Services carries out brand inspections and helps find lost or stolen stock.
Proper restraint of cattle is also important. A good squeeze chute for older stock and a good calf cradle is effective.
The community comes out to help when there is a big job to do on the ranch. It was a great day 👍👌🍺

[@nancysmith4529]

This brings back memories. I’m glad we whistled and our cows came to us. Every once in awhile some would get stubborn. Going across the paved road would spook them. Cattle have a mind of their own. This was a great video per usual. Thanks for the memories. I miss it at times. I’m sure your friends appreciated the help. Have a great week.🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺❤️

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

Hi Nancy, and thank you very much! It was a great day. I'm glad you liked it 👍. You too, have an awesome week! 👌🍺👍

[@craigrobertson6082]

Awesome video. There were a few moments where you could see mama saying back off.

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

Thanks, Craig 👍. It got sketchy a few times, lol. Can't wait to eat mine 🤣

[@paulcaskey]

Quite a process.

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

It sure is Paul. Can't wait to eat mine 🤣👍

[@orangetractorguy8201]

Very cool video Jimmy. Really interesting and glad we got to come along. Amazing how much is involved in the ranching process. Cheers and enjoy the weekend!

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

Thank you! Much appreciated 👍. It was an awesome day! have a great weekend 🍺🍺

[@stevearita3267]

Man...is there something that you don't do? I'm envious, your all over the place!

[@JimmyMeatwhistle]

I was just pretending that day. Lol. Thanks, Steve! 👍