BRANDING — Roping & Stock Handling Techniques
in the Great Basin & Old California Traditions
Traditional Stockmanship Series: Volume 1

Incredibly photographed, this documentary style instructional piece takes viewers deep into the world of the buckaroo at work, branding cattle on the western ranges.

David Weaver and Gwynn Turnbull Weaver have compiled this rare opportunity for viewers to be "a fly on the wall" at a series of authentic, real life brandings in the "rodear style". David Weaver offers a lifetime of experience from the big outfits of the region while Gwynn brings the ethical relationship between horses, cattle and stockmen into focus. Their clear insights, learned in their decade long Ranch Roping Clinic tours prove to be a balanced, interesting mix of theory and application.

Peppered with actual interviews with some of the regions handiest cowboys, hard to get information is intricately woven into spectacular actual footage. Martin Black, Buck Brannaman, and Larry Schutte, to name a few, share their unique insights and opinions. More than just philosophy, this in depth masterpiece chronicles a way of life while educating viewers on the finer points of branding. From the peripheral details of gathering, size and shape of branding traps, where to put the fire, ground work and stock management; to the actual roping, setting up shots, dallying, running rope, pulling, managing calves at the fire, slack handling and the etiquette that saturates it all. In addition, there are tips for handling green horses through the ever changing situations of the branding pen, as well as information about the signature rope of the buckaroo; the rawhide reata.

Set against the strikingly beautiful high desert vistas of the Great Basin and the oak studded hills of California, this video is a must have for all who hope to achieve true handiness or anyone enamored with the West and its time honored stockmanship.