May Day Social

A brisk spring snow storm passed through last night bringing four of inches of wet snow but with the increasing height of the sun it had all melted by lunch time and the air was like fine crystal.

As I stood outside the main house refilling a watering can to quench the leggy seedlings in the green house, I heard some insane chattering overhead. I peered up at the great pine tree that shades the ranch house in summer and breaks the fierce winter gales. At the top of the tree I counted fourteen robins and an assortment of chickadees all socializing in the welcome morning sun. They perched decoratively at the very ends of the pine branches reminding me of those life-like bird Christmas tree ornaments.

Bird activity is intense here now and so too is the activity of human residents. We uncovered the slumbering vegetable beds yesterday and thinned the raspberry canes and tomorrow I will begin planting seeds ready for the short and frenetic Montana growing season.

We gladly accept any invitation that comes our way because when you are new to a community it is how you grow your first tentative roots. Last weekend we were invited to two events, on the same day no less. One invitation was to a calf branding the other to the opera “Aida” in Billings! In between we attended a local ranch auction where we saw everything from an antique strong box from a stage coach to some well worn farm equipment under the auctioneers hammer.

We had been told that the branding we were going to see was to be carried out “the old fashioned way” meaning with man power rather than machinery to capture, doctor and brand over two hundred and fifty nursing calves. When we arrived we were welcomed warmly and people introduced themselves to us. There were authentic looking cowboys on their mounts separating the calves from their mums. The calves were “heeled’ with a lasso then slowly but carefully dragged over towards the ministrations of more helpers on foot who vaccinated and fire branded the calves as they were held still on the ground by willing young volunteers. Finally the calf is released and it runs back to find its mother and get a soothing lick and a drink of milk.

It took twenty six people five hours to finish up. Some ranchers use a calf table which is a kind of cattle crush that turns the calf on its side until the work is completed. We were informed that the old way is less stressful on the calf and besides, it is way more fun as it is an excuse to get together with old (and new) friends and family, who enjoy the event as the first social occasion of the somewhat lonely ranching calendar. In the back of a pick-up were coolers filled with refreshments and as folks arrived they set down plates of cookies, breads and muffins to sustain the active crowd. A branding is a very noisy event; the cows bellowing their unhappiness at the temporary separation from their darling babes, cow dogs barking, kids laughing and rancher couples exchanging local knowledge and slinging jokes at one another.

After the long dark winter months of stillness and quiet inside a snowy log cabin it is a tonic to hear people and our feathered friends exchanging long awaited joyful greetings with one another as the earth yawns and stretches itself anew in the spring sunlight.

Post By Virginia Cross (8 Posts)

Virginia has been a wanderer her whole life. She is seldom lost however and has made an art out of plunging her roots deeply into whatever soil she finds herself. She is usually in the good company of her husband of 35 years.

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