Hi Everyone,
Welcome to my photo blog. It seems an easy enough way to keep everyone abreast of my recent endeavors. Here are some photos from my trip to Clarendon, TX to RO Ranch where I shot a traditional cattle round-up. It never gets easy watching the cows get castrated and branded, but its a rare look at "real" cowboys and a dying western tradition. Here are some of the pics.
This is at the beginning of the process at sunrise. The cowboys start far out on the land and collect the cattle on horse back. They round them all up then start to separate the young and old. On this occasion it took about ten cowboys.
Now for the fun part...They've enclosed the young cattle into a gated area where they have to rope each one while two men hold them down. They get branded, castrated, ear tagged, and injected with an antibiotic. They save the testicles or "mountain oysters" for eating later. They say these "calf fries" taste delicious deep fried with a little remoulade sauce. Still, I don't think I can stomach it. The smoke from the branding makes for a dramatic photo at least.
Here is a group shot of the cowboys. They don't make them like this anymore.
