REAL Cowboys

[2LaneCruzer]

Not many do get branded east of the Mississippi,
we also do not have brand inspectors going to many of the auctions and slaughter houses checking brands and paperwork.
Most of the time they are needed as much in the east as no one grazes on Forest Service or BLM ground and we have more fencing.
Every once in a while it would be nice when one or two disappear.
Some cows will get tattoos in the ear and some vaccines will issue a metal ear tag.

I don't think they brand them here much any more either...maybe the big ranches, like the Drummond Ranch. I recall back in the 1950's there was reputedly still some open range in the state, so it might have been practical then.

 

[oosik]

Yes - both my neighbors use ear tags. Less involved and less stress to the animals.

 

[grsthegreat]

Yes - both my neighbors use ear tags. Less involved and less stress to the animals.

Much easier to replace ear tag...than the animal is yours.

 

[cqaigy2]

Maybe branding is used more where there is more open range where cattle could get mixed?

 

[oosik]

You get caught changing ear tags - better have all your affairs in order.

 

[LouNY]

The ear tags are not meant to be a substitute for branding. The ear tags are for record keeping usually, with a look at an ear tag in our animals I know which cow is the mother and the calves birth date.
It makes it easy to track growth rates when weighing calves, yearlings, and when getting ready to slaughter. We can see what genetics are carrying thru and we track which bull is with which group and how well his genetics are working.

 

[deserteagle71]

Maybe branding is used more where there is more open range where cattle could get mixed?

Correct. Not many fences around here...one of the reason I love living in Nevada. So cattle from different ranches get mixed together. Brandings held twice a year - spring and fall. All the ranches have people "repping" at these brandings; a calf hanging around with a branded mother gets the same brand burned on it as the mother. The brandings are actually the two big social gatherings of the year for ranch folks.

My place is surrounded by BLM land on two sides; there's a corner there where, using a few fence panels, the cowboys make a corral. They do their gather, bring the cattle in by the corral and sort them, brand them, etc. My daughter, though I owned no cows, considered herself a "cowgirl" and would spend all day at the brandings helping out with vaccinating, etc. She loved it...as I said, a big social gathering...though I've sure the calves, especially the ones who were turned into steers, didn't much appreciate it!

Open Range = no fences!

 

[nikerret]

I have seen a few “real cowboys”. I‘ve done a fair bit of “real cowboy work”.

 

[lman]

Correct. Not many fences around here...one of the reason I love living in Nevada. So cattle from different ranches get mixed together. Brandings held twice a year - spring and fall. All the ranches have people "repping" at these brandings; a calf hanging around with a branded mother gets the same brand burned on it as the mother. The brandings are actually the two big social gatherings of the year for ranch folks.

My place is surrounded by BLM land on two sides; there's a corner there where, using a few fence panels, the cowboys make a corral. They do their gather, bring the cattle in by the corral and sort them, brand them, etc. My daughter, though I owned no cows, considered herself a "cowgirl" and would spend all day at the brandings helping out with vaccinating, etc. She loved it...as I said, a big social gathering...though I've sure the calves, especially the ones who were turned into steers, didn't much appreciate it!

Open Range = no fences!
View attachment 690087

I thought you had to put up a fence around your garden to keep the cattle out. My uncle lived in open range in Colorado and he had a fence around his property to keep the cows off it.

 

[oosik]

I fenced my 80 acres. Keeps the critters where they are supposed to be. The "open range" land around here has the county & state roads fenced off. Otherwise - it's wide open.