The essential remaining task once the spring roundup had gathered the cattle was to brand the new calves. Cows with calves to be branded were "cut out" of the herd. The "cutting", or separating of each calf with its mother to assure identification, was performed by the most skillful cowboys with specially trained and highly prized "cutting" horses. In this manner, the herd was divided among its respective owners for branding. In this picture the branding is being done within the corrals of the Mount Royal Ranch, near Cochrane, Alberta. The desired calves were roped, separated from the "bunch", and then the red-hot branding iron applied.
