Cowboys

BRANDING TIME

In 1988 I was living in East Jordan, down near Shelburne, here in Nova Scotia. One night on the CBC TV News, there was a feature about a ranch in Alberta that was still rounding up cattle by horseback, branding them, and doing it all the old fashioned way. Back then I was shooting a lot of photos for stock and I thought that real cowboys would be a perfect subject.

So I managed to find their phone number, called them up out of the blue, and asked if it would be okay to fly out and take photos for a few days. They agreed right away – branding would be happening soon – and when I showed up, I was given a bed in the bunkhouse and ate meals with the ranch hands.

On the morning of the roundup, around 6:30 or so, pickups towing horse trailers began arriving. At least some 30 neighbours showed up to help. Besides being branded, the cows were vaccinated and the bull calves were castrated.

I was given a horse to ride. I had taken riding lessons as a kid, so at least I knew a bit about it. But taking photos from the saddle is another thing altogether. I was shooting medium format with a big Pentax 6x7, as well as 35mm. That was a lot of gear around my neck, with film and lenses in a bag over my shoulder, all bouncing around while trying to hang onto the horse. But what a great day!

The OH Ranch, also known as Rio Alto, is located near Longview, Alberta. It was founded in 1883 and is still operating today. The OH brand is one of the oldest in western Canada.