Belle Creek Branding

Memorial Day is the annual day for the Kuhbacher banding in Montana. That's a great deal, because it works out for me to join in. Another fun time was had by all. 

Two different bunches we walked through on this hot dusty May day. Alls well that ends well. 

John and I went up Sunday night after our 5pm Mass. Grilled some steaks and stared at the stars. Good stuff. 

The hobbled horses were waiting for us bright and early the next morning. 

First things first, celebrate the Mass. 

Then we saddled up and got ready to roll. John and Chief made a pretty good pair. 

I bet we had 20 riders that showed up for the 7:30 roundup. 

John and I fell in with Jason and crew. 

Cows hide in the steep breaks of this country. 

No problem.

We pushed them up to the rest of the bunch. 

And started to make our push for the trucks. 

Get along little doggies!

Once you start the stampede, you don't want to stop. 

After all were corralled, they started to cut out the cows. 

Then we stoked the stove and let the good times roll. 

John and I were pretty much on the wrestling crews. 

Eventually, though, Chief and I jumped in the ring and roped for about an hour. Good stuff. 

One of the guys wanted to drag some calves for the first time with his palomino colt. A good trick is to have another horse ride beside the colt as he drags one in. The companionship coaches the colt that everything is all right. 

95% of the time, they bring the calves in by both back back legs. Occasionally, though, you can't shake the rope off the one leg you snagged, so you drag it on in. In this scenario, you have to break the calf down on the side that the rope is on. Usually, with the left hip brand, the guy on the left of the corral grabs the rope and the right side hand pulls the tail. When they come in by one leg, you have to quickly asses the situation, and trade jobs if need be.  

If you try to brake them over the other way, that free leg ends up being a brace post that won't let the calf roll over on its back. Good work, boys. 

Ranchin. 

The labor deserves his wage. Good stuff, literally. 

Great way to start off the summer. The Kuhbacher branding on Belle Creek is one of the highlights of my year. It is a fast and ferrous 24 hours, but is worth all the exhaustion. Good to be home, but great to have the memories. On to the next one. 

Pentecost

Holy Spirit and Grace.

           https://youtu.be/GGcD_VWmaas         

Indian Creek Roundup

With Jim’s branding this Monday, he asked Peter and I if we'd flush the draws on our horses as they push their herd into a smaller pasture. Sure thing. 

Good start. Schoonover Rd. to Indian Cr. 

Peter and I were horseback. Most everyone else was on ATVs. 

Life just looks better off the back of a horse. 

Cool country out here. 

Nice batches of yuca plants all over. 

This area was in the heart of the Coalbed Methane boom about 25 years ago. Some wells still exist. 

Others have been turned into water wells for the critters on the prairie.

Neat little rock formations out here. Looks like a geode to me. 

Here's where we came into play, the breaks. Steep little ravines that you can only flush by horse or on foot.  

Bingo. Cows. 

We picked up all we could find and trailed them to the other bunches heading to the ranch. 

And pushed them all through the gate. Ready to brand. 

Coalbed water for our horses. 

Fun morning. Not too hot. A bit dry. Perfect for a couple hours in the saddle. It's good to ride new country. Start to get a lay of the land. Brandings are hot and heavy, right now. We'll see what we can drum up. On to the next one. 

Witness

Christ gives us the grace to be witnesses/martyrs.

           https://youtu.be/bAOhGzYHg7I         

Fr. Leo Patalinghug

Food, Fatih, and Formation. Good stuff. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxAH9PfPEqY

Jesus

Is the Truth.

           https://youtu.be/ias7j4yiEcw         

Failure

Is normal.

           https://youtu.be/UBIqv788G8E         

Fruits

The Holy Spirit is internal more than external. 

           https://youtu.be/1zl6TrJAR88         

Beginning or End

Enact it.

           https://youtu.be/lw3UBO-j3Ug         

Eighth Calf

After a long dry spell, we finally had another calf.

68 delivered a little bull calf somewhere around 5/14.

All looked healthy, so we just let them be.

Two days later, the little guy is pretty spry. 

Good mom.

Two pairs remain unbranded. If red cow would calve, we would brand, vaccinate, and head to the pasture. The other two black cows in the corral remain TBD whether they are bred or not. Regardless, we are going to pasture this coming week. Fun time of year. Cows look good. Ranch on. 

Old Wire

We have now got the 3/4 worth of fence on our pasture, that isn't the highway department's responsibility, rebuilt. And, I'm proud to say that we haven't bought a single stitch of new wire.

I'm an old wire guy. Not rusty wire. Just good old wire. Which, there is plenty siting around our place. Also, White Horse is back in action!

At this point in our three year project, we are down to some pretty small rolls. So splicing it as we go to make up this 1/4 mile stretch, is pretty common.

When it comes to tightening fence that you are rebuilding, you usually stretch at the brace post. I thought bringing two sections of wire together might go better. The problem with doing that is that you run out of stretcher, trying to get the slack out of both halves. So, once I was out of notches on the first stretcher, I just hooked a second stretcher up and kept tightening. Why not.

Then a guy has room to make a splice.

Works. I like these windy splices because you don't create a kink in the wire. There are quite a few around the pasture now.

We took this section of fence down earlier this spring. Most of the wire on it was good. So we just tucked it into the pasture, and today we recovered it and stuck it back on the fence.

Good stuff. The old fence only had two strands of barbwire on top, so we added a third. New fence, with old posts and old wire. My style.

Should work.

Just got some gates to build and brace posts to cut and cap, and the fencing on the pasture is done. I don't consider myself cheap, but I do like to see old equipment be put back into use. For the most part on these fencing projects, we have salvaged the old wire and posts that were on the existing line. As long as any rust was surface level only, we put it back on. There is a practical side to reusing old wire. New barb wire is about $150 for a 1/4 mile roll and woven wire is about $300 for 300'. The only cost we have in re-fencing 3/4 of our 25 acre pasture is about 80 new posts and new clips for everything. Pretty inexpensive compared to all new. Maybe I am cheap, but not to the point of compromising quality and longevity. Ranch on and on. 

Succession of Love

Love one another as Christ has loved us.

           https://youtu.be/FZjz-mdLK6w