Cowgirls

I write a lot about cowboys.

But today I want to write about the great ladies who work alongside the men - doing much of the same work, and they look better doing it! :) (you guys know this is true.) 
Some women are able to work with their men all day every day, some only part time, and some like me, are primarily stay-at-home moms, but who love to ride and work with our men when given the chance. (in other words: when we can find a babysitter!)

Here are some of the cowgirls who were at the Stevenson branding this week.
First up; Katie Rogers. Her husband used to work with Cliff at the X-Bar in the Big Laramie Valley. She was in vet school at the time, so I don't know her very well.

Next on the list is my good friend Karmen Stevenson.

She has a toddler and a baby, yet hasn't forgotten how to rope.

 

 When I grow up I want to be just like her. :)

 

 

Then comes... oops! I forget her name. I do know she is pretty and is getting married this month. Yeah. Sometimes I'm not that good with names.

 

 

 And lastly, Kaleah. (Forgive me if I am spelling your name wrong, Kaleah!)  I love her bright red shirt! She just happens to be Karmen's sis-in-law. And she can make a mean mocha cheesecake! She made the desserts for the branding lunch (after riding and roping all morning) and she did it all with jingling spurs, a knife strapped to her belt and a gun stuck in her waistband.
( I bet no rattler lives long around her!)

 

Maybe when you hear the word 'cowgirl', you think of turquoise and bling. Perhaps you think of barrel-racing and pink hats. But let me tell you - these are the true 'cowgirls'. These girls can cook a meal for several dozen people, ride, rope, brand and give shots. They can skin a deer and shoot a coyote. They can help a calving heifer and train a young horse. They can build fence and sort cattle.

And they can do it all with pink nail polish and beautiful long braids.

Because God made women tough.

Cowgirl Tough.

Stevenson Branding

June 9, 2013

Our good friends had a branding yesterday. They head and heel their calves, so of course it was a lot of fun! And they have two stinkin' cute  lil boys, so double the fun for me! :)

 Bringing in the herd.

 

Handful of rope...

 

 

Taking him to the fire while My Cowboy gets a heel shot.

 

 Got him!

Setting ropes.

 

 Branding.

 

 Waiting in line for their turn at roping.

 

 My friend Karmen! She's quite a handy lady. She has a toddler and a baby. She made lunch for about 20 people,(with some help from her sister-in-law)  and she was riding and roping with the crew.

 The Stevensons. Husband/wife team.

 

 A reata.

 

 

 Grandpa taking care of the baby.

 

Hot irons.

 

 



First Schrock Branding

 

My Cowboy and I made Schrock History last month.

We had a Schrock branding - of our very own calves.

True - it was a tiny branding, as brandings go, but hey - it was ours.

Kinda fun! :)

 

 

Cliff's brother came to try his hand at roping...

 

Didn't do too bad, considering he is a carpenter and all.

 

Oh wait - My Cowboy was a carpenter too, before he learned this whole ranch thing. Who cares? Anyone with some 'try' is bound to become handy. We aren't pedigree snobs around here!

 

 Our brand - designed and registered by My Cowboy. It's a take on a tool he uses a lot in his leathershop; the round knife. A friend who owns a welding business made the iron for us.

My Cowboy's mother also made the trip out from MO to help, since some of the pairs are actually hers. First ever branding for her.

 

Josh holding a steer.

                                                       First Round-Knife brand!

My Cowboy enjoys buckaroo tradition, and head/heel brandings. Of course all our brandings will be headin' and heelin'!!! :)

 

                               Head/heel brandin's make for prettier photos, I think.

 

 

 

                                                       Fun times!

 

Pairin' Out



After taggin' calves, comes pairin' out.

 

Note: I do not write "pairin' out" just to be cool or funny or Hollywood. That's just how people around here talk. I don't think I've heard the 'g' sound on the end of a word since I moved to a ranch. It's all: "calvin', taggin', pairin', brandin', and movin'." or maybe "pushin'".

So it feels weird to write "pairing out", cause we just don't talk that way.

:)

 

First, the cowboys gather the cows and their calves and push them into a 'trap'. Basically a small fenced-in enclosure.

 

 

 

 

 Here comes the cows, up from the creek bottoms.

The Boss - on the side-by-side, and a neighbor on a horse. Just makin' a sort of a fence so the cows go in the right direction.

 

 

 

 

Like Mama, like baby.

 

 

 

 

Here comes Tom, pushin' pairs up from the creek-bottom.

 

 

 

 

And there's My Cowboy and Obie, getting a few calves out of the willows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the pairs are in the trap, they sort them out, one by one, and after determining the gender of the calf, they send the heifer calves (and their mamas) one direction, and the bull calves a different direction.

 

 

 

 

The purpose of pairing out is to separate the bull calves from the heifers, and to get the pairs out of calving pastures, into larger pastures. At least, that's how I understand it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discussing important things. I'm certain.

 

Anyways, that's how it's done. More or less. I had a squealy baby in the backseat of the Suburban, so I had to leave before they were done. :)