Freeze branding help

[Boundary Ranch]

IF there is somebody that does freeze branding on cattle, mostly black could you help me on the best times, i also use a brass iron.

 

[sw]

Hey there welcome to this forum. We freeze brand all replacements. If you go back into the archives you can find discussions, even pictures of members freeze branding and hints to make it successful. As far as the time to do it, we have been doing yearlings prior to breeding for two reasons, they are marked permanently prior to breeding and the size is perfect for our chute. I have had people tell me that you have to do it when the weather is cold, BS, we do it in September with better results that when it is cold, less user fatigue. MSU does theirs after breeding and only does the pregnants, which makes sense but they have a silencer hydraulic chute so they cannot move. If you need more help, there are plenty on here that can and will help, there are some very good people on here, you just have to pick and choose. :wink:

 

[MN Farm Girl]

Got a question for you, is freeze branding better than the traditional way of branding??? Just curious.

 

[sw]

Freeze branding makes the hair follicles so that they do not produce pigment so the hair is white. It is not a legal ownership brand in Montana or any state that I know of, but you can permanently identify animals and you can read it from a long ways away. We do all cows and bulls that we keep

 

[MN Farm Girl]

Thanks for the info. I can see how it is more effective than the old way.

 

[Nebraska Sandhills]

A freeze brand is legal proof of ownership in Nebraska now. We still just hot brand the ownership brand though, and freeze brand the cows number on the hip.

 

[Hanta Yo]

IF there is somebody that does freeze branding on cattle, mostly black could you help me on the best times, i also use a brass iron.

Howdy, Boundary Ranch,

I brought up an old thread about freeze branding and pics and all. A lot of comments from ranchers, this should be helpful, anyway, I hope so!! It should be near the top, called Freeze Branding. If you don't get back on until later it will be marked in yellow

 

[Horseless]

Is the Hip a better place to put brand? How about the rib? Whats your preference, is it to avoid other brand? Or does it show better?

 

[kwebb]

The hip usually makes a better firebrand for me because you can really push it into the muscle there and get a good burn. On the rib, the calves aways squirm in the chute and it makes it hard because all you have to push against is that flexible rib.

I started branding the rib because I like the way that looks. But, I have switched to the hip because it's easier to get a good legible brand that way.