Hello from the ranch!
It's been a busy season and the fact that the warm part of summer took its sweet time getting here made it seem like we had about a week of summer before we started seeing signs of fall. The low this coming weekend is supposed to be 26 degrees, so we'll be picking all the green tomatoes in a few days and bringing them in to ripen.
I didn't blog about calf branding in early June, when we actually did the deed, so I thought I'd blog about it now. We are thankfully a small operation, so we can handle our calves with four people.
The first thing we do is to get the vaccines and equipment ready. Calves need shots and what better time to give them than when the calves are strapped to the table? A small aside here--not everyone uses a table. There are many outfits that rope the calves and stretch them out on the ground for the crew to work on--vaccinating, branding, castrating, etc--however when the crew is small, a table works best.
This is what the table looks like from the side before it's laid down.
Here is how the calf moves into it as he comes through the chute. The table is upright and he thinks he can escape through the end. He is wrong, because there's a gate at the end.
After his neck and belly are caught with the clamps, the hinged right side of the table, along with the calf, are flipped to a horizontal position.
We put a rope on the top hind foot to keep the calf from kicking the guy doing the branding. I'm the rope guy, who usually wears gloves. Thankfully this rope is soft cotton to keep both me and calf from getting rope burns when he struggles.
We freeze brand, which is so much gentler than hot branding. Even though the branding iron is freezing the skin, the calves don't protest. A hot brand is a different story. To prepare the branding iron, we put the iron in a cooler that contains alcohol and dry ice, which react endothermically, creating a very cold liquid. The iron has to be in the cold liquid for at least five minutes.
After everything is set up, we run the calves into the tub, which leads to the chute, which leads to the table and the mistaken assumption that one can escape.
The calf is strapped to the table, the table moved to a horizontal position, and then the brander clips the hair off the branding site while the vaccinator gives the shots.
After all the calves are branded, they are released into the pen with their moms and they mother up. Mother, calf and branding crew are all very happy.
It takes a couple of months for the hair to grow back. The frozen area grows white hair. What happens if the calf is white? Then the branding iron is left on long enough to totally kill the hair follicles--a couple of minutes. No hair grows back and the brand looks like a hot brand.
And that's branding day for us on our small ranch.
I didn't blog about calf branding in early June, when we actually did the deed, so I thought I'd blog about it now. We are thankfully a small operation, so we can handle our calves with four people.
The first thing we do is to get the vaccines and equipment ready. Calves need shots and what better time to give them than when the calves are strapped to the table? A small aside here--not everyone uses a table. There are many outfits that rope the calves and stretch them out on the ground for the crew to work on--vaccinating, branding, castrating, etc--however when the crew is small, a table works best.
This is what the table looks like from the side before it's laid down.
Here is how the calf moves into it as he comes through the chute. The table is upright and he thinks he can escape through the end. He is wrong, because there's a gate at the end.
We freeze brand, which is so much gentler than hot branding. Even though the branding iron is freezing the skin, the calves don't protest. A hot brand is a different story. To prepare the branding iron, we put the iron in a cooler that contains alcohol and dry ice, which react endothermically, creating a very cold liquid. The iron has to be in the cold liquid for at least five minutes.
After everything is set up, we run the calves into the tub, which leads to the chute, which leads to the table and the mistaken assumption that one can escape.
After alcohol is applied to area about to be marked, the branding iron is applied to the skin for 45 -50 seconds.
And that's branding day for us on our small ranch.
This is so interesting! I'd never heard of cold branding before. It does seem gentler. How many head did you brand?
ReplyDeleteOnly 25. We used to do 80, but we got old, lol.
DeleteA very interesting post Jeannie. I too am glad you used cold branding, which I’d never heard of before. If only we knew what those calves were thinking after all that was finished...a rite of passage that might have them saying, ‘whew, that’s over now’! :)
ReplyDeleteWhatever they're thinking, they don't seem to hold a grudge--thank goodness. Some of these guys get pretty big. We had a cow recently that weighed in at 1,950 pounds.
DeleteCold branding sounds so much better. Thanks for the picture of life on your ranch. Have a great autumn season!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Callie.
DeleteLike I've said before, I always learn something from your posts. Glad to hear about cold branding and that calves don't hold grudges! Thanks. Have a great fall.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Virginia.
DeleteThis is fascinating! I didn't know about cold branding. Is it the most common way of branding in the US these days or just coming into general use?
ReplyDeleteIt's less common. More ranches are set up to hot brand. You have to have a special iron made to freeze brand. A hot branding iron can be made in a regular forge on the ranch by anyone with the skills. There are also electric hot branding irons. I think it's catching on, though, because it's less stressful to the animal. It's a matter of getting set up for it.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting! I like that you use the cold branding, too. Trying to figure out how I can use this information. ;-)
ReplyDeleteIf you need any details, shoot me an email, Patricia.
DeleteLoved seeing your process. I helped run a chute more than once, not for branding but for dehorning, castrating and vaccinating. You could send some of that cool weather south, it's still in the mid nineties in Alabama, very unusual for this time of year. Your posts always take me down memory lane from growing up a vet's daughter in Wisconsin. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bamakin. I don't envy you dehorning. That's a process. You must have some great stories from growing up as a vet's daughter. I bet your parent had some cold medical emergencies there.
DeleteJeannie, I learned something new. I've never heard of cold branding. And the pictures are so helpful to get an idea of what you're doing. Great post! Thanks for sharing:-)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Elizabeth. I really enjoy writing these posts. And so far, I haven't accidentally destroyed my phone/camera in the process.
DeleteThank you for sharing. This is a lot new to me. When I lived on the farm, we only did it like you would a white cow. When done one person applied an ointment on it.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Lori. I can see where ointment would be a good addition to the process.
DeleteSo fascinating! I didn't know about cold branding either. The entire process, with the table too, seems way gentler. Nice to see. Thanks for sharing life on the ranch with us, Jeannie!
ReplyDelete