Branding - June 2010

Every year a number of individuals are lucky enough to be invited to the Cottonwood branding event which involves 300 or so calves being separated from their mothers, branded, castrated and vaccinated. The branding is followed by a BBQ at Patty and Gord's ranch which is idyllically situated alongside the Saskatchewan river. There is only one catch and that is that you have to work for your supper! I watched in amazement as real cowboys on horseback lasso each calf and drag it by its back legs to a point where it is wrestled to the ground (has to be seen to be believed). Then the calf receives a tag in its ear, two hot iron brandings, two vaccinations and is castrated if male. Stuart wrestled a few calves during the afternoon and I was lucky enough to be assigned the job of "bucket carrier". The bucket being full of calf testicles, which were later prepared, cooked and eaten by the majority of guests, including Holly and Amy. Personally I couldn't bring myself to eat them, but apparently they were a bit chewy but quite tasty! I was a little worried about how Holly would react to the whole event, but the calves did not appear to be in too much pain and quickly jump up and run off after their ordeal. The most traumatising part was the noise that the mother cows were making having been separated from calves. They surrounded the corral and mooed and mooed and mooed.