WATFORD CITY, N.D. — Every year at the beginning of June, a group of our friends from Bismarck and Dickinson load up and come to the ranch to help us brand our calves.

It’s become a tradition for them to help in the pens as a way to say thank you for allowing them to hunt turkey and deer on the place throughout the years. The gesture and the help are thoughtful and appreciated, but it’s not an expected exchange.

We would gladly have them out anytime for whatever reason. But every year for nearly 10 years or so, they have been making it work, no matter how much or how little notice we give them. They wake up early, load up their kids, and make the drive to sort, wrestle, ear tag and stand ready for whatever other task we might throw at them.

And then, when the work is done, all 10 or mor

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