Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Calf Table

Oh yes, Just a Hunter. We will take anyone and teach them. Usually want an experienced guy to cut or brand, but anyone can learn to band and give shots. Or wrestle.


Except for big meat head college wrestlers. Its funny as hell to watch those big devils get beat to hell by a little bitty calf. And you cant tell them anything! Wrasstling? Hell, I know about wrasstling!

You will watch a young ranch girl make the meat heads look like pikers! Brute strength works, but technique is better.

There is no shortage of young folks in our area who work the brandings. Some are relatives, some are their friends and they all love it. High school rodeo helps a lot. We have used calf tables on several occasions but prefer the old fashioned way if you have good ropers and wrestlers.

BTW that is a great video of those guys working the calf. They got it down really well.

I like the Yellow hotshot. That's my favorite cattle working tool. It's to bad the triggers aren't as good as they used to be.

I like ear notching the ends of the ears too. It sure helps sorting them later when the steers are notched on the left and the heifers are notched on the right.

My calf table is the ground. If they're young enough, and the mamma cow will let me, I just hold them down and tag and band. If they're a little too big, or mamma is mean, I'll run them in the catch pen, separate them and do it there. If they get too big, that's where my son comes in and helps me.

If you work them to fast the Irons don't have time to heat.

So Jim how many Irons do you use ?

When someone offers to help or shows up to help and the first thing they do is to ask where the hotshot is, I tend to hide the hotshot.

I have four calf sized irons.

Two C's and two J's.

I used to have 6 but one set got two thin so now it hangs on the wall.

Build them out of old steel wheel spokes on the anvil.

I worked for the Scar Bar Blotch, too......

that guy in the suspenders..............

he's workin' on his 'dick do'

his stomach sticks out further than his dick do..........

Those suspenders are the only cure to noassatall.

Have some good friends that suffer from noassatall. Belt doesn't do any good...

SOP 50 years ago in NE MT. I don't see the requisite beer cooler. ;-{>8

One time when I was about 8 or 9, we were working calves in the barn. I was too little to do much with them, Dad and my Mom's Dad (Papa Paul, as we called him) did most of the work and I watched.
My Dad's Dad (Papa Arnold) had come down on vacation (he was a Millwright Supervisor at one of the GM Plants and never knew a whole lot about cattle, and was one of the stoutest men I've ever known, even well into his 60's) and was there helping where he could.
One calf had gotten a little too big (around 200 lbs), Papa Arnold decided he'd make short work of him and dove on him. After being drug around the barn twice, he lost his grip, the calf did a dance up his chest and head and ran off. We thought my Grandad was hurt, but he got up surprised and laughing.
Dad and Papa Paul finally got him wrestled down, Papa was holding the leg and sitting on him while Dad was trying to get him banded. Somehow, Papa Paul lost his grip on the leg and Dad got kicked in the side of the head (he always said it was the most impressive light display he had ever seen without losing consciousness).

The next year we had a pretty nice set of UT designed wood pens and a store bought headgate.

Anybody that's ever worked very many cows has some interesting stories. Dad tells me that what I sell now is cheating and takes all the fun out of it.

Jim, it is that time of the year!


Looks like a handy calf table and a good crew. Other than it's drier than hell we can't complain about the weather either...


We got done seeding wheat and went right back to the cows and branded 3 times last week.

Couple mini bunches of 45-50 calves and then did 162 head on Friday. Still around 40-50 head to calve but they are dropping pretty regular so hopefully be pretty much done in a couple weeks.



Years ago we went to a calf table. Hard to schedule a crew around the weather and semi's(we haul pairs out to pasture...) so the table makes sense. That and I don't know many young guys who want to wrestle.

Nice to be able to brand up a load with just one phone call and 3-4 guys.


Last Friday.

I run the table, my dad brands and vaccinates while a couple of big 'kids' from the colony takes turns pushing 'em up to the table.

(I'm jealous of all your help!)

Looks good Sam. It would be nice to have a big crew again, but like you......I HATE trying to get people together and either have it rain, snow, or no one show up.

Nice hot iron! 162 is a big bunch for a small crew. Good lick of business.

As far as the beer cooler.....we bought three thirty packs. Almost got it all used up!

Hey, that guy in the suspenders is the boss! Gotta be nice to the boss!

'Their brands were still on fire, and their hooves were made of steel".

Jim, another bad thing about the 'crew' is the guy who stands around all afternoon and thinks he deserves hunting/fishing access for the next 20 years....grin

Cash money to the workers and they deserve every penny.

Got the taste of burning calf hair out of your mouth yet Sam?

Cooler coulda been a little bigger. ;-{>8

Richard, it is so G-damn dry here I had a sprinkler going around the the corrals.


Made a little difference here and there but still coughed up and blew out black snot for 6-7 days in a row.


But at least the breeze was at my back when we worked the big bunch. Blew it towards the kids.....grin



Sorting off loads was another story. Dust bowl.