Branding photos added-Ranch Days held near Alma N.M. at McKeen Ranch 042418

Photos and article by Mary Alice Murphy

Ranch Days took place on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 24 and 25, 2018 at the Hugh B. McKeen Ranch near Alma, NM.

A special part of the event was a surprise awarding of the Outstanding Agriculture Leadership Award to Marge McKeen for her many years of support for agriculture, including more than 50 years as a 4-H leader. She knew about the award ceremony, which had taken place the weekend before, but had no idea the presentation would be done at Ranch Days.

Stations, where students could learn about various aspects of ranching, included the cannulated cow, where through a tube in the cow's side, students one at a time can reach in with a glove-covered hand and arm to take some partially digested hay out of one of the cow's stomachs, wring out the rumen, and discard the hay. The rumen is put on a glass slide, and the students can see through a microscope the bacteria found in the stomach.

Old farm equipment from the 1980s, led by Henry and Nita Imel of Glenwood featured a tractor and a hay baler.

Students could try their hand at shooting at a target, with Craig Painter or Steve Beck giving instructions, hear from Ernest Herrera about how cotton is ginned to draw out the fibers to make clothing and other fabric items, and watch as farrier Christin Sell or Vince Vesely created horseshoes from a piece of heated iron.

Herrera said 8,340 men's handkerchiefs can be made from a bale of cotton. The same size bale produces 21,970 women's handkerchiefs.

Robbie and Jody Birch of Gila talked about beekeeping; Doug Cram of NMSU discussed fire, forest and wildlife identification; Traci Curry talked about everyday agriculture and Pat Hunt or Cody Robertson discussed soils.

Dean Foster, Dusty Hunt and Larry Foster cooked the Dutch Oven biscuits, which were served with a drizzle of honey butter, from butter hand churned with direction from Judy O'Loughlin. Mule packing was explained by a member of the U.S. Forest Service from the Glenwood District.

A new event this year featured an electrical generating station set up at one corner of the field, where students could watch a demonstration of electricity arcing. It was put on by Navopache Electric Cooperative.

After a sack lunch of hamburgers cooked by Frisco Cowbelles, the students were treated to an ice cream bar.

The finale of the event featured branding calves in the corral.