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Do most ranchers still brand their cattle or only use ear tags?

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Longhorngary

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I'm a Greenhorn with a new ranch in central Texas. As part of the ranch purchase we obtained 15 non-registered mostly longhorn cattle. I've been reading up the past several weeks and plan to adopt a much more comprehensive ranching strategy than the previous owner who viewed the cattle as little more than yard art. Near as I can tell, the herd was left to their own devices for the most part receiving no vet care, and little to no supplemental feeding.

The previous owner didn't even have any type of corrals/chutes to work the cattle. Over the past several months, we've devised a rudimentary corral system. As we start the process of working the cattle, should we brand these cattle or just ear tag them for our own tracking. Obviously if we need to brand them, we will first need to come up with a brand and have it registered.

Thanks for any comments
 
First off, get rid of the longhorns and buy some good cattle. If you are growing grass you had just as well be paid the most you can for it. Look over the fence at the successful guys in your area. You will learn what works best.
 
Trust your neighbors but brand your cattle. Ear tags can and will come off in the brush and cutting one off by a thief is sure easy. Branding has worked as an identification for over 100 years. I suggest doing whats needed to register a brand and get it on them. Good luck to you.

And I agree with Gcreek about running the best quality cattle you can. Bad ones eat just as much as good ones. If you have a market for longhorns and can make money doing it, then giddy up. :)
 
BRAND!!! Ear tags are too easy to get rid of. If one is stolen with just an ear tag and sold, the only thing the brand inspector sees is a hole in the ear because the thief will cut out the tag. With a brand or ear mark, it is much easier to track and permanent.

Registering a brand is easy. Go to your county clerk's office and register one. The simpler the brand the better. Don't create one with lots of intersections (+, H, X, etc) as they end up as a blob.
 
Brand 'em! It is the only easily read permanent identification method for livestock. Ear tags will fall out and like previously mention, are awfully easy to remove.
 
PPRM said:
Most Ranchers do, many Farmers don't
Click to expand...

I'm to small to be a rancher but I brand to recover stolen cattle and tag to help me track what is going on in my 18 head herd!

In Indiana it cost $25.00 per year to keep your brand on record - - - I feel like its a rip off but what can you do?
 
"
I'm to small to be a rancher" Bullsh*t!! You're a hell of a lot more rancher than some guys I know of with hundreds of cows. And another difference: You---I respect.
 
PPRM said:
Most Ranchers do, many Farmers don't
Click to expand...

So true & so sad. Last year Nebraska tried to make brand inspection state wide. It failed. Feedlots and farmers in eastern Nebraska fought it tooth and nail.

Do you carry home owners insurance? Id guess yes. You never know when your house will catch fire or a tornado hit. You may never need it, but I bet you have it. All the farmers claimed they didn't need it. If something was missing, they would all look and find where it was at by ear tag color, discription, etc. Well as far as I know possesion is 9/10's of the law. You can have a red white face critter with both back feet white and a green ear tag missing. You show up to my place and see that calf. I can say well I have one just like that, and that is him. What a coencidence!

At least in Nebraska, you can be in or out of the brand area and not need to brand. Ive sold slick calves. Yet if there is a question as to ownership its the "vin" number of your critter. If you purchased that critter from someone and have the brand papers, its like a title to your car.
 
I'm wondering how you could get Longhorns in a chute in the first place. Like the other guys said, sell those and get some good cattle, ones that will fit in a chute so you can brand them.
 
In Texas a brand registration cost $10 for 10 years. That does not mean 10 years from the date you register your brand, It is a 10 year span and I think it started 3 years ago. Also in Texas if you have a registered brand, by law you have to use it.

As for ear tags, they should only be used for ranch use identification.

As for long horns going thru a working shut, they will turn those fence tearing up horns sideways if they need to getting thru.
I used to own some that I bought from a roper, Since I got rid of them I fix less fence.
 
We do use a chute to brand any bulls we buy! But they don't have horns. Calves are gently roped and a Nord Fork is placed on the neck while the roper holds the back legs taut for quick shots, branding, and castration if required. They are turned loose and usually are mothered up and either nursing or leaving for distant parts of the pasture within five to ten minutes of being caught.

mrj
 

bringing in the last cut

my brands on the left side

little harder getting the calves cut

there some ear tags but cattle came off the mountain , timber, quakes, willows sage brush.... they still have a brand as tags get torn out

looking for brands

cut out brand going another way

my brand my property...
 
Not that I agree or disagree with branding but it's definitely a "here" thing meaning more determined by you location. I'm not opposed at all to it we just don't, guess that makes me a farmer!
 
When state Senator Davis was trying to make Nebraska brand area state wide, they had testimony sessions across the state. One guys headquarters was outside the brand area. Said they had pasture rented several counties west that was in the brand area. So anything that goes west gets branded. What stays home don't. Said they had never lost anything at the home place. Yet they have lost several out west. Never recovered.

Sometimes people say screw it when they take the cattle back east and don't inspect. Other times I think they just get missed, we are all human. They do shave some from time to time. It amazes me how the inspectors do what they do, as quick as they do. I had to think to myself, if it got stolen or missed then sold in a sale barn outside inspection area (in area every time change of ownership occours, they get looked at) that critter could of gotten purchased buy this guys neighbor that he drinks coffee with and goes to church with. That animal could be in the same section as his house, but with out inspection nobody knows.

Part of Nebraska's issue was also with several senators was with the speed of transportation, and states like Iowa, Kansas, and east river of South Dakota being non brand it don't take long to get out of the area....so whats the point. Well the paragraph above is the point.
 

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