After months of struggle (mostly on the part of my mom) I finally was successful in having my dad's brand transferred to me--gotta love bureaucracy (gotta love more that I spelled that right on the first try!) It's been a few years since his brand has been on an animal, but I have always like his brand and didn't want it to be lost. So begins my story of having my own few head of cows. I had picked out one of last year's heifers, but it got R's brand on it by mistake--yes, I always sacrifice for my children. So when we weaned this year's crop of heifer calves and I started feeding, I picked out two that I wanted. One based on the mothering ability of her mother and another just because she was friendly and I liked the look of her. Just before we were going to run the others through to brand I mentioned that there was another one that I liked because of her look and her size so M said I could have her, too. It will be interesting to see if I am a good judge of cow flesh.
We ordered an electric branding iron (since my sister has the originals and says she MIGHT give them to me if I come to Kentucky to get them) and it finally arrived last week so this morning M decided it was time to get my girls branded. I hated to do it and upset them as I've gotten kind of attached. My three are always the first ones to the gate waiting for their feed, and I didn't want them to associate me with a bad experience. They were pretty calm and didn't seem too fazed by the procedure so I think they'll be alright in a few days.
As I was hauling feed this morning I thought my dad was probably looking down on me and shaking his head in wonder that I've become the cow person that I am now just like he laughed and shook his head the first time I told him I'd been busy cleaning pig barns. I hope he's proud of me and the work I do and that I'm carrying on his legacy and proudly displaying his brand once again. I think it looks so good.
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