Windmill Wednesday

Here's my Wednesday Windmill View. What's your view today?

Branding Menu:

As part of our appreciation for everyone help we prepare a good supper and lots of beer to drink and socialize after the long day of work. I simply cannot handle being in the house cooking all day while everyone else is outside working with the cattle so I prepare nearly everything in advance.We usually have a crew of our 40 friends and neighbors come over to help with our branding.  This year we had a small group help run our cows through to get a breeding shot, weight, and a pour on. So we needed a lunch for the few helpers in the morning and then a big meal to accommodate all of the afternoon help.

Lunch was simple. Hamburgers and brats thrown on the grill right after the last cow had been through the chute. We had a simple macaroni salad, chips, and brownies to go with the burgers and brats.

Our supper consisted of BBQ Beef Sandwiches, Cheesy Potatoes, Corn, a couple of macaroni salads, leftover chips from lunch and a cake for dessert to help celebrate my brother-in-laws birthday.

For the BBQ Beef  I cooked 10 chuck roasts all week long in the crock pots while I was at work.  In my opinion the chuck roast is the best for shredding. Every night we would sit down and shred the roast, pour some BBQ sauce on the meat store it in a big bowl in the fridge. Bonus by cooking the meat ahead of time, I get help from Tyson shredding the meat. J On the day of branding I put all of the meat in a roast and warmed it on low a few hours before we planned on eating.

BBQ Beef

The cheesy potatoes is one of those recipes I just throw things together in a roaster until it looks and tastes good. I used about 6lbs of frozen hash browns (left in the fridge overnight to thaw). I added in sour cream, cream of mushroom soup, onion pepper, shredded cheese, and cream cheese. I put all of the ingredients together in a roast at lunch time and let it cook until we were ready to eat it.

We have lots of sweet corn left over from last summer, so took some out of the freezer the night before and let it thaw in the fridge then put it in a crockpot at lunch to warm as well.

The macaroni salads my mother-in-law prepared in advance and brought them out for us. My sister-in-law made some deviled eggs and took care of the cake for her hubby.

Our group likes to enjoy a few beers after the branding, so we have a couple of coolers filled with beer. I also have some bottles of water, and some lemonade to go with the meals.

Here is Tyson.. Enjoying his beer while working. 

Honestly the meal is a lot of work, but with a little prep work ahead of time it isn't so bad.What do you feed your branding crew? Do you make it ahead of time or do all the cooking the day of? Or do you have it catered? 

Branding 2015

We had our branding this past weekend. Branding is an important part of ranching. By branding our cattle we ensure the our calves do not get lost or stolen. The cattle brand helps folk identify cattle that may have gotten out. With the high price of cattle these days, I am ever so thankful that if our calves are lost or stolen they can be properly identified and brought back to the correct owner.

With a brand we also give our calves a set of vaccinations that help to prevent any viruses they might pick up during the summer. These vaccinations are much like those that you give to your children before they attend school. We also choose to implant our steer calves. We band our bull calves at birth therefore making them steers. All of our calves get an ear tag at birth as well. Each ear tag has the mother's tag number, the date of birth, and the AI sire if there is one.

Here are some photos from our branding this year.

My brother-in-law was in charge of the branding iron. 

Waiting on the branding iron. 

Our neighbors are awesome!

My mom with Clara. She was loving the action.

My brother-in-law and nephew from Eastern Nebraska. 

Our brand an upside down TV. 

Don't let him go! 

Ready to go back to her Momma. 

How do you do your branding? Do you use any practices to prevent illness in your calves during the summer time?

Confession: I'm a "Shoe-aholic"

Flip flops, boots, heels, sneakers, I love them all! But ever since I got married and am actively in and or around farm equipment all day, there are very few days that I am not wearing boots. So I've been refraining from buying any new shoes, but now that summer is going around I couldn't help but splurg on something new...

So I ordered these from NRS :

Twisted X Breast Cancer Awareness Driving Moc

And I ordered these, don't tell Tyson...

Twisted X Neon Yellow Boat Shoe

A gal that I work with bought a pair at the NFR and has been wearing them around the office. I have been obsession over them and finally decided to order myself a pair of each! I cannot wait for these to  arrive in our mailbox. I love my boots, but I am looking forward to having another and much cuter option to wear to work! Now hurry up postman!