Freeze Branding – An Alternative Of Marking Your Cattle

One places a mark on the cattle he owns for ease of identification. This can be done by the use of tattoos, ear tags and branding. The most preferred type of identifying cattle is by branding – as ear tags can be lost, and tattoos cannot be read with ease.

There are different ways of branding cattle. The most popular method is hot branding. Yet there is also that other alternative – freeze branding. This will especially work best on dark colored animals – red, black, etc. With light colored cattle, one may have to leave the freezing iron for a longer time but with the risk of completely killing the hair follicle – it would be like mimicking the effects of hot branding.

Freeze branding is a method that results to a permanent form of identification - if done properly. It is easy to read over long distances. Also the damage to the hide will be to a lesser degree and so is the pain felt by the animals with this process.

Freeze branding has started to gain popularity in its use. It works by killing the cells that produces the pigment of the hair with the use of a special copper iron, or perhaps a bronze iron that is cooled to 100 degrees to 300 degrees. The freezing iron is slightly rounded and around 4 inches tall, 0.5 inches thick and 1 inch deep. These come in other sizes and dimensions though, so you can get the one you desire for your case.

The coolant one can use include dry ice or alcohol. One would consume around 1 pound of dry ice per branding process – but for initial cooling of your freezing iron, you would need around 10 pounds of dry ice. For alcohol, you would consume around 3 to 5 gallons for branding approximately 30 animals.

The area where the mark is to be placed should be prepared so that when the freezing iron is applied, it will directly touch the skin. Preparation would mean the use of brush and clippers to prepare the cattle prior freeze branding. It also means using alcohol to wet the skin of the cattle.

One should make sure that in doing the freeze branding procedure - animal movement should be controlled. Usually a good chute and a strong headgate are needed here. The right application of this process would also include considering the age & breed of the animal, and the type of coolant you will use in the freeze branding process.

In freeze branding, one should use protective & safety gear as gloves and goggles. The gloves will be useful in handling the cooled freezing irons that may cause frostbite. Goggles will be able protect your eyes. Keep in mind to always observe safety at each stage of the process.

With freeze branding process, the skin will swell after the application. In around 3 weeks, it will form a scab. In around 8 weeks, healthy white hair will grow on the area of the scab. With freeze branding, you have with you an alternative way of marking your cattle – and setting them apart from the rest with their distinctive marks.