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Cowboys and Wrestling

The Cowboy.

He knows how to do a hard days work and give his all, often leaving the common amenities of daily life behind. For instance, a day spent out on the range requires that basically all modern comforts are out of reach. That means no running water, no bathrooms, and complete exposure to the elements, including whatever mother nature decides to send our way. And it continues until the work is done. Often, all four seasons will reach a cowboy on his ride in the same day.

Through it all, you rarely hear a cowboy grumble. They are too happy spending time in their most favorite way. There are always remarks on the weather, but no complaining. Sounds like a pretty tough group right? That toughness is a combination of inner strength to endure unfavorable conditions as well as muscular strength.

So much of a cowboy’s life involves animals. Animals are unpredictable. No matter how well you know cows, horses, or any other type of animal, they are still an animal. In this case, we have a branding day. Most of the calves get drug in and their head caught with the head catch. With a little manpower from a cowboy, this will hold it down for the branding just fine, but there are always a few, usually larger calves, who put up a fight.

This year, there was one in particular that I just happened to have the camera up and ready for. Here is a calf who didn’t even make it to the head catch. I thought I had caught the whole event, but I didn’t quite get the final fall, just everything leading up to it.

Cowboys and Wrestling from butterloveandcowboys.com

Three of My Cowboy’s brothers are wrestlers. Now, I’m not a big wrestling fan nor do I know much about wrestling. My brothers are basketball players. I am no good at it myself but it’s an exciting sport that I have always thoroughly enjoyed watching. My hometown was a total basketball town. High school basketball was always huge. We didn’t have much time for wrestling nor did we have many wrestlers. I went to one wrestling tournament my entire high school career.

And then I married My Cowboy and got some wrestling exposure from his younger brothers. I still don’t care much for wrestling nor do I really enjoy watching it, but I definitely have a respect for the sport I didn’t have before. It takes serious strength. It’s no wonder My Cowboy’s younger brothers are good at it!

Cowboys and Wrestling from butterloveandcowboys.com

I can’t help but think experiences like this paved the way for them to have the skill, strength, and technique to do well in the sport. Cowboys and wrestling go hand in hand, I’ve decided.

Cowboys and Wrestling from butterloveandcowboys.com

This Cowboy doing the wrestling and I share the same childhood hometown. It’s always fun to find people you have a connection with when you grow up and move on. My Cowboy and I actually have HIS daughter to thank that we ever met at college. She was a roommate to one of my good friends and introduced us on the dance floor. Are you gawking at how romantic meeting on the dance floor is or what? I had always felt the dance floor HAD to be one of the cutest ways to find romance. 🙂

Cowboys and Wrestling from butterloveandcowboys.com

And………………………………………..that’s where my photos of that whole ordeal end, but it was pretty great. Cowboys and wrestling- sometimes they win and sometimes they don’t. However, they DID eventually get that calf taken care of.

Cowboys and Wrestling from butterloveandcowboys.com

Ramblings

Branding Part 3: Roping and Groundwork

Howdy all. I still have a lot of branding pictures to share and I haven’t even gotten to the best part- the actual branding! While some of our cowboys and cowgirls rope the calves, there are also bodies on foot, who take care of the groundwork. Groundwork includes vaccinations, castrating, earmarking, and, you guessed it- branding!

Here’s how it goes- a cowboy/cowgirl heels a calf and drags it towards the branding iron, where someone on foot will place the head-catcher on the calf’s head. The head catcher helps keep the calf in place as those on the ground proceed to vaccinate, castrate, earmark, and brand. Once finished, they release the head catch, and off the calf goes- usually pretty swiftly!

The roping part is the part My Cowboy lives for. Few things in this life make him as happy as a day spent on the range branding, where he gets to ride and rope. He despises anything that has to do with a calf table. All operations are different and have to do what works best for their outfit, so absolutely no disrespect is meant towards any calf-table users. There are pro’s and con’s to roping, just like there are pro’s and con’s a calf table. I’m simply highlighting how much our crew LOVES their time spent roping.

Branding from butterloveandcowboys.com

Clay’s oldest brother’s wifee! She is also known as “The Rancher’s Wife” as she has a blog where she shares all about what happens on the ranch- you can find her here. Check it out!

Branding from butterloveandcowboys.com

My Cowboy. My favorite cowboy.

Branding from butterloveandcowboys.com

How cute is this little cowboy?!

Branding from butterloveandcowboys.com

While I still have more pictures to share, as for the explanation of a typical branding day, there you have it! It is always a full day of cows, dust, roping, singed hair, good food, family, friends, horses, and photos. I will be back before long to continue sharing all that I captured that day with you 🙂

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Ramblings

Branding Part 2: Sorting

Next in our branding day comes sorting the babies from the mamas. This means, before we start the actual branding, after the calves and mothers have been gathered up, the cowboys and cowgirls sort out the mamas from the corral where the branding will take place. There are a couple reasons for this. A most practical one is that the corral where this branding happens isn’t big enough to keep all the mamas in there while they rope the calves. Another reason is that all babies are different, but when it comes to calves, they are usually easiest to deal with if mama isn’t too close by.

Let me explain.

Most of these girls handle their mothering job very well. If they don’t, they are generally culled from the herd. Naturally, they have protective instincts and intend to ensure that no harm befalls their babies. Which is how it should be. So it is a bit easier to rope a calf with mama out of the way. Those mother instincts can also make tougher work for our crew once a cowboy or cowgirl throws a loop around their calves’ heels and drags them off toward the branding iron. Especially in a situation like this where the corral isn’t very big.

