AUSTRALIA’S traditional method of branding cattle in the bush came to Mount Isa at the Show last week.
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Bronco Branding is a unique method of branding stock which has been practiced on most of the large stations throughout Australia.
This is not the first time Bronco Branding has been at the show but it was special this year as the event doubled as the national championships.
In Bronco Branding stockmen muster the mob, then a catcher rides into the mob and ropes a cleanskin calf from his horse. The catcher hauls the calf to the bronco ramp where leg ropes are applied and used to secure the beast to the ground.
The calf is then earmarked and branded.
In theory the whole process can take less than a minute though it depends on the skill of the ropers and the orneriness of the cattle.
Jesse Rosenthal, who runs the Bronco Branding in the Mount Isa Show said Queensland and South Australia dominated the sport and they shared the national championships in rotation each year.
“We put in for this year and managed to pick it up,” Mr Rosenthal said.
Mr Rosenthal said the sport had been around since the 1970s but had been practiced on stations since the early 1900s.
“This was the way cattle were branded on stations,” he said.
Eventually however the calf cradle came into being and the price of labour got too high, and the use of open or yard broncoing became virtually obsolete, and, along with that, so did the skills of the Australian stockman.
Mr Rosenthal said the sport of bronco branding kept these skills alive and the camaraderie between competitors was great.
“We all know each other a lot so it’s all good fun,” he said.
“We even had a state of origin between South Australia and Queensland.”
Unfortunately Saturday’s final events were rained but the event showed a new generation of stockmen and women were learning the ways of old including the art of greenhide rope making.
Competitors ages range from 7 year old to 86 years old with bronco branding being a family sport where teams can be made up entirely of family members.