Branding 2020 Review

hi I'm Mike branding is one of the most controversial times on the ranch and this year we broadcasted live for over six hours leaving some questions answered and some well maybe not today we take a look back at branding 20/20 and hopefully continue to answer those questions on our wyoming life [Music] behind me the corrals stand quiet and it's actually a really nice feeling because only a few hours ago there was a lot going on right back here over 20 guests came to the ranch and got to experience in some cases their very first branding their very first close-up interaction with cows and their calves and in others well their very first look at where their food comes from and what it takes to get it to your table branding itself is really more than a tradition although many will tell you that's all it is and in some cases maybe they're right traditionally branding was a time for neighbors to gather to help one another to learn and reconnect seeing friends that you might not have seen in months or even years today on the ranch was really no different but the reasons why we brand reach far more farther than just connecting with others we're going to look at all those reasons today as we take a look at branding 2020 today you're gonna see a mix of video from our live stream as well as video that didn't make it to the live stream you'll take a look behind the scenes that the process is to get mine and Aaron thoughts about even strangers coming to visit the ranch our philosophy and on ranching itself and probably a whole lot more it's a inside look at one day on the ranch and how it turned out but we started the process the day before when we decided to test how it was called gonna work I'm a party okay do you want to introduce everybody we can undo severy buddy let's honor deuce to introduce you'll introduce everybody I wasn't planning on doing that okay we'll just do it quick all right so from Chicago Illinois we have Jake Buffalo Tammy San Francisco California what's your name generally our plan is this we're gonna go over and get glass and peanut we're gonna walk them somehow over to the corrals once we get them in there we're gonna move them through just like we're gonna move the cab so you guys will get used to how everything moves through we're gonna brand them we're gonna vaccinate them we are gonna ban them and give them a new air tank and hopefully it goes smooth and everything works hopefully this is gonna go that way [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] good boy [Music] [Music] the squeeze which all of us are here so I need to go around and be ready to catch a cab we're just gonna go right through so I'm gonna go over to the squeeze [Music] we just want to bring him up [Music] you see to figure out like a new order with this not very much fun let's squeeze it down [Music] [Music] I'm in this way [Music] can I pull this tail so we can are you probably okay so that's that that works somewhat well as long as we're calm and everybody's happy I have a left rib crab which means it needs to go right there bargains [Music] maybe get around rate right where that bar is right yeah bitchin so if you go too far forward then it's the left shoulder Brampton so left shoulder is up here it would be back here somewhere in this area so I can get [Music] [Music] you count 3 then you probably counted huh we just have a special goal okay yes or somebody actually not horrible to ban them in here so again we have our rib but he's actually bigger he's also like trying to lay down though he is trying to lay down too which is gonna come problem can happen if you open [Music] then he's gonna kick when he gets branded if we brand left rib this bar is in the way those two bottle caps gave us an idea of how the next day was going to go I loved working them through this new arrow clip system they move through all the alleys I mean fly lawlessly and and thanks to the facts that the alleys are actually adjustable from the biggest bull to the smallest calf when they arrived at this chute the head the head catch held him safely which and and while they were held there I was able to band vaccinate and do everything that I needed to do and if we had a hip or a shoulder brand I have no doubt that we could complete the entire process in the arrow clip chute making the air equip chute really the most versatile chute I've ever used but after those two I did have my doubts on whether or not we were getting able to use it the next morning we did try it again this time with our calf that suffered a broken leg a few weeks ago it was his turn to be the first wild calf to go through this chute and as you can see that leg obviously is still broken or was broken but getting around pretty well able to use that leg and move around pretty good with it gate that closes and close too close to get smaller and smaller and smaller calf goes in we close it up here comes the calf comes through go ahead and open up that one I'm gonna open up the squeeze just a little bit calf comes in ah Nikes calf just went right back out crap and try this again in comes the calf Zacks in the process of moving the calf through it comes in keep going not yet yeah see this is just net so this is what's gonna this is what's gonna potentially kick us over to the to the calf table instead of being able to use the arrow quip and so while it works great for vaccinations and banding just the location of our brand it's tough and they also so when we did our bum calves last night this was a problem with be a - is that they start to lay down Mike you can't do that hey somebody go around grab his tail and pull his tail up [Music] yeah so cool thing about the air equip is how we can sort into all these different all these different plans [Music] so play this rope system you know of the shoot are they are more docile and last year they did not want to come out we had to fight a lot to get him out that's to with every single campus that we're not able to break it well it's really nice to be able to back over here to the table because we yeah we legally have to bring them in the right spot if we put that brand in the wrong location if we take our rib Grande and put it on a hip or shoulder that's not our brand anymore and so that that's not our cattle Brandon stretcher could say that's not your brand feather wrong location if somebody took our calves stole our calves and we tried to get them back they would say you know you have your ranch is