A cow, branded long ago with Chuck Feddes’ brand, passes through a gate as Jake Feddes, left, and Travis Kindred sort cows from their calves before branding on Saturday, April 29, 2023.
Jake Feddes holds his brand, a sideways ‘J’ next to an ‘F’ over a rocking line on Saturday, April 29, 2023. Feddes incorporated his brand ten years ago to differentiate his cows from his father’s.
A cow, branded long ago with Chuck Feddes’ brand, passes through a gate as Jake Feddes, left, and Travis Kindred sort cows from their calves before branding on Saturday, April 29, 2023.
On a flat pasture outside Belgrade in late April, a herd of 70 red angus cows and their calves were chewing on the bright green shoots of cheatgrass. The cows all bore a conspicuous mark on their right ribs: an underlined “CF”, the brand of Chuck Feddes and the Feddes Red Angus Ranch. The calves, most a couple months old, had no such mark.
The cattle looked up as a caravan of ranch trucks pulled into the pasture, and moo-ed towards the truck carrying round bales of hay. Chuck, his son, Jake, and two of their employees hopped out to separate the calves from the cows. It would now be their turn to feel the burn of the branding iron, a rite of passage familiar to the generations of cattle before them.
Jake Feddes holds his brand, a sideways ‘J’ next to an ‘F’ over a rocking line on Saturday, April 29, 2023. Feddes incorporated his brand ten years ago to differentiate his cows from his father’s.
