Another interesting old photo: Branding time

rangerider7 · Post by **rangerider7** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:15 am

Plenty to talk about. No information given.

kimwcook · Post by **kimwcook** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:16 am

Looks like a studio photo to me.

Modoc ED · Post by **Modoc ED** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:23 am

Don't see much to talk about here R7. You can come up to the CA ranches around here and see the exact same scene every year around branding time. Funy how some things just don't change that much over time. Thanks for the picture though. Those pictures are always interesting.

76/444 · Post by **76/444** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:40 am

Reality pics like this, really takes all the HollyWood propagated mystique out of old west life. No big old cowboy hats, no fancy chaps, boots and spurs, no sixguns, no big beautiful colored and groomed horses. Just the real deal everyday working cow hand doing his job.

I have a 80+ year old REAL cow hand neighbor. He worked the Az ranches starting at age 9. Lived out on the range taking care of cattle and then working train shipping stock yards in his teens before joining the CB'ees.

Out on the range with cloths torn and in disrepair, boots with holes in the soles. Never a weapon until his mid teens. Hungry days and hungry nights. I have listened to his stories for years and this pic reminds me of his life without all the glamour I like to remember from watching the Lone Range, Gene Autry, The Cisco Kid etc on TV when I was a young'n.

Good pic,... again!

Pathfinder09 · Post by **Pathfinder09** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:56 am

Looks like any western ranch to me. a way of life in eastern Oregon. Thanks RR7.

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:48 am

Might depict reality, but it was definately posed. No fire, no smoke from the branding iron, and the cow isn't strugling too much if any.

Just what I see.

Great picture.

Joe

jnyork · Post by **jnyork** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:59 am

Great shot of the way things used to be. Note the feller in the bowler hat and tie. Almost all men wore ties back then, even when working. Also, the guy on the left is a dead ringer for actor and AF General Jimmy Stewart. Thanks for posting.

deerwhacker444 · Post by **deerwhacker444** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:07 am

That fella on the right sure does have a stubby legged horse. Seems to be extremely short.

rangerider7 · Post by **rangerider7** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:04 am

I also believe it is posed but most were. Erwin E. Smith shot probably the most non-posed ranch work photographs along with Frank Reeves in more modern times. I'm sure there were many others I'm not thinking of. I think I would say the man in the derby hat is probably the owner or at least the ranch manager. The older man standing on the ground may be the foreman. The stubby legged horse is is notable. They have two dogs in the photo. One man is wearing overalls and a cap, not your stereotypical cowboy attire. There is a lot of information to take from old time photos. Sometimes you presume right, sometimes wrong.

Buck Elliott · Post by **Buck Elliott** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:09 am

No dust; no smoke; no scramble; cold iron... Definitley posed, but definitely "on-site"

Never saw a bunch quite that calm at any branding I've ever worked. Nobody's payin' much mind to the calf...

FWiedner · Post by **FWiedner** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:17 am

Dogs love it in the corral during a round-up or when the farrier shows.

Lots of "spare parts."

Buck Elliott · Post by **Buck Elliott** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:07 pm

Pony on the right is sorta "set back" on his haunches, to keep the string tight on the calf. Head is up and Ears are back too, like mebbe he was just prodded by his rider to take the slack out.

76/444 · Post by **76/444** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:21 pm

FWiedner wrote:Dogs love it in the corral during a round-up or when the farrier shows.

Lots of "spare parts."

Yup!

and the chickens like to come behind the dogs for the raspings the dogs leave behind.

LeverBob · Post by **LeverBob** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:30 pm

kimwcook wrote:Looks like a studio photo to me.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Now that's funny right there....

LB

pokey · Post by **pokey** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:55 pm

LeverBob wrote:
kimwcook wrote:Looks like a studio photo to me.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Now that's funny right there....

LB

me too

the real deal,

single rigged saddles,

somewhere in navada [great basin] i'd wager.

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:19 pm

Looks like they got him surrounded!

vancelw · Post by **vancelw** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:44 pm

FWiedner wrote:Dogs love it in the corral during a round-up or when the farrier shows.

Lots of "spare parts."

I always heard every ranch dog can count...to two.

Charles · Post by **Charles** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:39 am

Here are my observations;

1. Posed, but the real deal. Bare in mind the old glass plate cameras has a very shutter time and action shots were years way.

2. I don't know where it is, but it isn't Texas.

3. Slick fork saddles all around. The nearest one on the left is older than the rest. I am going to guess around 1890, give or take five years.

Wes · Post by **Wes** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 10:30 am

That's the way I still run my brandings. With good cowboys (read no team ropers that don't own cattle) it's easy on the cattle. Lot's more fun too.
Those 'spare parts' that you count by two don't go to the dogs either. They go in the frying pan for lunch around here. Sometimes we just throw them on the brand heater or a hot rock by the branding fire for a snack.

vancelw · Post by **vancelw** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 5:58 pm

Wes wrote:That's the way I still run my brandings. With good cowboys (read no team ropers that don't own cattle) it's easy on the cattle. Lot's more fun too.
Those 'spare parts' that you count by two don't go to the dogs either. They go in the frying pan for lunch around here. Sometimes we just throw them on the brand heater or a hot rock by the branding fire for a snack.

