Freeze branding

[CornishMaid]

I’m thinking about buying some irons and would like to know as much as possible so please hit me with any information. Dry ice vs nitrogen, prices, techniques, costs, the things you like to see when your freeze brander turns up. ?

 

[Blue.]

I do my own now so I’ll let you know what I’ve learnt.
Dry ice and alcohol .
Don’t leave the irons on too long,50secs for heifers 60 for cows,this is with my Holsteins some breeds will need longer.

I’d want my freeze brander to do an excellent job,good animal restraint is half the job.

 

[Ducati899]

Done our own for years,did always use dry ice but found better results with nitrogen,30 seconds per number whereas with the ice we found we needed close to a minute,then there’s the white ones that do need a bit longer

 

[Rossymons]

There is one chap who FB's the vast majority of my herds. He covers all of Cornwall and Devon and I mean all of it! He uses and only has used dry ice and he's been at it a long time. So there is probably something to be said for it.

 

[CornishMaid]

I do my own now so I’ll let you know what I’ve learnt.
Dry ice and alcohol .
Don’t leave the irons on too long,50secs for heifers 60 for cows,this is with my Holsteins some breeds will need longer.

I’d want my freeze brander to do an excellent job,good animal restraint is half the job.

Good animal restraint, would you not rely on the farm for this? Iv worked with cattle all my life and like to think I’m pretty good at handling them

 

[CornishMaid]

Done our own for years,did always use dry ice but found better results with nitrogen,30 seconds per number whereas with the ice we found we needed close to a minute,then there’s the white ones that do need a bit longer

Are they as good a brand? In my eye nitrogen’s cheaper and easier to handle but if it doesn’t give good results then there’s no point using it

 

[CornishMaid]

Done our own for years,did always use dry ice but found better results with nitrogen,30 seconds per number whereas with the ice we found we needed close to a minute,then there’s the white ones that do need a bit longer

Are they as good a brand? In my eye nitrogen’s cheaper and easier to handle but if it doesn’t give good results then there’s no point using it

 

[Ducati899]

Are they as good a brand? In my eye nitrogen’s cheaper and easier to handle but if it doesn’t give good results then there’s no point using it

I’ve found them to be just as good as ice

 

[Princess Pooper]

biosecurity. Don't expect to turn up at the second farm with dirty overalls from the first farm. It's not just about washing boots.
Our freezebrander is good with the cattle, he sees what chivvying noises we use and copies them. Nice and gentle as a starting point. We do ours at about 9 months old as that is when he prefers them and we can then see the numbers when they start to come bulling at grass and make a note of their cycles prior to housing for AI. So he has 2-3 sizes of brand, for different ages. He uses dry ice and straps an old watch to the crush for accurate timing.

 

[thewalrus]

Nothing worse than small numbers that are hard to read

 

[Princess Pooper]

Nothing worse than small numbers that are hard to read

They grow with the animal if they are branded young. This isn't the best of photos just because it is looking into the afternoon sun, but the size of these brands is fine as far as we are concerned. These are August/Sept 2018 born heifers which were branded on May 7 2019, photo taken in August 2019 just before they calved

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[Dairyfarmerswife]

They grow with the animal if they are branded young. This isn't the best of photos just because it is looking into the afternoon sun, but the size of these brands is fine as far as we are concerned. These are August/Sept 2018 born heifers which were branded on May 7 2019, photo taken in August 2019 just before they calved

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We've got some that we did at about six months old. As you say, they grow. The brands are massive. They aren't pretty but they are by far the easiest to read!

 

[Blue.]

Good animal restraint, would you not rely on the farm for this? Iv worked with cattle all my life and like to think I’m pretty good at handling them

Cattle can be very unpredictable when branding,some wild stock won’t even twitch but I’ve known some that just won’t hold still,very annoying when they move with the iron on.

If they move the quality of the brand isn’t as good,personally I’d like a squeeze crush but no way I’d want to travel to farms with one,there simple isn’t enough money in the job to pay for it.

 

[Scholsey]

Chap who does mine has a shirt metal 30mm thick Stainless crook with a 40-5mm ball on the end, you put it in their mouth and they spend the whole time chewing it and messing with it with their tongue so they don’t pay attention what’s going on behind them, brilliant tool, did 60 in locking yokes in 2 hours no trouble at all!

 

[Princess Pooper]

We hang tyres inside both sides of the yoke end of the race (it's not actually a crush, a yoke and race) so the heifers can't wiggle from side to side and Prince Pooper stands in front of them to reduce forward fidgeting and trying to jump.

 

[CornishMaid]

Cattle can be very unpredictable when branding,some wild stock won’t even twitch but I’ve known some that just won’t hold still,very annoying when they move with the iron on.

If they move the quality of the brand isn’t as good,personally I’d like a squeeze crush but no way I’d want to travel to farms with one,there simple isn’t enough money in the job to pay for it.

The only thing I thought was if there’s too much room to hang some tyres in the crush