2008 was the second Annual Birdsville Bronco Branding, and one of the highlights of the year. It hasn't become a huge tourist drawcard (yet) but is very popular with the locals. Teams come from stations all over the entire area, some as far away as Murnpeowie Station, more than 600 km south in South Australia. There are various events such as the calf riding, colt riding, a woodchop event, and the bronco branding itself.
The bronco branding entails a team of four, one person on a horse to rope a calf and pull it over to the bronco panel, a specially constructed fence arrangement, one person helps push the calf against the panel while another ropes one of the calf's front legs, and the fourth ropes the calf's back leg, both of which are tied to the panel. When all is secured, the calf is pushed over sideways whilst one person runs for the paint branding irons, dashes back and marks the calf, and then returns the brands to the paint pot while the calf is released. The first calf must be roped within 2 minutes, and they get six minutes to rope and brand three calves. The best teams can do it in less than this time, but quite often teams are disqualified for not lassoing their first calf within two minutes. The calf must be roped by throwing the rope forwards over the horse's neck, and it must be cleanly over the calf's neck — sometimes a leg gets roped in as well, this is a foul and the calf must be released. There are two judges who follow everything very closely, and award points for subtleties that are beyond me. There are quite a few women who compete in the teams as well, they breed them tough out here ....
I helped out in the food trailer both evenings, so missed a fair bit of the action, but the colt riding was pretty full-on — they were smallish horses, but boy, were some of them mean! I looked up at the bangs and crashes that were coming from the enclosure, one guy got thrown off into the fence and then the horse fell into the fence almost on top of him. He said later that he hadn't wanted to wear the helmet the organisers insisted on, but was very glad of it after that. Patrick, the Irish mechanic at the servo had a go, he said later that he didn't think something that took 30 seconds to do could still hurt so much after three days!
First rope your calf .....
.... drag it over to the bronco panel ....
.... push it up against the panel .....
.... whilst the front and back legs are secured.
Push the calf over ....
.... apply the branding paint ....
.... and return the brands to the pot.
The judges keep a very careful eye on everything.
The woodchop — chop the top off your log, dig a hole and plant it upright, then chop it down again at the bottom.
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