Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Calf Table

OT, no beer for me that day!

About 7-8 bottles of water and ice tea though....

I've got that merit badge!

That said if you don't have to worry about anything I'd get beered up for sure!


No hair brands!

I'd like to loan out a couple of inches, but it don't work that way.

The eternal conundrum....



Not to hijack the thread but guess who had MULTIPLE chances to behave but still had to try out the new leash?
(aka gate chain...)

Haha!

Now that, is a chain. Our dog Rowdy used to wear out chain.

Has anyone here tried out electric irons?
If electricity is available, that's what we use - and if it isn't, I take my Honda EU2000 out. With this set up, we can average a calf a minute - assuming clean, fairly short, hair.
A proper calf table is like having 2-3 more good hands.

Yes Mark, we have not used the branding iron for years now, but we have an electric. We have a registered brand for Iowa.

Was around some electric irons years ago. I was never impressed, but I hear they have improved.

Worst was battery powered de-horning irons. You could boil coffee in the time it took them to warm up.

We got rained on when we branded the other day. Just turned up the propane and kept going.


It was just enough to settle the dust, but it can sure slow progress down if you cant keep your irons hot enough.

Nothing worse than getting low on propane and it's starting to rain.

yeah.....







Electric irons and hydraulic chutes rock......

2 irons. The M over bar is one, the P is the tuther.....

The ranch where I help out uses a calf table and electric iron. With a mixture of heifers/bulls we can do about 50 an hour if we have a very efficient pusher with good technique. In general that means me, but we always try to train some younger guys to do it. With brute force, they need a rest after 25 calves. With good technique, I can usually go for 2 hours straight with no break.

Potsy is right about good equipment making it easier on the cows and the crew. We have four working corrals scattered over about 15 sections in two locations plus the corrals at the house and it is not always possible to have the best equipment at each location. Not to mention the folks from town that want to haul off or vandalize things. We use squeeze chutes or calf tables when they are available and it is not a social event. We use propane burners or 55 gallon barrels with the top cut out and a hole in the side. No shortage of mesquite for the fire. Sale barn uses an electric branding iron. Took them about 20 minutes to brand a bull I bought the other day. Have a couple guys that help me and we get it done. Never developed a taste for beer and the whiskey and tequila wait till we get home. I'll rope your cattle all day long but when your working my cattle don't pull your rope off your saddle until I pull mine off first. Things have a way of getting western enough with encouraging it. Where do you think Baxter Black gets his material.

That M Bar P stacked is very similar to our brand. Ours is a Lazy M Bar L stacked same as yours.

Just a hint - if you cut a slot in the side of one of those 35 gal (more or less) plastic drums, and hang the electric iron inside, out of the wind - they re-heat a LOT quicker, and stay hot better. (Handy height, too)
We use a 5 gal bucket with about a gallon of ant hill sand to knock the burnt hair off the iron after every animal - just kind of twist the iron into it a couple of times - and you can keep up the speed.

We use a 15 gallon steel barrel to keep the wind off. see third pic

We use a discarded mini-fridge to keep it hot. Then store everything in there that is needed (branding iron, heavy-duty cord, wire brush, etc) for the next time or when we move to a different location.

If our electric is spitting hot, then we hold it on a calf for a count of 7, and that will be a perfect brand on the shoulder.

Sounds like you've got a good system Mark.

Mark, it works for us. Our various pens have been refined over 4 generations, now. (Damn, that's a long time )
Thinking back, the first branding I "helped" at was in about 1957. I'm OOOOOLLLLLLLDDDDDD !