REAL Cowboys

[cqaigy2]

I know that a lot of the stories are reminiscent but my understanding is that modern branding is done via liquid nitrogen.

At least that's how it's done for horses here in Aus.

Not an expert here, my dad was a brand inspector in Washington state USA. From what i remember from him, at the time. Hot brands, some are electric, propane/butane and some still us wood. Cold brands were problematic with cattle, probably because of application errors like not leaving on long enough. I'm guessing when branding horses, you probably not branding as many as compared to branding a pile of new calfs. But this is ancient information from my youth, so could be wrong now.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

My cousin used to train mules. Said he would rather be on a mule than a horse.
hugs, Brandi

My Dad told me that a lot more people rode mules in real life, than you would ever believe from watching the movies. I know that "Festus" rode a mule, but I'm sure it was for comic relief. He (my Dad) said when he was little (during WWI) my Granddad had a beautiful matched pair of Clydesdale mules, and the Army conscripted them; they did pay him $800 which was a pretty penny in 1917.

 

[deserteagle71]

I know that a lot of the stories are reminiscent but my understanding is that modern branding is done via liquid nitrogen.

At least that's how it's done for horses here in Aus.

Not here in Nevada...branding irons heated by wood fire predominates...although some do use propane.

 

[grsthegreat]

Even back in the day (When i was working cattle 1980’s) , hot irons were used on cattle only. Nitrogen for horses. The nitrogen causes brands to be white ... shows up easy on horses. My donkey from blm land in nevada had a nitrogen brand. my QH mare out of oklahoma had a freeze brand. All my horses from Idaho have no brand.
funny thing. I had to get a brand inspector to give me paperwork for my 3 Fjord mares so I could travel to a show in wash and montana. He filled out the paperwork on one, took pictures. Then he looked at the other 2 and asked me why I cant use the same paperwork for all 3. No one can tell them apart.

 

[tallyho8]

Mules are very intelligent in that they will not do anything to hurt themselves, like falling off a cliff. In protecting themselves they are protecting their riders also.

I had a coon hunting mule in the 80s who was very smart. He was very short but if you led him to the back of a pickup truck he would jump right in. If your dogs treed about a mile deep in unfamiliar woods you did not even have to take a compass reading to find your way back. When you were ready to go back to the truck you just laid your reins on the mules neck and he would go back to the truck and never got lost.

 

[bindian]

I learned in high school ag class that freeze branding is less hurtful, overall, to the cow.
hugs, Brandi

 

[tallyho8]

One of my horses that came from Arkansas was hot branded. Our main 2 horses that we got over 30 years ago had their upper lips tattooed with their names. All horses we have had since have implanted microchips.

 

[Peter 315]

I have one horse that has a hot brand and a freeze brand...

 

[LouNY]

In Ohio I never remembered seeing a branded cow

Not many do get branded east of the Mississippi,
we also do not have brand inspectors going to many of the auctions and slaughter houses checking brands and paperwork.
Most of the time they are needed as much in the east as no one grazes on Forest Service or BLM ground and we have more fencing.
Every once in a while it would be nice when one or two disappear.
Some cows will get tattoos in the ear and some vaccines will issue a metal ear tag.

 

[MoKelly]

My neighbor uses ear tags as branding. He has a small herd of 300 or so but it goes pretty easy.

MoKelly

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Not many do get branded east of the Mississippi,
we also do not have brand inspectors going to many of the auctions and slaughter houses checking brands and paperwork.
Most of the time they are needed as much in the east as no one grazes on Forest Service or BLM ground and we have more fencing.
Every once in a while it would be nice when one or two disappear.
Some cows will get tattoos in the ear and some vaccines will issue a metal ear tag.

I don't think they brand them here much any more either...maybe the big ranches, like the Drummond Ranch. I recall back in the 1950's there was reputedly still some open range in the state, so it might have been practical then.

 

[oosik]

Yes - both my neighbors use ear tags. Less involved and less stress to the animals.

 

[grsthegreat]

Yes - both my neighbors use ear tags. Less involved and less stress to the animals.

Much easier to replace ear tag...than the animal is yours.

 

[cqaigy2]

Maybe branding is used more where there is more open range where cattle could get mixed?

 

[oosik]

You get caught changing ear tags - better have all your affairs in order.

 

[LouNY]

The ear tags are not meant to be a substitute for branding. The ear tags are for record keeping usually, with a look at an ear tag in our animals I know which cow is the mother and the calves birth date.
It makes it easy to track growth rates when weighing calves, yearlings, and when getting ready to slaughter. We can see what genetics are carrying thru and we track which bull is with which group and how well his genetics are working.

 

[deserteagle71]

Maybe branding is used more where there is more open range where cattle could get mixed?

Correct. Not many fences around here...one of the reason I love living in Nevada. So cattle from different ranches get mixed together. Brandings held twice a year - spring and fall. All the ranches have people "repping" at these brandings; a calf hanging around with a branded mother gets the same brand burned on it as the mother. The brandings are actually the two big social gatherings of the year for ranch folks.

My place is surrounded by BLM land on two sides; there's a corner there where, using a few fence panels, the cowboys make a corral. They do their gather, bring the cattle in by the corral and sort them, brand them, etc. My daughter, though I owned no cows, considered herself a "cowgirl" and would spend all day at the brandings helping out with vaccinating, etc. She loved it...as I said, a big social gathering...though I've sure the calves, especially the ones who were turned into steers, didn't much appreciate it!

Open Range = no fences!

 

[nikerret]

I have seen a few “real cowboys”. I‘ve done a fair bit of “real cowboy work”.

 

[lman]

Correct. Not many fences around here...one of the reason I love living in Nevada. So cattle from different ranches get mixed together. Brandings held twice a year - spring and fall. All the ranches have people "repping" at these brandings; a calf hanging around with a branded mother gets the same brand burned on it as the mother. The brandings are actually the two big social gatherings of the year for ranch folks.

My place is surrounded by BLM land on two sides; there's a corner there where, using a few fence panels, the cowboys make a corral. They do their gather, bring the cattle in by the corral and sort them, brand them, etc. My daughter, though I owned no cows, considered herself a "cowgirl" and would spend all day at the brandings helping out with vaccinating, etc. She loved it...as I said, a big social gathering...though I've sure the calves, especially the ones who were turned into steers, didn't much appreciate it!

Open Range = no fences!
View attachment 690087

I thought you had to put up a fence around your garden to keep the cattle out. My uncle lived in open range in Colorado and he had a fence around his property to keep the cows off it.

 

[oosik]

I fenced my 80 acres. Keeps the critters where they are supposed to be. The "open range" land around here has the county & state roads fenced off. Otherwise - it's wide open.