This morning, I read an interesting article in the LA Times on the controversy surrounding branding cattle. For those who don’t know, branding cattle involves pressing a iron “brand” into the flesh of a cow to produce a lasting scar that can be seen by people from a distance and is used to identify the cow. In many western states, cattle ranchers are required by law to brand their cows and register the brand with the state. All brands are unique, and most western states have brand inspectors that check the brands on cows before sale to make sure they have not been stolen, or accidentally got mixed in from a neighbors ranch. When you have a few hundred cows on the open range that is easier than you might think. I grew up on a ranch, and so never though anything of it.
Now, apparently there is a controversy about the practice. You can find out more at this L.A. Times article (Free registration required) . Here is a short snippet from the article
Now, I don’t want a debate over whether the practice is barbaric or not, and what the consequences of asking for branded meat would be, that’s for GD . And if you want to rant about either side, join me in the pit thread I will be starting shortly. Here, I want to see what the Teeming Millions can come up with as an alternative to the brand. The basic rules are that it can’t take more than 5 minutes to attach to the cow, it can’t cost more than $5 per cow(excluding initial setup costs), it has to uniquely identify the cow as belonging to the rancher, and it has be able to be read from a distance of 50 ft. Brands can be read from farther away, but I think 50 ft. is a reasonable distance. Oh, and it has to easier on the cow then branding. So no ear notches, full body tattoos, etc . . All ideas are welcome, but an actual replacement has to meet the above criteria.
Actually, if there was some form of dye that you could use that would stay on for at least 3-4 years, that would be practical. Even better than a brand becuase you could have fabulous brands! I would change ours to a rainbow Bar Broken Circle, so everyone would know that ours is a “family” operation.
Actually, there is an alternative to hot branding, called Freeze Branding. It kills the hair with cold instead of hot. The brand shows up in white on a colored animal. Most horses that are branded today are freeze branded.
Right, we use freeze branding on our horses. I assumed that a cows hide would be to tough to take a freeze brand but it appears to work. Advantages, it does hurt the hide, and the brand should show up well. Dry ice is relatively cheap too. The only disadvantages I can see is that it doesn’t work on white cows, and unless you have multiple chutes, it is slower to do calves. I don’t think the standard method of dropping a calf and two people holding it will hold it still enough. Also, I wonder how legible it would be when the cow gets it winter coat. If I was still on the ranch I would do it. Personally, I think a freeze brand looks about 20 times better.
It might be too expensive for cattle, but pets can be microchipped. A wee microchip is injected under the critter’s skin on the back of the neck. All vets and shelters have readers that cough up a code number when passed over the chip. The vet charges just over $100US to put one in, but ranchers might get a better price for volume and injecting it themselves.
Unfortunately, microchipping is extremely inefficient when it comes to separating cattle. For the same reasons that the OP listed above; it cannot differentiate between cows from even a short distance away, it would require a very close-rance scanning device which is difficult to do while riding next to a cow at a very fast pace (trust me). I think freeze branding is the only viable solution, but if I am not mistaken isn’t there a possibility that hair can grow back and obstruct view of the brand?
Here is a very interesting article on freeze branding that includes rates of failure and a picture as well. It would take training, because you just can’t take the brand and press hard, you have to get the pressure even. But it could take pretty quickly, were it required.
Also, race horses has tatoos under their ip that identify them. I can say from experience though that the tatoo often ands up illegible as the animal ages.
. All ideas are welcome, but an actual replacement has to meet the above criteria.