• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Freeze branding???

Help Support Ranchers.net:

S

SCMO

Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2005
Messages
10
Reaction score
0
Location
SCMO
I am going to start freeze branding and I have 2 questions.
1 When do you brand cattle age wise. I'm in a possition to brand last springs calves now. Is this too young?

2 Can you brand bred cows or can this complicate pregancies? I have a spring and fall herd.
If I am unclear please say.
Thank You and Happy New Year. J
 
I am no expert, so I will say, call your local vet. If he or she does not know , they should know someone who could answer your question. Personally, we Hot Brand everything.
 
We will be freeze branding our spring '07 replacement heifers in the next week or two. We usually try to do the heifers between 10-12 months of age.

You can brand your bred cows without complicating pregnancy. The only thing with a bred cow is you wouldn't want to try and freeze brand a cow that will calve in the next few months as jostling her around and squeezing her down in a chute could cause her to slip a calf.
 
You remove the heavy winter hair coat to freeze brand them. I tried it once and couldn't keep my clipper blades sharp. Was a real pain and took a long time.
 
We do ours after bangs vaccinating them, between 10-12 mos. (We fall calve so that is Sept-Oct) They are still slick from summer so you can get the hair clipped to the skin and as cedardell says, saves on the blades and on time. We've been doing heifers every year, for the last 13 years so now all our cows are freeze branded.

When we spring calved, we would do heifers in the spring just before breeding. Hope this helps :)
 
Hanta didn't you guys have a thread that showed your freeze branding?
I will try and search for it.
 
the trick to good freeze branding is to have clean cattle , use surgical blades on the clippers, use 99 % alcohol and follow recommended contact times . We had the best luck branding yearling cattle. I found that if you can brand a spot on the animal where they are always rubbing, like the neck, you will be able to read the brands much easier. Try to avoid the flank area if at all possible. Another spot that work ok is the jaw,but you may have a little trouble holding the animal secure.
 
In regard to the age , try to avoid branding calves under 6 months of age . The brand will grow with the animal and may be hard to read as a mature animal because it will be too big!!
 
jkvikefan said:
the trick to good freeze branding is to have clean cattle , use surgical blades on the clippers, use 99 % alcohol and follow recommended contact times . We had the best luck branding yearling cattle. I found that if you can brand a spot on the animal where they are always rubbing, like the neck, you will be able to read the brands much easier. Try to avoid the flank area if at all possible. Another spot that work ok is the jaw,but you may have a little trouble holding the animal secure.
Click to expand...


We put ours on their left hip.
 

Latest posts

Top