Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Freeze Branding Cows

Fellow here did that when I was a kid. Haven't seen it in years. Few people here brand their cows, just ear tags. Beef is not a big industry here either. miles

Freeze brands might be legal as an ownership brand here now.

Done plenty of cattle and it is a slow process. Never took 10 minutes, maybe half that.

Tndrbstr, I might be interested in your irons. What are you thinking?

Years ago, some of us got together and got some of the mustangs that BLM was offering for "adoption". That was a waste of time and money as far as I'm concerned. They were freeze branded, and I saw some horse traders doing their damnedest to try and hide those brands, so they could pawn one off on somebody. My old gelding has a ranch brand that was put on with an iron. It's funny because when my friend owned him, he roped all over this part of the country with ole Duster, and everybody came to recognize his brand. My granddaughter rode him in a 4-H show, and a woman came up to her and said "I don't know you, but I'd know that horse anywhere, because he's the only horse in western Kentucky with that brand". Brands are one thing you hardly ever see around here.

Well men, the cows are freeze branded, now wait till the hair grows back in to see how well it worked.

Dewlaps were common here, not brand inspection areas but used for identification and age before ear tags. Showing my age

For freeze branding, we trim hair as close as possible with a shaver. Use a squirt bottle to hose it down with pure alcohol (don't use standard stuff as there is too much water and it steams off without branding well). Then hold the cold irons on for 20 to 30 seconds.

In a squeeze chute, we average about 15 head an hour. Keep those irons cold! If they aren't cold, don't bother trying it to speed things up as it won't work.

On a black angus, you can read numbers all the way across the pasture. And ear tags are irrelevant if they fall out anymore.

I checked the irons that I have out again. They are 4" instead of 3". If you think you might be interested in them shoot me a PM. I don't need them and I'm open to offers.