Electric Shears for Branding

[bverellen]

Does anyone who shears the hair on their cattle prior to brand application have a suggestion for a reliable hand held shear?

I would require a make that would hold up to commercial use, 100+ head at a time. Brand, make, cordless, plug in, size of head, etc., real world use, not show ring prissy crap.

Thanks........

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[I luv herfrds]

Ok I just gotta ask.
Why would you waste time shaving the hair off the brand site?

We just put the hot brand on and the hair just burns off. Other then the stink, no problems.

 

[bverellen]

Good Morning!!! Thanks for replying.

Some of my cattle have a fairly thick coat and when we branded it tended to be a smeary mess. It should be less of an issue now that we purchased a squeeze chute. It isn't an issue at all on the shorter slick hided ones.

Shearing or clipping was mentioned elsewhere when dealing with heavy coats, and after looking and getting sticker shock at Jeffer's, I decided to get some recommendations before laying down money.

The old addage, "Buy quality and only cry once".

Thanks.

bart.

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[lavacarancher]

You're Jesse James, you can rob the train any way you want but shearing the hair off is a waste of time. Take hold of the animal's tail up close to the body, twist a little and bend it over their back as far as you can (without breaking it). Hit them with a red hot branding iron for about two seconds. It will burn the hair off and you'll wind up with a good brand.

Just a couple of reminders. If you already know this please pardon. If you are applying a topical wormer (Ivermectin, etc) brand FIRST then apply the pour on. Otherwise you may not have to worry about the hair because it will catch on fire.

The squeeze chute will help a lot. Good luck.

 

[2/B or not 2/B]

I hear ya about smearing the brand because of too much hair. We apply the brand in two hits. The first one is just to burn off the hair, only takes a second. Then we clean the brand by rubbing it in a bucket of sand and wipe it once with a wire brush. The second placement burns the hide nicely without smearing and just takes a second or two as well. We use electric. It goes fast and easy.

 

[Angus Cowman]

I do the 2 hit method also and always have
another problem alot of people have with smearing is putting too much pressure(pushing to hard with the iron) it doesn't take much force to get a good readable brand