More photos from the calf roundup

Here are some more scenes from the old-fashioned calf roundup and processing day. Above is a shot of the cowboy getting both of the calf's hind legs roped. Success!

Although mostly the cowboys were doing the roping, cowgirl Tana gave it a try. She got right in there and started swinging that rope around her head.

Here she is concentrating. See the rope going across her thigh? She roped a calf!

Here's Tana and her horse keeping the horse in place as the processing team goes to work. Tana said she didn't think she was going to be doing any cowgirling that day, hence she didn't get all dudded up.

Here are three cowboys wearing the "proper" cowboy attire. They're waiting as the calves they caught get processed.

Back in the truck little Aron and Desert Boy didn't really know what to make of each other. It will be interesting to see if they grow up to like what their outfits reflect. Aron may be a cowboy like his daddy while Desert Boy may prefer tractors and machinery like his daddy. Or maybe not!

Even Ashley got into the action helping, despite being nine months pregnant. I wish I looked that good when I was nine months along!

It was a busy, fun day.

Here's a mama cow checking on her calf. All the calves quickly rebounded after getting their shots and found their mamas for comfort.

Caleb and Desert Boy watching from the back of the truck. Caleb also got down and sat on calves and carried supplies.

This is a cowboy from another ranch who came to help.

Here's cousin Clay. He roped quite a few calves. Clay was the youngest roper, at age 16, while Lee was the oldest, at 90. Both did very well.

Ranchhand Tim was having a great day. He much preferred processing calves this way to the calf table in the corral like he did last year.

Here's the processing team waiting for the calf to get the last vaccination before being released.
Merlin is from another ranch. He was clearly experienced in roping and consistently brought back a calf every few minutes.

Fortunately it wasn't a very windy day, because the horses and calves did raise a bit of dust!

Definitely the action was more exciting, but the back of the truck crew had fun watching! I was glad to have the opportunity to be there for awhile on the warm spring day. This was the first time our ranch had done the calf processing the old-fashioned way, as far as anyone could remember (although I didn't ask Lee, and he would be the one to ask!). I guess it's time to go practice my roping skills so next year I can help out ;)