Branding Day

Here is a very small portion of the over 1200 photographs I took at a local branding yesterday.  In respect of the individuals I don't know, I'm trying not to include images that show faces clearly.  I have some pretty great shots that I'm not posting, but these below show an overview of the day.

Branding is a loud, smelly business, but a day to look forward to for those involved.  It is cause to bring families and neighbors together as they help get the work done faster, and there are breaks and meals for social time.  Most of these people have probably already attended several brandings this year, and will help at several more.  The communities surrounding Badlands NP are very much still practicing ranching traditions that have been in place for generations.  Many people also work for the park, part- or full-time, temporary or permanent.  In a nutshell, branding involves riding out to round up cattle and drive them to the corral.  Once there, calves must be separated from cows, causing both sides to make a lot of noise in protest that lasts throughout the event.  Ranchers on horseback rope calves individually, and bring them over to the wrestlers, who hold the calves secure for the relatively brief process of branding, inoculating, castrating, etc.  It is often the kids who do the wrestling; my friend had to move from carrying the nut bucket to wrestling when she was 10 years old.  The calves are then carefully let go to run back to the group.  This continues until all the calves have been processed, and at that point they rejoin the cows and head back out to graze.  After cleaning up and getting horses back to trailers, everyone heads in to eat before either moving on to another branding or going home.

Separating calves from cows.

Just the calves.

Calves in foreground, cows beyond the fence.

Inoculating.

Branding.

Roping calves.

Multiple groups of wrestlers, branders, etc. 

Behind the calves are the people waiting for the roped
calves to be brought over.

First year of roping duty.

Reuniting calves and cows.