Marking and branding of the new calves has been in full swing this month. Bishop Jim Campbell, who is the foreman on Unit 11, invited us to his unit to see how it is done. One morning right after devotional, Elder Zeek and the Kennedys plowed through the early morning fog to Unit 11. They were working with male calves that morning. The calves were already separated from their mothers when we got there. Each calf came through a shute into a metal head-lock which keeps them almost immobile and allows the cowboys to flip the calf on his side for castration. In about 1 minute, a cowboy cut off the tip of the right ear, dewormed, vaccinated, and attached a "DCC 12" tag to designate the year of birth while the other two cowboys did the castrating and branding. Before the calf knew what was happening, it was over!
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The Head-Lock |
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Vaccinating |
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Castrating |