In earlier American rural life, communities raised barns because many hands were required. These events occured in a social framework with a good deal of interdependence. Members of rural communities often shared family bonds going back generations. They traded with each other, worshipped with each other and celebrated with each other. Barn raisings were an integral part of life and socializing.

In our modern American life, communities don't mean nearly as much as they did back then. It is our family's goal to bring a sense of community back to our lives and those lives that touch ours.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Branding

The family spent the day helping out with branding and castrating. Well, the family minus T and myself. I am homebound for reasons that a further post will expound on. And as for T, well it turns out that a twenty-one month old is not much help on the ranch. Who'da thunk?! Thankfully S took a bunch of pictures of the day. And since they all fell asleep before I could get any detailed accounts, we will just have to go by the pictures this time. I do know that some, if not all of my family members were kicked, stepped on, pooped on, sunburned, wind blown and exhausted. And tomorrow, if the weather holds out, they will be doing it all again. All I did today was find some laying hens through our magical Wednesday paper. Yes, laying hens. I simply cannot wait until September for our chicks to start laying. Tomorrow, we are driving to Hotchkiss to get our fine feathered friends who are already laying eggs. In total, we will have eighteen chickens. Wow. That's going to be a lot of eggs eventually.
  As a forewarning to those with a weak stomach or who don't understand ranchlife, maybe you shouldn't view the pictures. Nothing too grotesque, but the sight of burning hide might be too much for you. Actually, if that is the case, maybe you should look at the pictures so that you may more fully appreciate where your meat comes from. Give that steak or hamburger a little thank you before you shove it in your mouth. And really, the pain is over quick. They are more angry at being separated temporarily from their Mommys than anything else. And if you make it to the end of the pictures you get the added bonus of seeing some beautiful birds and my sweet little family.


Just waiting



Application of the branding iron






















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2 comments:

  1. Coble FamilyApril 21, 2011 at 10:11 AM

    They are Yellow-headed Blackbirds. I'm not being sarcastic. They make the craziest rasping sound.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JApril 25, 2011 at 9:14 AM

    The lil' calf looks sad.

    ReplyDelete

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