your ownership is registered to a left rib brand that's a left shoulder brand and we're it's not our cattle anymore so we have to do this the right way so our with our branding location which is registered with the state it has to be on the left ribs and it was just not working in the air equip shoot while every other process of branding was just clicking right along this was really a deal breaker and made us fall back on our backup which luckily I set up hoping that I wouldn't need it but without it it would have been a much much harder job this week I actually put this old calf table in here in the air equip system and now it did come in handy calves are loaded into the arrow quip bud flow tub where we label and move them towards the old calf table a little bit of new and a little bit of old working in tandem to get the job done and get it done safely and branding is not only about branding the calves it's about making sure that they're healthy checking out each one as it came through the chute and making sure that they're vaccinated with medications to ensure that they don't get sick over the next few months on the ranch including vaccines to prevent pneumonia respiratory diseases and I just forgot what it's called tetanus there we go and we do that in the way of a seven-way vaccine with pyramid 5 and pre spots along with nasal Jim all are selected by our vet to keep our herd healthy and productive over the long summer however for one calf it may have been a case of too little too late as we found her and she started to she appeared to be suffering from a form of dust pneumonia that was threatening her life so as others were receiving treatment to prevent her very ailment she took me away from the action for a few minutes and while others held down the fort for the last half an hour or so I have been dealing if you've noticed I've been gone I have been dealing with a calf that went that basically it looks like it's dehydrated we're not sure what exactly is wrong with it it went down in the in the corrals and wouldn't get back up so what I did went over checked it out took its temperature listen to its lungs that kind of stuff and I'm guessing it's just overheated not exactly sure why dehydrated probably would be would be a big thing so what we did was we tubed the calf which means that we gave it about two quarts of milk powdered milk or the the milk replacer that we use and I also gave it a shot at new floor which is a respiratory medicine Banamine which is an anti-inflammatory and a little bit of antibiotics in the form of accede so we brought that calf once we got all those medications into it and we got the the the liquids in it we ended up bringing it over here to our yard because we wanted to make sure that we could get it into the shade now this calf is not doing great I can tell you that much we put it underneath the underneath the trampoline here and and laid it in so that it's able to at least be in the shade it's not a whole lot else that we can do for her at this point but really all we can do for her right now is just let her rest we wanted to make sure we got her in some shade we also wanted to get her out of the corrals because the dust and stuff like that is no good when you're having trouble breathing you'll want to be breathing we will give her a little bit of time she is a little bit bloated which might be a problem that we have to deal with we're not exactly sure yet if this is just bloat or what's happening here it doesn't feel like air so but who knows I mean there's a number of things that could going on with her she could have gotten in and eaten some trash I mean there's just really no way of knowing right now so keep an eye on her and see what she does and I mean there could be any number of reasons why she's acting like she is but obviously she's dehydrated she's a little bloated she could have gotten eaten and eaten some trash for all we know she could have twisted gut which would be rare for a calf you would think but but if she ate something goofy we're just gonna keep an eye on her and and then we'll come back and we'll put a tube down her throat and we will get any gas that's in that we can reach out luckily we're very lucky to have a good crew here that's working their butts off while we're out screwing off so when I return the whole thing was running like a well-oiled machine I think I'd been gone for maybe 20 minutes at most getting her vaccinated and tubed and all that good stuff but I'm pretty sure that I lost my job [Music] in reality it was a godsend having all the people here that were willing to help and while a single calf was out there dangling by a thread I was able to go deal that and and when I left her to recover I went back to the fray and well this time even my 9 year old daughter Mackenzie well she was gunning for my job to Mackenzie's going to give a shot so somebody might have to hold it up push it in it's just not somewhere that I really thought I would ever be watching folks from Los Angeles San Francisco Chicago work in an environment that I'm sure that they never ever really thought they would work in and it was somehow I'm very amazing and gratifying to me we always say that we want people to know where their food comes from but I never thought that I would be giving people a hands-on look at what it takes to get there but I do know that one quick question that was asked really did hit home Mike what has been the greatest thing about your life as a rancher would you change your lifestyle I got to scroll back because I didn't read that it for anything else at this point no I can tell you though our first year or two here it was very much in in debate on whether or not I was going to stay I was still you know getting offers from different radio stations and stuff like that I was new to the radio business and it's hard to change your career it's hard day too it's you know when you change your career nowadays you're changing yourself you're changing your whole identity because you know so much of what you do who you are is where wrapped up in what you do and and that's one thing that I think that a lot of people miss out on is that even though you know now I've become a rancher and that's what I do I don't you know I I don't I I don't think that's all Who I am you know you're still you're still a number of different things no matter what you do and and when I worked in the corporate world I really got into that mode mindset I you know you are