BEEF
D4
THE NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH
SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2020
Social distancing hindering branding efforts
Ranchers running smaller events, hiring out the process
Mike Henry, North Platte feedlot opera- tor and cattle producer, said they opted for sever- al small brandings this year, working only 40 to 50 calves at a time. A lot fewer people are involved that way. There are no big gatherings. The precautions are critical, said Randy Saner, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension educator based in North Platte. This year, leave the chil- dren and the elderly at home, along with people who have health condi- tions that put them at special risk. Even phys- ically fit people who do not take social precau- tions seriously, may not be the ones to invite to a branding, Saner said. Nobody knows how soon the threat will lift, or whether it will return later on. Regardless,
By GEORGE HAWS For the North Platte Telegraph Ranching may sound like a good way to be so- cially isolated without doing anything out of the ordinary. That is not al- ways the case, though, particularly at brand- ing time. It’s a tradition for folks to gather from miles around to help an- other ranching family work the young calves. While cowpokes as young as 7 help hold down the calves, cow- pokes as old as 70 brand, castrate, vaccinate and tag. Others on the scene are visiting or prepar- ing food. Children are playing. It’s part of the ranching lifestyle. However, this year, tra- ditions have had to give way to health and busi- ness realities, due to a virus that respects no- body’s property lines.
Chris Christen / The Omaha World-Herald Nearly 70 relatives and friends helped with the Waits homestead branding in 2018 in the Nebraska Sandhills. Gatherings that large won’t happen this spring with directed health measures in place during the pandemic.
vice even after the threat of COVID-19 is past, now that they see how much time and trouble it saves them. Saner suggested that if cattle producers do their own branding, they use calf tables or Nord Forks instead of the traditional method of holding down a calf. Those are humane handling devices that al- low one or two people to do the job of three or four. When small work gath- erings do take place, Saner suggested bring- ing individual lunches from home. If meals are served, carefully follow sanitary procedures, he said. Social distancing applies at meal time, too. Eastside Animal Center is taking its own precautions. When the virus hit Nebraska, the center separated work- ers into two teams. One
late spring, summer and well into the fall. “There are things that must be done,” at the right time, said Saner, no matter what else is happening in the world. Some ranchers have simply decided to hire veterinary clinics to work their calves for them. Eastside Animal Center in Gothenburg has been providing the service for years, par- ticularly for cattle producers who also grow crops and need to be in the planter at branding time. However, this year there is that added rea- son, and the demand has grown as a result. Morgan Schenk, a vet- erinarian at the center, speculated that some of the new branding cus- tomers will continue contracting for the ser-
team goes out into the country to do brandings, artificial insemination, bull checks and other services while the other team is in the clinic car- ing for large and small animals. They rotate as- signments. “I have coworkers that I haven’t seen in a month,” Schenk said. If someone on one team contracts COVID-19 “we don’t want it to put the entire center in quarantine,” and out of operation. As for other chores on the farm or ranch, Saner said communication is key: Everyone needs to know exactly what tasks are going to be done, who is going to do them and how exposure to other people will be limited. Oh, and, “don’t pass the bottle around when the work is done,” Saner said.
calves are not all born at the same time; there will be brandings in
Kurt A. Keeler via The Omaha World-Herald A drone puts the vastness of the Nebraska Sandhills in perspective during the Waits family branding in 2018.
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