98 Western Live-stock Management 
ent bunches. The corrals should be separated by suitable 
gateways, and the branding chute should also open from 
one to the other. If the two main corrals can be separated 
by one or more small pens, it will be a great convenience, 
since a few animals can be run into the small pen and there 
separated or run into the branding chute much easier 
than directly from a large corral containing a hundred or 
more cattle. When it is necessary to do much roping 
either for branding, castrating, or other purposes, a small 
branding corral with a snubbing post in the center will be 
necessary. The snubbing post must be heavy, set well 
into the ground, and thoroughly tamped. The height 
will vary according to the fancy of the user, but three to 
four feet is usually about right. The branding corral 
itself must be circular, without sharp corners or other 
projections. With any other shape the animals will 
crowd into the corners and may injure each other or break 
the fence, while in the round corral they keep going round 
in a circle and find no corners to stop them. For roping 
this is especially important, since if the corral:is of the 
proper size, the roper may stand in the center while the 
animals chase around the outside, giving him a fair chance 
to throw. With the rectangular corrals the cattle jam 
into the corners so that it is almost impossible to get at 
them with the rope. The diameter will depend tosome 
extent on the number of animals to be held, but for good 
work, forty to sixty feet will be found to be the best. The 
roper should be able to stand in the center near the snub- 
bing post and catch the animal desired as the bunch pass 
around the corral. Ii the corral is smaller than the limits 
given, there will not be room enough for good work; and 
if larger, the roper cannot reach all parts of the corral from 
the snubbing post. For general use the fifty-foot size 
