Postcard from the Past: Branding Time

By Roy Welton

 Branding time was special –

the work, the food, the fun,

riding and roping calves,

and a good meal when you’re done!

Wrestling calves and vaccinate,

smoke from good hot brands,

the smell of burning hair – just being there,

a cowboy understands!

Being ready to round up the herd

in that four-in-the-morning air

made you ride and rassle hard.

O’ the fun of being there!

All the jokes about cowpokes –

the mud, the blood and plop.

Makes you think of the old days,

you could work and sweat till you drop!

 The bawling cows and calves 

you could hear a mile away.

The de-horned calves with red necks,

are part of our memories today!

The ride back home when you’re tired,

your saddle felt so sore.

Wasn’t it great to get to the gate,

and rest till you do some more?

The above poem was written in the 1950s by Roy Welton, a local cowboy, rancher and character who moved to town to open a Western store and invent several Western-related items including a leather hat.