"You look like you got some cowgirl in you!"

I drove about 33 miles to a ranch east of Deer Lodge, Montana for work. I followed two yellow school buses from Butte High School all the way there. Why? Because the Montana History classes and club were going to brand cattle. I had already been to one cattle branding since moving here so I knew to wear clothes that weren't my favorite, I knew that it would smell like burnt hair, and I knew the calves would be making a horrible noise when the brand hit them. I was prepared but maybe I'll never really be prepared for cattle branding.

The one cattle branding I had experienced almost a year ago was done differently. At that ranch they had some contraption that the calves would walk into then the people standing there would turn it so the calves were on their side and then all the happens with a branding would occur. And just so you know they don't just get branded, this is also the time when they get their vaccinations. At my most recent cattle branding experience the kids were to learn how it was done in the 1800's, since after all they were the history classes and club. They had do have a hands on experience in history. So no contraption was used. Instead cowboys lassoed the calves in their pen and dragged them out by the rope. Then a group of students basically had to tackle the calves and hold them down long enough so they could be branded and vaccinated.

I couldn't help but feel bad for the poor calves. I understand on a ranch it's something that needs to be done. You have to keep your herd of cattle healthy and you have to know which ones are yours in a land where there's tons of ranches.

Talking to the kids who were doing the branding I was actually surprised by how many of them said it was a lot of fun...even girls! I just couldn't see this being the case with my high school friends or even people I wasn't friends with in high school. But I guess I'll never know since to my knowledge no one in my high school ever went on a field trip to brand cattle. We went to museums, which is cool, just very different. You can't touch stuff there. Anyways, at one point the students teacher came up and told me it was my turn and he took the camera. Luckily they let me just hold the head. Another fun fact, when calves are branded the poop...a lot. So I did not want to be a person holding onto the backside.

I had to leave the branding before they were finished to get back to the station in time to edit and get the story on the 5:30 news. But just as I was about to leave everyone ran over to a certain part of the fence. I went to see what the commotion was and turns out a cow had just had a baby. Pretty crazy and definitely not something I had experienced before. Everyone stood there watching as the mom was trying to get the baby to stand up. Apparently calves walk within hours of being born. Don't quote me on that though, just what I was told on the ranch. After the branding the students were going to have a big lunch and them ride horses. It would have been nice to stay the whole day because I still have yet to ride a horse. Oh well another day.

The title of my blog is something a man said to me two days after the story aired. I was covering another story in Butte when he came up to me and said that and then proceeded to ask me about the branding experience. You can watch the story here.