Question on brand?

[Salt Creek]

I bought some heifers this fall and branded them but they've been at home in corrals all winter and got a lot of crap built up on the brands. They look as if they are going to blotch up badly, and I was wondering if they don't clear up when they shed off in the spring can I brand right on top of the old brand and have it come out decent or should I rebrand a new spot?

 

[Faster horses]

You will definitely have to find a new spot.
What is the brand and how thick are the irons that you had
trouble in the first place?

 

[Salt Creek]

I figured so , thanks for the reply. By the way the brand has always worked well, thinks I should have waited to brand them when they were out of a crappy corral.

 

[Richard Doolittle]

If the hide was clean and dry when you branded them, then the fact that they've been in a crappy corral afterwards should have no effect on the brand.

 

[Faster horses]

I'm thinking the same thing. I'm also wondering if, for some reason, that brand burned through the hide. That causes big bumps (scar tissue) and always looks rather nasty. It does happen if the iron gets too hot, or is left on the hide too long.

Did you, by chance, have another person branding these for you, Salt Creek?

 

[Shelly]

I have a question, can you actually just stick your brand on a critter anywhere you want? When we register our brands up here, we select where we want to put them, and if no one else has that brand and in the same spot, then it becomes ours and we ONLY brand in that spot. What I'm getting at is Salt Creek asked if he should do it in a new spot, how can you just move a registered brand to some other part of an animal?

 

[Faster horses]

I think he meant to the side of the old brand, or below it, so that it remains in the same general area.

Heck, that's what I ASSUMED he meant. Good question, Shelley.

 

[sic 'em reds]

I'd hate to be the guy explaining this to the brand inspector when he holds the check on any cattle sold. Doesn't sound like a good idea to try to rebrand a blotched brand. Better call your inspector and possibly have him document it for future reference??

 

[Salt Creek]

Thanks for the replies, and the suggestions. And yes, I did have someone else do the branding. There were only myself , two of my friends, and one of them's kid and my buddy and his kid don't rope that well. I was thinking that between my coaching from horseback and not being able to see, maybe he burned through. We do have to register our brand for a particular area, but I figure I'll be fine just to the side of the crappy brand. I think I will do as someone suggested and call the brand inspector.

 

[Northern Rancher]

I'll come down with my irons and do a nice jb for you-a branding iron is one thing I'll lend.