Branding time

by Doug Crowe
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 2:23 PM MDT

In the late 1870s, what is now Wyoming was an empty vista of rolling prairies covered with waving grass.

Indians and buffalo were out, but ranchers and cattle were not yet in. This vacuum didn't last.

Over the next few years, one huge cow outfit after another arrived, most of them owned and managed by foreign interests, predominantly Scots and Englishmen. So rapidly did the country fill up that by the early 1880s, a roundup camp situated on Powder River consisted of 30 wagons and 400 cowboys.

On a Cheyenne River roundup, 20 different outfits, totaling more than 200 cowboys and 2,000 horses came together, and 400,000 cattle were gathered, sorted and branded in a month and a half!

To my knowledge, nothing of that magnitude takes place today, but as a young man I was lucky enough to experience a fair approximation.

In the late 1950s, I worked for Jim Grieve on his UC Ranch. At the time, there were not so many fences as now, and the larger pastures were shared by several outfits.

Consequently, neighbors would come together for roundups. In addition to The UC, The Bug, The Dumbell, The Diamond Ring, The Hat, The CRI and The Broken Box would be represented.

We'd rendezvous about half way along the Rattlesnake Divide at a place called Cabin Creek. There would be 20-30 cowboys, perhaps a hundred head of horses and we would gather cattle for a couple of weeks.

Gathering cattle involved "riding a circle" and bringing in all the cow-critters encountered to various rendezvous points. There were no fenced bunch grounds then, so once everyone came in we'd split into two groups. Some would be detailed to hold the herd, and the rest would rope, wrestle or brand the calves.

Usually Dogie Steed from the UC or Norm Park from the Dumbell would rope. Some of the younger guys n myself included n would wrestle calves (throw them down and hold them) and patriarchs like Old Jim Grieve, "Wild Bill" McIntosh, Ben Roberts and "Heavy" Sanford would brand, ear-notch, castrate and vaccinate.

The folks holding the herd had to know what they were doing. If crowded too closely, the cattle would tend to drift away from the riders. If given too much slack, they would start to scatter. Either of these eventualities was unacceptable.

The herd had to be kept calm and stationary so the cows would settle down and the calves "mother-up." Unless a calf was with its mother, there was no way to know what brand to burn on it.

Once the critters settled down and the irons were hot, the ropers would slip into the herd. It was amazing to watch the horses tiptoe quietly through the cattle. Some actually seemed to be able to tell a branded calf from a slick. All a roper had to do was gently dab a loop on the calf selected.

Unlike the Hollywood version, there was no shouting, no quick moves and no long throws. Once a calf was captured, it was pulled out of the bunch to the wrestlers. The roper would call out the mother's brand and that brand would be slapped on the calf.

The little bugger also would be ear-marked, vaccinated and, if male, relieved of his cajones. Said cajones were tossed on the branding stove, cooked until they split open and devoured like popcorn by those assembled.

Hour after hour, calves would be brought out to the fire with the ropers shouting out, "Diamond Ring," or "it's a Bug," or "put a Hat on it."

I don't know how many cattle we worked on one of those roundups, but the combined ranches totaled about half a million acres. Figure the Wyoming average of 40 acres per cow and it comes to at least 12,000 critters.

Whatever the numbers, it was exciting to have been involved, and I cherish the memories.

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