Gathering, sorting, branding, mothering…

While it may seem things have been a little quite here at Granite Glen (at least if you follow this blog), in reality things couldn’t really have been more hectic.

This time of year is ALWAYS full on. While most enjoy the last few weeks of school holidays post New Year, we gear up for one of our busiest times of the year.

Branding.

I have been like a blue-tailed fly… feeding seven people (our immediate family, 2 jackaroos and one niece who always spends branding with us) including smokos and lunches for our ‘picnics’ at the yards, washing for seven people (smelllll-eeee after long sweaty days),  moving vehicles…. oh hang on. Why don’t I just SHOW you what we get up to on a typical day branding?

We climb aboard our horses (not me though this year, being the only available vehicle shifter) and get READY for action…

Some of us with more style and vigour than should be legal…

Nice one Lachy!

He did do some more trick riding later in the day, but we are working out a deal for me NOT to publish them here. Heh.

Here is Dash, dashing off to gather the cows. He and his noble steed, Chimichanga, do love a spot of cow-gathering. They are quite the team, these days…

Here is ME, moving vehicles and taking photos. Essential to the task at hand really.   You would think someone might clean that rear view mirror for a girl, wouldn’t you? Those birds have NO manners!

Here is Violet and her mount, Sandy, bringing up the tail of the mob.

Dash and Lachy pushing the mob over a rise, half a paddock away from the yards.  Both these jackaroos are what we might call great metabolisers.  I (as chief cook and fattener-upper) have trouble getting some kilos onto either of them.   You should see what these two put away between them? Crazy…

Violet leading the mob up the final hill – Sandy does love being in the lead.  Come to think of it, so does Violet (and not always in the mustering sense!).  Cal is bringing up the tail in this shot.

The cows were being a little ornery – Lachy had to help out at the back to push them up, UP…

And then with Salina and Mr I… OVER!

I am not sure what brothers discuss while sharing the tail-end duties?

Triple J’s Hottest 100? The Stock Market? Who wants to stir up the boss by wearing the Charolais shirt tonight?

Once at the yards, it’s time to push the cattle through the yards in order to sort them out.

It’s a bit of a dusty task at present – we are nowhere near as drought-stricken as many out west, but we ARE ready for rain.

Well and truly ready.

And if any of those cheeky cows think a little dust is going to distract Dash and Chimmy from the task at hand…

They’ve soon got ANOTHER think coming!

Cows and calfs are seperated in the yards – calves drafted off into a smaller cool yard.

We then set up for branding – which really consists of several jobs completed in the one handling.

All calves get tags – or ‘earrings’ – which identify them for the rest of their lives.

An electronic tag is ‘read’ into our little specially-designed (dust resistant!) computer before being attached.

For all stud animals (around 1/3 of our herd) I also assess each calf on a number of criteria including horn status (we breed mostly polled animals with no horns), colour, age and type.

The calf is also branded, earmarked, vaccinated and (where assessed necessary in male calves) desexed.

The entire process is complete in between 1 and 2 minutes per calf.

As soon as each paddock’s calves are completed, the calves are returned to their mamas.

The yards go from very noisy to the dulcet tones of furious suckling within a few minutes, as calves find their mothers.

I stalk them as they do so, and work out WHICH calf belongs to which cow… a task known as ‘mothering up’.

It’s one of my all-time favourite jobs, but one which cannot be rushed.  It’s important I get every single calf with their right ‘dam’ for our stud records.

It can take a lot of patience and double checking against cow lists, and sometimes I get a helper or two.

Salina was a great off-sider for this task, as she enjoys those peaceful moments walking quietly through the mob finding the last unmothered calf almost as much as me.

Often the calves settle down for a nap soon after getting a bellyful of milk – forgetting to be worried about these pesky humans.

Sometimes their Mamas join them in a slumber – and that’s a pretty darned sweet sight.

And then, when you make a move towards the gate, they line up, waiting to head for their home paddocks again.

The trip home is always smoother than the one in… everyone keen to get back to familiar pastures.

Probably didn’t really need more than one rider behind them – but the truck was waiting for horses and humans over the hill, so they all tagged along!

And within minutes the sounds of munching and bovine kids’ snoozing fill the air.

There’s no place like home!

And the yards fall silent. Til tomorrow anyway…

🙂