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Burl McMillen deftly tossed a rope around the back two legs of a calf and dragged the animal to the fire. In a move that can only come from experience, J.D. Sexton slipped a head clamp around the head of the calf as it passed, and McMillen's horse pulled everything tight as hot irons came off the fire.

White smoke curled around those wielding the branding irons, at times totally obscuring the workers from view.

A quick pair of vaccination shots and the calf was back on its feet, sporting a new "lazy y, reverse c over-bar brand, the mark of the Dry Fork Ranch owned by the Green family.

Family Ranch

"It's a family operation," Ramona Green said. "We brand at least once a spring, every spring. These are all friends and neighbors and family that came to help."

Bill and Ramona Green have been branding each spring for 28 years on their ranch north of Craig. Son Chad and his wife Kacey, along with the Green's daughter Lacey and her husband J.D. Sexton, also are instrumental in getting 200 calves processed Saturday.

"We rounded them up a couple days ago," Chad Green said. "They will be vaccinated, castrated and have their horns checked."

Checking the horns involves applying a hot iron to the horn button to stop the growth process, Green said.

The head clamp is a newer invention and a propane flame heats the branding irons these days, but the riders rope each calf and bring it in for branding, the traditional way it was done in the old west.

Chad is a 1997 graduate of Moffat County High School and his children will be fourth generation ranchers. Two-and-a-half-year-old Carter stands nearby with a lariat, working the kinks out of his rope.

Volunteers

"We started branding at daylight," Chad Green said. "When you've got a good crew like we have, it doesn't take long."

Everybody is organized and has a task to perform at the branding.

Some of the ropers have come just because they like to rope calves, and this is an opportunity to get in some practice.

"They like an excuse to come and rope," Green said, as the next calf is dragged in.

Ivan Kawcak and Donna Deakins were at the ranch helping out on Saturday. Leo Snowden was horseback all morning cutting out calves from the herd.

"It's a social deal," Green said about the 15 people gathered for the branding. "We all help each other out."

New Calves

The herd started calving March 10, and the ranch will need to brand again this spring in smaller numbers to accommodate the animals yet to be born.

Some calves will remain in the herd as replacement heifers, and some will be sold off in November, when they will head to the feedlots for the winter.

The herd is a crossbred Maine-Anjou and Chi-Angus mix that does well in Northwest Colorado.

Branding calves is a labor-intensive operation, and Green appreciates the people that made the trip out Saturday to help out.

"It's hard to get all the people together to do it this way," he said. "Afterwards, we feed them and they go home to do their own chores."

Three brands are being used on the ranch Saturday, with different marks for Chad and Lacey's own calves. Chad's calves have yellow ear-tags, and Lacey's are blue.

Ramona Green can't help but smile as she looks around the corrals, appreciating all the friends and family gathered for the branding.

"It's a great way of life," she said. "A great way to raise kids."

Her son, Chad, looks a little differently at the branding operations.

"Branding is nice because you're getting toward the end of calving," he said. "You're with them 24-7 when calving is going on. After branding, we go ahead and disburse them out in the pasture until fall."

Dan Olsen can be reached at 824-7031, ext. 207, or dolsen@craigdailypress.com.