Well, no one in our family ever ate em. I draw the line at a chicken liver. Anything more "exotic" than that is not for me. There was always one neighbor collecting spare parts, but I never asked for an invite to his house.

We had some greenhorns from Minnesota help with branding one time. One of the fellows put some spare parts on a branding iron and stuck it in the fire, then ate it half-raw. I couldn't look at him the rest of the day without snickering or gagging.

Before my back and knees got old, I sure enjoyed wrasslin those calves. It was always cold and usually wet from thaw. It was usually two of us scrawny kids that weighed a buck and a quarter each holding them down. I help a friend's dad one time (it was an excused absence from school

) whose calves were about 2 months older than I was used to wrasslin. Each calf outweighed us two boys by more than a bit, and there was a lot of them. I went to school that day the next year.

Now most everyone uses a squeeze chute since and the neighbors don't help as much due the the registered herds. I have memories, but I wish I had more photos.

rangerider7 · Post by **rangerider7** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 6:19 pm

The first time I ate calf fries was at the "Saddle and Sirloin" in the Fort Worth Stockyards when I was a kid. My dad work for Swift and thought it was funny when he took me with him and his dinner guest ordered them. Dad passed a couple to me and said eat them up there good. After I ate them he told me what they were. He sure was surprised when I asked for more. They weren't bad but I was going to show him. I haven't eaten very many since then but I would.

Buck Elliott · Post by **Buck Elliott** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:07 pm

"Rocky Mountain Oysters" are a prime delicacy aound these parts.

Some of the best I ever ate come from the Irma Hotel and The ProudCut Saloon.

rangerider7 · Post by **rangerider7** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:45 pm

Buck, My wife and I had a great time In Cody a few years back when we attended the Old West shows and Auctions held there each year. We stayed with Gert at her motel. She was great too. Cody is a fantastic place. I can't wait to go back.

Charles · Post by **Charles** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:39 pm

The Beehive Cafe in Albany (Shackleford County)Texas still carries calf fries on it's menu. Only place I know of that does that. Sliced battered and fried with cream gravy they are very tasty.

In my part of the world, a fellow isn't a real cowboy unless he has eaten calf fries off the branding fire.

76/444 · Post by **76/444** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:33 am

You guys are making me hungry !!!!

vancelw · Post by **vancelw** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:52 pm

76/444 wrote:You guys are making me hungry !!!!

Come with me and we'll go to the Irma Hotel and get a steak and some Moose Drool. I'll pass on the dog food......

I have to admit, I have eyeballed many a deer liver in the field and thought, "Mmmmmmm." I was pretty sure that culinary experiment would not have turned out well. Not enough native American in me.

Buck Elliott · Post by **Buck Elliott** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 7:08 pm

vancelw wrote:
76/444 wrote:You guys are making me hungry !!!!

Come with me and we'll go to the Irma Hotel and get a steak and some Moose Drool. I'll pass on the dog food......

I have to admit, I have eyeballed many a deer liver in the field and thought, "Mmmmmmm." I was pretty sure that culinary experiment would not have turned out well. Not enough native American in me.

I can tell some of you boys ain't never et proper range grub...

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 7:49 pm

I've gotten squeamish a coupla times when "chow" has been presented by other hands or even a huntin' pard. I passed on the fresh heart, but beer-battered deer liver deep-fried was THE best liver I've tasted.

On the other hand, do you know how many times you can "heave-to" after partakin' of that Phiiphine delicacy, balut.

disclaimer: not responsible for any hurling!

Ok, time to learn sump'in: "moose-drool"?

BigSky56 · Post by **BigSky56** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 11:22 pm

Griff, beer . danny

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:12 am

BigSky56 wrote:Griff, beer . danny

ALWAYS a delicacy... even good in pancakes... can't believe I was well into adulthood to sample THAT treat!

76/444 · Post by **76/444** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:22 am

vancelw wrote:
76/444 wrote:You guys are making me hungry !!!!

Come with me and we'll go to the Irma Hotel and get a steak and some Moose Drool. I'll pass on the dog food......

I have to admit, I have eyeballed many a deer liver in the field and thought, "Mmmmmmm." I was pretty sure that culinary experiment would not have turned out well. Not enough native American in me.

North East Texas is a fair piece from south west Arizona, guy. I'd have to pack a lunch, just to go out for dinner!

OJ · Post by OJ » Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:47 pm

kimwcook wrote:Looks like a studio photo to me.

I agree - I grew up in the 1930s in the ranching country of the Sandhills of western Nebraska and neighbors helped neighbors with branding so they were scheduled so no two brandings would be on the same day. Roundup started about 3:30 AM and branding was over shortly after noon - when we all had a big feast (the ranch owner being the host ) and beer (yep - underage but we were limited to only one each) cooled in the stock tank - we didn't have refrigerators - that took up the whole afternoon.

