Branding in the Badlands

Western wheatgrass sways in the wind, flowing like the manes and tails of the horses striding across the pasture. They’re aiming toward a brown and black herd of mama cows and their calves that are being pushed into corrals for the spring branding on the Mill Iron S Ranch south of Kyle, S.D. Neighbors near and far have gathered to not only lend a hand to work, but to catch up with friends and family. 

“Branding brings the community together because everybody helps everybody else,” says Avery May, who runs the family-owned Mill Iron S Ranch, which was handed down from his father and his uncles, the May brothers. “I like to socialize and visit with everybody. My kids come, cousins come, and people that we only see once or twice a year, and it’s good. We have to neighbor together to get a full branding crew. We go to 20, 25 brandings a year and trade labor. We heel and drag because it’s tradition, but it’s also faster than using a table. It takes a bigger crew, but it lets people use their horses and brings in more community.” 

The May family are all involved in the event: Avery and his wife, Liz, son Bud, and daughter, Mary Jo Fairhead. Roles range from helping in the corrals to preparing the feast at the ranch house that follows a morning of cattle work. 

The May brothers began ranching south of Kyle, S.D., more than 60 years ago, and 50 years ago they began breeding Quarter Horses to replace the Morgan/draft crosses they were using to get the job done. Today, Dan May’s son, Avery, continues the ranching traditions begun by the family, including breeding Quarter Horses and raising hardy cattle. 

The May brothers purchased a stallion named Country Bill in 1960. The son of Leo was a rated Quarter Horse racehorse and became the foundation of the Mill Iron S breeding program, which has gone on to own and breed stallions like Night Time Shiner, who finished third in the senior working cow horse at the American Quarter Horse Association World Championship Show with trainer Robby Boyce, as well as National Cutting Horse Association Futurity finalist Ray J Boonlight. 

Today, Avery is riding his Catty Hawk son to gather and sort the mix of Black Angus and Hereford cattle. The family cross-breeds the black bulls on Hereford cattle purchased from Liz’s family in 2014 when they sold their ranch. 

The branding is a family affair, right down to the next generation of young men and women who ride out to gather and then assist by “wrestling,” or laying down, the calves for vaccination and branding. 

 “Everybody likes having kids riding and wrestling calves and all that,” Avery says. “We are getting ready for the next generation. All the kids that grow up here think they hate this place and have to get away. They go to the big city and come right back; they realize that what we have is a pretty good deal.”

In the shadow of the iconic Badlands National Park, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the rolling hills and rocky outcroppings make for a picturesque place to do a hard day’s work. The annual event draws friends from near and far, ready to do their part in continuing the traditional cattle work.

This article about the annual branding on the Mill Iron S Ranch appeared in the Summer 2024 issue of Western Life Today magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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