Questions about Branding

[LauraleesFarm]

Update:

I got my brand registered with the county.

My brands are here. I bought a 3" x 1/4" for the weaned calves, and a 4" x 3/8" for the adult cows.

Now all I need to do is use it ! Which I am planning to do when we start working the cows this spring.

I will take pictures of the brand and post, if I remember.

Thank you all for your help!

 

[prairietrail45]

I bought an iron from Husky back in December (registered my brand with the state first) and used it on a few 650 lb heifers. I ordered a 3 1/2" x 3/8" iron and I think it worked great. One letter is enclosed (a P) but they made it open at the bottom of the P so it wouldn't blotch. The brands still look great on the heifers and are very legible. I was very happy with the iron I got from Husky, it arrived within a week of me ordering it, heats quickly and seems to hold its heat well. It is also fairly easy to hold and easy to hang up in between animals.

I took a picture of the last heifer that I did and can post it if you would like to see how the iron did.

 

[M-5]

I bought an iron from Husky back in December (registered my brand with the state first) and used it on a few 650 lb heifers. I ordered a 3 1/2" x 3/8" iron and I think it worked great. One letter is enclosed (a P) but they made it open at the bottom of the P so it wouldn't blotch. The brands still look great on the heifers and are very legible. I was very happy with the iron I got from Husky, it arrived within a week of me ordering it, heats quickly and seems to hold its heat well. It is also fairly easy to hold and easy to hang up in between animals.

I took a picture of the last heifer that I did and can post it if you would like to see how the iron did.

please post we like pictures

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

My freeze brand just got registered by the WSDA, and it shipped today out of pittsburg texas.

Left hip cattle and horses.

 

[LauraleesFarm]

How funny, I am 10 miles from Pittsburg, Tx! whodathunkit

 

[prairietrail45]

Ok, here's a picture. Took it right after it was done. I think I may have touched it up just a bit after the pic was taken, but can't remember. So far it is still there and looks to be healing nicely. Any tips or suggestions if anything looks wrong would be appreciated. I chose to do it up higher on the hip because when I took the beef quality assurance course through KSU one of the topics went over brands and where to place them and they said it was better to place hip brands up higher on the hip rather than down lower.

 

[m&kCattle]

Hard to tell from pic, but looks like you couldve left it on a touch longer. Clip the hair back first would also help. Watch moving the brand from where it was registered, it makes a difference.

 

[prairietrail45]

It's registered for the left hip, they didn't have any specifics on where on the hip so I should be OK. I'm pretty sure I put it on a little more right after I took the picture. My step dad was there watching, he's branded lots of cattle, and gave the OK on each one once they looked good. I am going to clip the hair next time, I had one that was very fuzzy, I had to go through about an inch of hair just to get to the skin! They are all starting to peel now and so far looks like they don't have any regrowth of hair where the brand is. I really don't want to end up with blotchy brands or nasty scars on them. I've seen cattle at the sale that just have a big bald patch where someone tried to brand them and I definitely don't want that.

Once all my spring cows are done calving I'm going to brand all of them as well. I probably need to call the state to find out for sure, but if I have an older cow that has a brand on her left hip can I still brand her? The existing brand is very hard to see, even in the summer, you can just barely make out the outline of it. I am assuming I would have to place it on the hip where it won't look like I am trying to cover up the old brand.

 

[LauraleesFarm]

We finally got to work our heifers and use our brand.

You may have to use control/minus to downsize the pictures if they are too big on your screen.

 

[LauraleesFarm]

Does anybody have a comment for the pictures I posted of our brand in action? Big illegible ugly blotch? No? Yes?
After all that discussion I was anxious to share these pictures and hear your thoughts.

 

[Rafter S]

It's a nice clean -looking brand. What do you call it? I assume it stands for something?

 

[LauraleesFarm]

It is a twisted W. Our last name is Wall.