Brand1ng Calves

The second half of yard work 1s brand1ng the calves. On days when we have the whole team out at the yards we might start with only 3 people wh1le the draft1ng 1s st1ll go1ng, but usually we wa1t unt1l we have everyth1ng sorted 1nto the1r respect1ve pens. With 7 of us working, 1t 1s an extremely fast process and you have to move qu1ckly and keep every one of your movements flu1d and organ1zed so that you can get 1n and out to make room for the next person to work.

"Brand1ng" actually refers to a whole flurry of act1v1ty done to the calves to prepare them for l1fe as respectable Walhallow cattle. Dur1ng draft1ng the calves, wh1ch range 1n age from a week to a few months and accordingly vary 1n s1ze from about 40-150 k1los, are put 1nto a ser1es of pens s1m1lar to a m1n1ature bugle. At the end of the l1ne of pens there 1s a contrapt1on called a "calf cradle." 1t's l1ke a large steel sandw1ch board that squashes the calf 1n place and then fl1ps s1deways so that the calf 1s ly1ng on 1ts s1de.

Once the calf 1s 1n pos1t1on, everything happens l1ke clockwork. 1t gets ear tags 1n both ears. The one on the left 1s the Walhallow tag (orange th1s year) wh1ch s1mply says "Paraway" (the company that owns the stat1on). They don't bother g1v1ng the cattle numbers because they don't keep records on 1nd1v1dual an1mals. W1th 50,000 of them 1t would be both 1mposs1ble and po1ntless. The tag 1n the r1ght ear conta1ns an 1D ch1p wh1ch 1s used to 1dent1fy the an1mal's or1g1n and track 1t's movements as 1t goes from the stat1on to the feedlot to the pack1ng house. Th1s 1s a relat1vely new government requ1rement that 1 bel1eve arose 1n response to mad cow, although 1'm pretty sure Austral1a has never had a case of mad cow (correct me 1f 1'm wrong). 1 th1nk that's probably an example of the1r Br1t1sh her1tage and European-1nfluenced precautonary principle at work.

1n case they should lose the1r ear tag, the calves are also ear notched to s1gn1fy that they are Walhallow cattle, and then branded on the h1p w1th the station's "ATE" brand. Apparently the "A" and "E" are the 1n1t1als of the f1rst company to own the stat1on, and every cattle stat1on 1n the Northern Terr1tory 1ncludes a "T" 1n 1ts brand. 1n add1t1on, they get branded w1th the1r b1rth year, so th1s year's batch all gets "0"s. All of the calves are also dehorned to make them safer to handle and sh1p later 1n l1fe.

As 1s usually the case for l1vestock, the females (he1fers) get the better end of the deal. Once they are all marked up, they get turned out w1th the1r mommas for a restorat1ve dose of m1lk and TLC. Unfortunately for the bull calves, Walhallow buys ts breed1ng males (they bought over 300 new bulls last year!), so before they're released they have to go from "hes" to "1ts." Th1s 1s done as qu1ckly as poss1ble w1th a blade that 1s met1culously sharpened. Nevertheless, 1t's not a good day for the l1ttle guys.

Once all of the calves are worked and turned out 1nto the ma1n yard, we hop on our horses and let the cattle back 1nto the paddock. The f1rst thought of a cow that has spent a day 1n a dirt yard 1s to get out of Dodge 1n a hurry, wh1ch makes them rather forgetful mothers. 1nstead of simply lett1ng them bolt, we r1de around the herd, keep1ng them close to allow the cows and calves to "mother up." Once the head stockman 1s sat1sf1ed that all the l1ttle ones are accounted for, we head back to the yards and let the cattle amble 1nto the abyss.

The last task at the yards 1s truck1ng the weaners back to the house yards. Th1s usually happends the day after yard work and, s1nce 1t takes several loads to move them all, 1t 1s typ1cally an all day project. Once back home, the Weaner Camp takes over. 1 have not yet worked 1n the Weaner Camp, so 1 do not yet have much to say on that subject. You'll just have to wa1t.