Branding at the Walker Angus Ranch 2023

We were excited to all be able to attend branding this year (last year, only Lydia and I came). We spent the day before hanging out in Morgan and playing with Grandma and Grandpa's new puppy, Pippi. We also celebrated Grandpa Walker's 60th birthday (we gave him a chocolate moose so he would get something on his actual birthday and saved some bigger group gifts for a family party later that week.) 

As we pulled into Morgan, Lydia turned to me and said "Morgan is my very favorite place in the whole entire world." She corrected and said "actually the summer range is my very favorite place, but Morgan is my second favorite place in the whole world." I thought that was sweet. 

I wonder if she feels the same way that I feel when I drive up to Grandma and Grandpa Walker's house in Lyman. An overwhelming sense of being somewhere that I am loved, cared for, and connected to. We may not ever choose to live in a small town, but I love this place dearly. It holds such a tender spot in my heart and I'm grateful that it is part of my family history and legacy. 

Lydia is really embracing the role of cowgirl lately and she makes the greatest little ranchhand. 

We helped by helping and helped by watching. (My Grandma Walker always said "watching is helping".) Some of us were more helpful than others, ha. But we were all there and we were grateful to partipate however we could - from playing on the haystack to pushing cows to giving vaccines. 













Branding can be dirty business. Go Melissa! 

We ended with a yummy warm lunch at Marti and Kims house and I am SO glad that I was able to get a group picture of the whole family. What a beautiful legacy of the Walker Angus Ranch. 

Branding 2022

Last year for branding, almost every single family member from the Walker Family clan was there or represented. We went and I spent most of my time watching the kids play on the tire swing and holding one of my cousin's new babies. As people were leaving I had the realization that I had missed a crucial opportunity! I should have been videoing the branding day so that I could put a video together. I started making plans this year, and I am so grateful that it worked out so that I was able to make it happen. Especially because this winter when my grandpa got Covid and was in the hospital it didn't look like he would be here for branding in the spring. But he pulled through and although I am grateful for that for more reasons than this, I am SO grateful that I was able to capture him in this video of the annual branding efforts. 

https://youtu.be/266InZUZ1QM

The thing about Walker Branding, is that it's a family celebration. Everyone who can, comes - whether they are useful in the branding chutes or not. But we are all there, all supporting, all celebrating the legacy of work and effort and cows and family that we come from. It's a really special experience and I'm so so so grateful that it's been recorded for posterity. 

This year, because of the boy's recent surgery, it was only Lydia and I who came. In some ways, that was really neat because my dad really took Lydia under his wing and taught her how to actually do the work. She cut cows/calves, pushed calves through the chutes, and worked hard all day. I was so proud of her. 

I got to film all the little details of the day and enjoyed the process very much. I especially loved sitting in the ranger with my grandpa, talking about how they used to do branding and explaining his numbering system for his cows. 

We had a great day and are already looking forward to next year. Who knows what the future holds, but as long as the Walker Angus Ranch brands it's calves in May, we will be there.