Weekly Ranch Recap: Branding Calves, Unexpected Kiwi Guests and Farm Adventures

First up: Branding!

Last Sunday morning John and I enjoyed a horseback ride to bring the cows and calves in from the pasture so we could brand the calves. It wasn't as big of an event as in years past since we only had 5 to brand, but it was still a fun morning with the kids and everything went smoothly!

The momma's watching to make sure their babies are ok.

Getting set up with the irons in the branding pit.

Branding isn't just something we do for 'fun'. It is how we show proof of ownership of our cattle, prevents theft (yes, cattle rustling is still a thing!), and stay compliant with CO laws. Cattle over 6 month of age need a brand before being sold. So while we take most of ours in for freezer beef, they still need a brand because they change hands for a brief time at the processor.

John is checking to make sure the irons are hot. He tests them on a piece of wood.

The first brand of the day. Natalie's job is to hold the tails out of the way. She loves that she ends up with a Cow Tail candy for her efforts!

We hope we'll be able to increase our numbers again next year and have a full day of branding and fellowship with friends an neighbors.

Our brand is read 'J lazy W hanging L'. In the coming weeks the brand will peel-- kind of like a sunburn-- and the hair will regrow over time into the shape of the brand.

Next up: Cute kittens and Colton being a 'helper'...

Natalie's cat, Stacey, had kittens on Mother's Day weekend and they are now getting to the cute playful stage. They are constantly being handled and this sweet kitten absolutely loves being loved.

Kitten cuddling is a great way to start any day!

The girls had an opportunity to go swimming with some friends so while Colton and I were home he was faster than mom getting to the chickens. He decided to 'help' feed them by opening the gate on the silo with the chicken feed. By the time I got there about 200 pounds had spilled out onto the ground. Oh well! We were able to salvage most of it, he was occupied for a good bit of time, and the chickens won't need to be fed for a while!

At least he helped scoop some of it into a bucket.

Unexpected Guests

With John being part of the posse he gets pages to help out in various situations such as evacuations, sometimes a rescue; while he isn't always able to respond he does his best. This week he got a page about some folks needing a place to keep their horses for a few days because their truck broke down up in the mountains. We gladly answered and offered them the arena. When they showed up, we were surprised to find out they were from New Zealand! They are in America hosting rides through some of the National Parks in the western states. They had already done rides in AZ and UT, but as they were going over a pass in CO their truck started having issues with the transmission. They were able to safely get their horses to the fairgrounds where they were approached by a deputy, who in turn contacted the posse to help out. It was so much fun and an honor to host them for a few days while they dealt with their truck issues. The girls loved learning a bit about New Zealand. They even got to end the visit with, in the words of Natalie, 'An epic water fight'!

And finally a new venture!

The last few weeks I've been talking with some of our friends and neighbors that produce tallow products. Then another friend posted that she had a bunch of beef fat for sale that she needed out of her freezer, so I jumped on it and now we're going to try our hand at making whipped tallow products! We’ve completed our first rendering and are experimenting with different whipped blends. We intend to keep it simple especially as we start out. As I was reading Proverbs this week, Proverbs 12:27 stuck out:

Lazy people don't even cook the game they catch, but the diligent make use of everything they find (NLT).

To be perfectly honest this doesn't look appealing yet! We're excited to see how this looks after straining, cooling and rendering a couple more times.

It was a lovely confirmation that we should pursue this. We know there will be a learning curve, but we're excited to see the benefits of the tallow and to share the final product.