This is where sorting comes in handy. During the sorting process, some stay on their horses, while others help on foot. Once in a while, someone may be found flat on their face as an attempt to help chase out a mama or hold back a calf, landed them anywhere but their feet. That just makes the experience all the more interesting 🙂

Sorting from butterloveandcowboys.com

I have no idea what these two were talking about, but I sure thought they looked entertained! 🙂 Any caption ideas?

Sorting from butterloveandcowboys.com

I can’t say the girls are always that happy to be separated from their calves by a corral. Sometimes I just wish I could tell them, “Hang in there Mama! It’s only for a little bit and overall, it’s for your baby’s own good.”

When it comes to calving season there are ALL SORTS of things I would love to talk to the mama’s about in regards to what is truly for their calve’s best interest.

Sorting from butterloveandcowboys.com

Happy Tuesday!

Ramblings

Branding Part 1: Gathering

We just finished up April. That means branding has been in full swing around this ranch. On most Fridays and Saturdays last month, you were sure to find our cowboys and cowgirls riding and roping the range. And without fail, they’d come home smelling like singed hair.

A few Fridays ago, we had the favorite family branding. This is the branding where My Cowboy’s family brands just their cattle. Most of the other weekends they will be branding with others in their cattle association. Those branding days are still great fun, but what’s better than just looking after your OWN cows?! My Cowboy looks forward to this branding all year. It probably hits the list as his third favorite holiday.

I will write all about our average branding day, but let’s start at the beginning- gathering. Naturally, if we want any calves to brand we have to gather ’em first! We like to start early, but not too early. Seven or eight am seems to be the usual. Personally, I despise rousing anytime before the clock ticks seven. So I sure am happy they don’t like to start TOO early! The riders saddle up and are off to begin the task of bringing in the Mama’s and their babies to the corral.

Branding from butterloveandcowboys.com

I realize this post includes the first photos of our crew so I will make sure to point out the most common faces that you will see on Butter, Love, and Cowboys. My in-law’s had four other cowboys, five altogether, if you count My Cowboy. Now they are all grown and love to be in the saddle as much as any men I know. Four of the five brothers saddled up for branding this particular day.

We have many uncles, cousins, and friends who always join in to help get the work done as well.

Here’s a brother.

Branding from butterloveandcowboys.com

And another brother.

Branding from butterloveandcowboys.com

This post consists of a bit of a photo overload. I just couldn’t help myself when it came to sharing many of these photos. Branding days make up some of the most challenging and fun days when it comes to photography. My goal each year is for my photos to be better than the last.

Branding from butterloveandcowboys.com

My Cowboy.

Branding from butterloveandcowboys.com

The cowboy on the right is the oldest brother.

Branding from butterloveandcowboys.com

My Cowboy’s brother and his wife. This cowboy found himself a gal who could rope alongside him and it is fun to see them be able to share something they both love together! Plus they should be models for some western magazine.

Branding from butterloveandcowboys.com

This is our nephew- the smallest and cutest rider of our branding crew!

Branding from butterloveandcowboys.com

Once again they got the job done.

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Ramblings

Spring Dreams

Spring dreams come to us all and for me they started a couple of weeks ago. We had a some really nice weeks in March that teased us with sixty degree days. Those days came before spring officially started, in the beginning of the month. Those weeks played an awful joke on us! Since then our temperatures have dropped a bit, more towards the forties and fifties. Not too bad for early spring right? At least not in our neck of the Idaho woods.

Spring Dreams from butterloveandcowboys.com

The part of the story that made those warm weeks such a teaser are the howling winds that have begun to accompany the forty and fifty degree temperatures. Wind is an abomination. It can easily turn a pleasant day into a bone-chilling nightmare. I believe wind ruins more outdoor plans than any other factor of the weather.

I am no stranger to wind. I grew up in north-central Montana. In Montana, strong winds are a fact of everyday life. My Mom was frequently exclaiming, “The winds are blowing a’ hundred miles an hour!” In fact, I seriously thought the winds often blew “a hundred miles an hour” until about a year ago when my sister pointed out that, while Montana winds blow fast and hard, if the wind is really blowing one hundred miles per hour, there is likely severe damage. She confided in me that she had always been confused by that expression and thought our winds frequently blew “a hundred miles an hour” as well :). I still love that expression though because it reminds me of my Mama and my childhood home!

Spring Dreams from butterloveandcowboys.com

Said winds are pretty much the only complaint you will hear me moan about in regards to Montana. Other than that, my home-state is ideal :). My Cowboy is no fan of Montana winds either. He, like many visitors to the territory will often be heard to express, “No matter when we come here, the wind is always blowing!” However, after moving to our little corner of Idaho for about a year, I have to say, it may have Montana beat. If it does not have her beat, it is a tie or close second place.

These forty-fifty degree days, and the winds have awakened a deep yearning inside of me for warmth and spring! Until the winds let up, I suppose “Spring Dreams” will have to suffice. I have been dying to share ranch photos with you, but this ranch is in that awkward phase of grayish-brownish-almost greenish as it transitions from winter to spring. Now I will finally explain what these pictures are all about. I am sharing some photos from last year when the days were warmer and the grass was greener!

Spring Dreams from butterloveandcowboys.com