The Branding

Every year the young calves are branded, that is marked on their side with an iron-hot branding iron, to distinguish them from other calves, belonging to another rancher. I’ve seen quite a few of these brandings done by the cowboys with a lot of help, and support from their neighbors. Livestock branding is a technique for marking livestock so as to identify the owner. Originally, livestock branding only referred to hot branding large stock with a branding iron, though the term now includes alternative techniques. Other forms of livestock identification include freeze branding, inner lip or ear tattoos, earmarking or ear tagging. 

The cowboys have a way of using a lasso to catch the calves in their hind legs. One thing that impressed me when passing by a branding, is the moaning of the calves, as if they’re crying, since they are taken away from their mothers until they are finally branded, and then given back to mama. These photos were taken in a branding I came across south of Burns in Eastern Oregon, during one of my trips.