We never roped calves by the neck - that's for rodeos - but, the technique was very demanding for the roper. After separating cows and calves into two separate corrals, we would pick on a calf (smaller than the one shown) on our right side going the opposite direction of my horse and, using a small loop, throw it under the calf's belly - stimulating a small reflex jump into the loop - requiring a quick tug on the rope to catch the calf by both hind legs (sometimes only one - that was somewhat embarrassing) and drag it near the fire and hot branding irons.

Then, one guy would kneel on the neck and flex the front leg straddling the calf's neck and another would stretch out the top hind leg bracing that effort by holding his foot against the lower leg.

Then, the business would be carried out after removing the rope from the calf's legs - red hot branding iron on the specified place, castrating bull calves, dehorning if needed, and giving the "black leg" vaccine in the front "axillary area".

I was almost 16 years old when my folks moved from the country to the city of Denver - leading me to consider doing something else in my life than being the cowboy I had always been.

Military servicer in WWII, med school, another tour in the Korean War, and five years at the county hospital for Detroit getting my training to be a surgeon - I was 34 years old when I started making my living doing surgery for the next 40 years - but, I continued going up to the Sandhills to help family there do their branding in the spring.

This vehicle got me there - to land in the hayfield - where they cut a 1500 foot long strip for my "runway" - adequate for a Super Cub.

It's been a great trip -

KCSO · Post by **KCSO** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 3:23 pm

Just a kind of general note on photographs. This is from my Great Grandmother (came to Nebraska in 1875) while we were going through old photo's in 1960 (age 93) or so...

I asked about a similar photo and was told that the photographer came by in a wagon and had the word spread through the neighborhood that he would stop farm to farm to take pictures. When it was picture day the men folks put on their good clothes and went out and posed in what they thought were lifllike situations. The photo I was looking at was my great grandfather and his threshing crew (cicra 1890) all standing around the threshing machine wearing their Sunday best. This one throwing bundles and this one on the engine ect. That is why the good clothes and no branding fire ect.
This is also why period photo's may or may not be usefull in documenting an era.

The pictures were taken when the light was right and developed in the wagon and copies sold that day and then on to the next farm.

vancelw · Post by **vancelw** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 5:00 pm

76/444 wrote:North East Texas is a fair piece from south west Arizona, guy. I'd have to pack a lunch, just to go out for dinner!

I'd have to meet you there...too far to swing by and pick you up. The Irma is in Cody, WY. Someone above mentioned it. I went through those parts in June to look at the Buffalo Bill museum and make a quick run through Yellowstone. Moose Drool beer was the closest thing to Shiner Black Lager I could find.

I thought you was picking a fight at first. Around here, if someone threatens to whoop your butt, you tell him to bring a lunch, cause he might whoop you, but it's gonna take all day

Don McDowell · Post by **Don McDowell** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 8:22 pm

Looks like for whatever reason they've got a yearling stretched out in that picture. You want good horses and ropes on both ends of one of them when you don't have a squeeze chute.
Uncle Benny used to give aunt Claudy fits, about frying oysters.She'ld fry them in the same skillet as the chicken for dinner but she wouldn't use the same fork to turn them.

Here's what the ground crew OJ was describing looks like (more or less)

Here's what the ground crew looks like when there isn't enough young strong backs and folks that know how to use a rope together in one spot.

OJ · Post by OJ » Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:34 pm

Don McDowell wrote:Looks like for whatever reason they've got a yearling stretched out in that picture. You want good horses and ropes on both ends of one of them when you don't have a squeeze chute.
Uncle Benny used to give aunt Claudy fits, about frying oysters.She'ld fry them in the same skillet as the chicken for dinner but she wouldn't use the same fork to turn them.
Here's what the ground crew OJ was describing looks like (more or less)

Here's what the ground crew looks like when there isn't enough young strong backs and folks that know how to use a rope together in one spot.

That's exactly what I was trying to describe. The second picture was how we branded our larger calves - "short yearlings" - that were born in the previous fall and missed our branding and were too big to hold the other way - most of our calves were born in early spring. Only our squeeze chutes were vertical.

Great pictures - thanks -

spaceman spiff · Post by **spaceman spiff** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:58 pm

Buck Elliott wrote:"Rocky Mountain Oysters" are a prime delicacy aound these parts.

Some of the best I ever ate come from the Irma Hotel and The ProudCut Saloon.

When I was at Fort Riley there was a restaurant just off I-70 in Junction City that had an annual
Oyster fry that I was convinced to attend and I'm glad I did. Good eats, indeed.

Regards,

Troy

Don McDowell · Post by **Don McDowell** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 9:13 am

ubecha OJ.

cas · Post by **cas** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 1:55 pm

All photos back then were posed. Taking a photograph was no quick affair.

Birdman · Post by **Birdman** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:10 pm

Thanks for another pic.

HATCHETTJACK · Post by **HATCHETTJACK** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 10:34 am

how many cowboys does it take to brand a calf

looks like a bunch of modern day state workers

Buck Elliott · Post by **Buck Elliott** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 4:10 pm

HATCHETTJACK wrote:how many cowboys does it take to brand a calf looks like a bunch of modern day state workers

Well, you need at least two ropers per fire; two muggers; a cutter & a hot-iron man, and someone to decide whose calf it is. That's about --- uh ---- about --- oh, uhhh.....