Lost and Stolen Cattle
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Dave
Well-known member
I got to thinking about this issue and it reminded me of something. A few years back I bought a bull at a special breeding bull sale at the local sale yard. He was a papered bull with very favorable genetics. I also knew the breeder. No brand on him. Sometime during the next year a freeze brand started showing up on his rib. Fast forward a couple years and this bull decided that all people should be killed. Took him to the same sale yard I bought him at. The brand inspector wanted my brand papers on him. I didn't have any because the bull had no visible brand when I bought him. I explained to the inspector when and where I bought him. They looked it up and everything came out ok. But my point is it had been freeze branded and that didn't show up until some time later. A hot iron brand would show up as soon as applied.
SBMF 2015
Well-known member
My best friend and I were sorting a special bred cow sale one day. His neighbor was selling a handful of bred cows. Dan kept studying this one Angus cow. As she hit the ring I asked him what was up. "I think that was my cow" was the response I got. They sold her, he ran her back to the vet chute and sure enough there was a very plain DT tattooed on her ear. She still had his hand written ear tag, and was the only one in the group with a Z tag.
He got her back and the rest of the day we joked that stealing cattle in Illinois was still a hanging offence.
We just watched Hang 'Em High. Ahhhh, the good old days.
SBMF 2015
Well-known member
I use this cow picture when I lecture at the college about Freeze Branding. Its a pure bred Angus sale add. So we can assume she is tattooed. She has two ear tags, a Diamond D hot iron brand and a 40-22 FB. How she is standing you can't see her tattoo or ear tags. I can make out the Diamond D, but not as well as the 40-22.
The Charolais breeder that we get bulls from hot iron brands. Not bad in the summer, but almost imposable to read when they get fuzzy in the winter.
The Charolais breeder that we get bulls from hot iron brands. Not bad in the summer, but almost imposable to read when they get fuzzy in the winter.
Dave
Well-known member
This time of the year reading a brand gets tough. But telling that there is a brand is pretty easy. So if there is a question you just have to get them into a chute where you can get up close, fell, and even clip the hair if needed.
76 Bar
Well-known member
Knew what you mean't by "fell". LOL Be it via pizz poor design or application, goes without saying blotched brands are a nightmare.
Dave
Well-known member
Spell check doesn't catch it when the misspell is a word. I should proof read everything but I don't.
I have a cow who just showed up here. My cows have a blue ear tag in the left ear. B's cows out here have a yellow tag in the right ear. So we were driving the feed truck across culvert in the irrigation ditch. Met a cow. I said that is a mighty young looking cow for one of ours, but it had a blue tag in the left ear. Pulled ahead and I was cutting strings on the bale. That cow and another that is mine were standing side by side waiting for hay. Hmmm that young cow had a slightly lighter shade of blue. Then I see that she has a hand written number not a printed tag. Still haven't been able to get her standing right to see her brand. But I have ruled out 2 of the 3 neighbors so she is probably neighbor 3's cow. If not we will eventually get her into the chute and search for a brand.
