I woke early enough to hear every rooster in Kikongoni crowing just as the sky was beginning to light up over the hills in the distance. Arriving at Ormondere’s boma, I found several women out milking and a couple of men standing wrapped up in their rubegas against the cold. Balozi and Lekoko, my two helpers, stumbled out of their houses muttering about ‘sweet sleep’, found the branding irons and we set off for Orlakaswai’s boma where the cows are kept. It was a cold clear morning.
There was no wood to be found so a fire was kindled using dried dung around which several young boys gathered to warm themselves while the men of the boma all stood wrapped in their blankets at the boma entrance and discussed the various cows that were to be branded.
As the small herd of youngstock, including our heifers, came within striking distance of the boma our animals were singled out. Stealing cows is still common and where people rely so much on income from their livestock, it’s vital to 'insure' their belongings by branding them.
When the irons were hot in the fire a heifer was taken by the head and the tail and with a twist of the head thrown onto the ground and pinned down by the neck with a hand inside its mouth firmly grasping the lower jaw. The back legs were then tied together and another person leant against the body holding the tail which was pulled up between the back legs.
The first marks were made under the eyes around the face and over the bridge of the nose. This caused the animal some pain and to distract it the person holding the tail would slap the sides of its stomach hard several times and say something comforting in Kimaasai.
I was trained in agriculture and enjoy sharing knowledge and insights into cattle and I have come to respect these people whose whole lives are based on their stock. It is amazing that from a very early age you can find small boys with a whispy stick herding flocks of goats and sheep in the middle of the bush. They have respect and care for their cattle and no fear although, from time to time people do get killed by their own animals.
Each of the animals received the marking of the Laiser clan. I had bought the right to use the Laiser brand from Ormondere, Nosikito’s father, for the price of a heifer. Thereafter he greets me by calling me ‘endaho’ (heifer) in Kimaasai and I, in turn, greet him the same way, showing that we have exchanged a significant present between ourselves and cemented a relationship.
As a final way of identifying the animals, they were all branded on the flank with a big ‘G’ to denote my ownership. This is done to deter the head of the boma, where the women are living, from selling the cows over their heads.
If a cow was a little frisky then a lassoo was made and hung along a stick and used to catch one of the back legs. Maasai always catch a cow by one of it back legs and then another man will pile in as soon as possible to catch the head and twist it around to put it on the ground. With bigger animals this can take some time and requires several people to join in until it is finally floored. One young heifer was very flighty and took off like a gazelle the minute it felt the rope around its leg. It jumped the thorn hedge and raced through the boma amongst the huts with a trail of young boys and murrans chasing it. It was quite a hew and cry until it was finally caught in the corner of the cattle kraal and dragged out to the branding area.
After the work, we drank chai and I paid off the young warrior from whom I had bought one of the heifers in the neighbouring boma. He had been forced to sell it as his young wife, the last of his late father’s nine wives in fact, had been in labour for four days. I increased the price of the heifer in order to help him out and agreed to give them a lift to the local hospital. He told me that she had been moved to another hospital and had successfully been delivered of a boy and that they were all home again and doing well.
As we left, the sun was well up and the main herd was making its way back from its early morning grazing towards the boma to be milked.