what you do and and I honestly think that's a dangerous way to look at your life I think we're all plumbers we're all electricians we're all firemen we need more of those okay awesome we're all everything that we need to be and if you're not then you're you're pigeonhole in yourself and that's one thing that ranching taught me is that you have to be a little bit of everything you have to be you have to be all those all those things that's what I'm most thankful to ranching for is that I got a chance to see what I could be and all the things and it's still happening because even with with YouTube and the opportunities that we've been given and a chance to be a voice for our industry you get to I'm still learning Who I am so if I say I'm a rancher I'm a farmer that's just a fraction of who I am or who you are so don't let yourself be pigeonholed be everything because you can be I know that sounds like a pep talk but it's true and it's something that I'm coming I'm still figuring out you know and I think that a lot of these people here are the same way the day itself is named for branding and eventually that's a step that has to be done and one that I can tell you I don't really relish it I don't enjoy it but at this point in time it's something that has to be done the brand is the only way to identify your cattle a calf or even a cow without a brand can belong to anyone and anyone can come along and load them into a trailer or in the case of a calf maybe even a car and take off with what is the livelihood for our family cows and calves they do have your tags but in reality they can really be removed in just a few seconds calves actually tear them out and someone can just cut them off if they want to and then there's no way of knowing one calf from the next the brand is actually a permanent marker on that cow and one that helps identify a cow or calf as ours cattle rustling still a real thing thousands of cattle turn up missing every year and those that aren't branded are never returned and how could they be when you can't prove ownership even calves or cows that cross the fence in the neighbor's place may be mixed up and their herd and the old saying that says good fences make good neighbors with cattle it also helps to have a decent brand the calves themselves well when they come out of here they recover within seconds while they do ball once it released some even go lay down and wait to get turned back in with mom while all calves get a new ear tag one that has fly repellent built in to protect both them and their mom from biting and black flies the boys have one more procedure to endure for the first time this year I got to band a calf standing up thanks to the arrow quip shoot the band is a small rubber band that's placed at the base of the calf scrotum and it's tight and it cuts off blood supply along the testicles to fall off and safely in time the biggest risk is for tetanus which we vaccinate for to make sure that each Bowl becomes a steer with little risk steers grow faster they're safer to work with and they have no chance of impregnating any member of the herd all reasons to do it and increase herd health I thought that banding a calf standing up was gonna be hard but in reality so much easier gravity is actually your friend and the boys really didn't seem to mind it although I thought I might get kicked but standing up they're much more relaxed and I guess that's when I kind of wish that our brand was in a different location because we could have done everything right here in the arrow clip shoot and if we had my life and everybody involved I think would have had a much easier time no flipping the calf the calf would have been calmer and the chance of somebody getting kicked by that calf that was scared to be flipped over and aside would have been much less luckily nobody did get kicked and the day went smooth and everybody was right on their game from the youngest to the oldest my friend is moderator of our live streams Matt got the honor this year of finishing the last calf by himself well really not much of a reward for a hard day's work his smile made it worth it for me [Music] the cows and the calves they were then reunited and went off to do whatever it is they do their next stop will be summer pasture will they'll spend the next few months getting together on the ranch and while our branding crew hit the road and hopefully reunites next year for another tradition that will hopefully continue for me I had to go check on our sick calf who unfortunately didn't live much longer her pneumonia along with the heat of the day got the best of her and while treating her for bloat she passed away quietly reminding us that while branding is named for one procedure that protects the herd in one way it's the vaccinations the fly tags and the secondary procedures that protect the health of our herd as well branding 2020 may be not a total success but it taught me lots of new tricks banding a calf standing up never would have thought that that would have been easier in the safe der safer and I guess while I've been using the calf table for years now I think I'm gonna try to figure out a way to modify it so I can just ban calves on their feet without having to flip them over on the sides it's like it's like anything else you learn as you go the arrow quip Corral's made it tons easier the Octagon in the middle saved us from trying to chase down cows that snuck through the chute something we did plenty of times in the past including tackling them and holding them down in total we brought a hundred and thirteen cows through the system 113 calves that are now healthier and safer thanks to arrow clip our crew and even you because without you I don't think I'd be here today and for that I thank you I hope you can subscribe continue along as we watch our calves grow and experience the ranch life right here with you give us all an opportunity to escape the ordinary because lord knows we need it nowadays we'll see it tomorrow morning as we continue our weekday vlog and see where the winds of the ranch take us thanks a bunch have a great day and thanks for being a part of our Wyoming life [Music]

Channel: Our Wyoming Life

Views: 77,858

Keywords: Ranch, cow, cows, horses, cowboy, gardening, farmers market, Wyoming, our Wyoming life, animals, animal videos, peacock, farming, planting, cattle, ranching

Id: zr-u4lddkUs

Length: 26min 55sec (1615 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 22 2020