hot branding ?

[wildsawmill]

so im thinking of branding my cows. when they go next door they are hard to pick out esplesly when they lose the ear tag this has happened several times through the years.
so i helped brand caves some 30 years ago but i have forgotten
put iron in fire is it soposed to be white hot?
how long to hold iron on hide ?
how hard to push?
do you only brand one then put back in fire?
when we did this years ago nothing was put on the brand after wards is this still the procedure?

i realize ill have to regester my brand with state
thanks for your help with this decision

 

[wildsawmill]

oh im thinking of a fist with 3 arrows from my family crest for brand

 

[suzorse]

your brand needs to be open kind of as small closed brands blur , 3 arrows will work but I do not know much about a fist it would not show up as one, I have a freeze brand myself, but your iron will glow red I do not know on time to hold on calf so can not help you there
Suzanne

 

[wildsawmill]

thanks so were should i go for more branding technech info

 

[429421blkangus]

Hold the iron on the calf with light pressure, you don't want to push too hard, and be careful when the calf jumps because it will blotch the brand. Too hot of an iron will burn too much of the surrounding area of the brand and make it kinda "blurry". You want to hold the iron on until the hide under the brand turns kind of a cherry red color, once you see it you'll know what i mean. Try and keep knocking the burnt hair off the iron to keep it hot. We usually put the iron back after one calf, at alot of the rope and throw brandings that i rope or wrestle at they will do a couple calves with an iron, but there are alot of calves getting done and usually the brand quality isn't very good. Hope this helps.

 

[TexasBred]

so im thinking of branding my cows. when they go next door they are hard to pick out esplesly when they lose the ear tag this has happened several times through the years.
so i helped brand caves some 30 years ago but i have forgotten
put iron in fire is it soposed to be white hot?
how long to hold iron on hide ?
how hard to push?
do you only brand one then put back in fire?
when we did this years ago nothing was put on the brand after wards is this still the procedure?

i realize ill have to regester my brand with state
thanks for your help with this decision

Unless you just enjoy cowboying and have plenty of help I'd run them thru a chute and use and electric branding iron.

 

[wildsawmill]

ok thanks

 

[Stocker Steve]

Unless you just enjoy cowboying and have plenty of help I'd run them thru a chute and use and electric branding iron.

Better than freeze branding?

 

[3waycross]

Unless you just enjoy cowboying and have plenty of help I'd run them thru a chute and use and electric branding iron.

Better than freeze branding?

Anything under a yr freeze brands pretty well and sometimes older. But for calves i have gone to an electric. Unless they will be showed!