Branding in Boulder County

A month ago, if you had said Boulder County to me, a lot of things would have come to mind, but cattle ranching would not have been one of them. All that changed at the end of April when I was invited to photograph the Hogan family spring branding.

Although cattle ranching in Boulder County has been severely impacted by growth and new subdivisions, there are still estimated to be 4,000 head of beef cattle in Boulder County, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

The calves that were being branded on this particular day belonged to Hank Hogan, but it was a real family affair. I would be doing a real disservice to the people there if I tried to connect all the family lines, because I know that I would get it wrong. The Hogan family tree stretches back nine generations in Boulder County ranching.

Boulder County native and fourth generation rancher, Cody Peeples, put it into perspective, “The Hogans, Pancosts, and Clynckes are all related and pretty much run all the cattle in this county. My grandpa, Raymond Clyncke, has five sisters and four brothers and they all have five kids or more — and it’s pretty much the same on the other side of the family.”

Just south of the City of Boulder, on Highway 93, is the Table Mesa Trailhead and Open Space. There are some old pens and corrals there that I always thought were left as an artifact of the history of Boulder. Old they may be, as Hank Hogan’s father-in-law owned and ranched that piece of land that is now open space back in the early ’40s. In fact, roughly 30,000 acres of open space land is leased for grazing by the Hogans, the Pancosts, and the Clynckes. On this Sunday in late April the pens came to life with cows and calves, just as they had for the past 30 years.

I found it somewhat amusing when I arrived, that on one side of the parking lot were the sparkling SUVs of Boulder area hikers, and on the other side were the dusty trucks and trailers that ranch workers use. The cows and calves had been separated earlier in the morning and were trucked to the pens. The mama cows and the calves were put into separate pens but were in sight of one another, so you can imagine that there was a lot of bellowing back and forth.

Now I can hardly be mistaken for a rancher, but even I could tell that the pen that the calves were in was really too small for the ‘rope and drag’ method of branding. I asked Cody Peeples about it and he said, “We use what we call the ‘Farmers Flop’ method. We grab a calf, drag him out, flop him down, and hold him there until he is branded and vaccinated, and then go get another one.” Cody went on to say, “It’s really not as easy as it sounds, but it is the most efficient way when you have a lot of people.”

Although there is a lot of work done, the branding is also a social event too. It happens only once a year and it is a chance for the extended family to get together. After a hearty lunch, it was time to get down to the business of branding. The branding irons had been in the propane fire long enough to be red hot and everyone was in the pen with the calves — 20 people who knew what was going on, and one photographer who did not. As if on cue, everyone rushed into the calves and grabbed one. Then they started the process of dragging the calf out to an open area and ‘flopping’ them down.

I quickly saw why Cody had said that it was easier ‘said’ than ‘done’. Suddenly, it was organized bedlam. These were big calves and they did not like this process at all. The calves were scrambling and kicking, All the animals were bellowing. Finished calves were running through the people to get back to the rest of the calves. There was smoke everywhere and people yelling. Onlookers on the fence were cheering, laughing, and yelling comments. Out of all this chaos, the job got done and one by one the calves were finished and reunited with their mothers.

Then, just as generations before them had done, the Hogans saddled up and drove the herd out to their summer pasture. It was a successful branding. As for me, I considered it a success as I got my pictures and finished the day without getting kicked, run over, vaccinated, or branded.