# Freeze Branding



## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

Freeze branded a dozen cows Monday. My first ones. Here's the details:

Liquid nitrogen used as the coolant. Poured it into a styrofoam cooler.
Brand digits are 4" with a 9/16" face.
Branded four digits and a farm brand.
Branded one digit at a time.
Branding irons chilled for about 20 minutes prior to use.
Clipped hair with a #40 blade.
Cleaned clipped area with 99% alcohol and a brush.
Sprayed more 99% alcohol on area to be branded just before placement.
Kept irons in place for 27 seconds.
Slightly rocked iron back and forth.
Once I squarely place the iron, I called "on" and my timer girl started the stopwatch. She counted down from 22 to 27 and called "off".
Digits used twice on the same animal chilled about 2 minutes between use.
Took about two hours to do the dozen.

The pictures are right at 48 hours post branding. The first two digits are the year model. The second two are her series number. The outline of the digits are more visible at 48 hours than they were at 24 hours. Within an hour after branding, the branded areas started weeping a pus. You can see it in the pictures where it has run down and dried.

The Charlois X looks to have some burn spots. Held on too long? Looks like uneven pressure to me. Looks like the bottom portion of the farm brand was placed on unclipped hair. I doubt that protion will turn white.

I have more cows to do but want to see how these turn out in case i need to make adjustments.

Anyone with experience in freeze branding? Any tips? It's a waiting game now.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Really interesting Bonfire, keep us apprised of your findings. Looks like a really nice job to me. Could you post some pics after the hair has grown out some so that we could see how that looks. No doubt you done your homework.

Regards, Mike


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

Vol said:


> Could you post some pics after the hair has grown out some so that we could see how that looks.
> 
> Regards, Mike


You bet.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

We used to do it when I was a kid, but used dry ice and alcohol instead of liquid N. They look good to me. You are doing everything right and just need some patience. Typically, you won't see the white hair growing out until around four weeks after you brand. Never tried freeze branding on a light colored cow......we ran all Herefords


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

Two weeks post branding. The branded area has no hair growing, feels thicker to the touch. Looks like its starting to scab over.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

Those look good!


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