Freeze Branding??

Last Wednesday, my friend, Vicki, told me that she was helping at the barn to freeze brand cows. Freeze brand? I thought, what is this? The cows are already living in freezing -zero temperatures. So my curiosity got the best of me and with my camera in hand, I headed to the barn. When I got there sure enough there was Vicki in the freezing coral shooing cows toward the barn. Inside the barn ,John and Brad were standing by the cattle chute. Now, in case you are city folk like me, a chute is a set of narrowly spaced cattle gates that have been setup to lead the cows down a narrow asle. When they get to the end there is a squeeze chute with a head gate in the front. This squeeze chute forces the cows to stop and once in position the cow hands can work with the cow (see the first picture).

Today I learned what Freeze Branding was and now I'm telling you! The cow, brown or black or red, is branded with a branding iron that is cold, very cold. The branding iron is immersed into liquid nitrogen until it is freezing, I can't remember the temp. While this is going on the cow in the chute gets a mini hair cut on the left shoulder and the left hip (that's Brad with the clippers in picture #2). Once the hair is removed some antiseptic is sprayed onto the exposed skin. Next the freezing cold metal is held in place about 2 minutes. This burns a brand into the skin of the cow. The third picture is of John Finegan applying the brand. See the smoke on the fourth picture, that is not from heat but cold! Burr!

Brad, the head cowboy around the ranch, told me that the freezing causes the skin to lose its pigmentation and when the hair grows back it comes out white! (He also said that it stings alittle but doesn't really hurt the cow). Brad said that this white brand makes the cows easier to recognize from a distance when the cowboys have to separate cows or bring them in for medical treatment, or any other activities where identifying specific animals is required. Guess it wouldn't work too good if it was a white cow! The placement of the brands is dictated by regulations and when the cowboys are riding the herds on horseback, they know exactly where to look to make sure this cow belongs to the ranch.

It's a pretty repetitive process. Vicki ushers the cows into the chute, Brad stops the cow in the squeeze chute, John shaves the left rump, Brad shaves the hair off the left shoulder, John and Brad apply the brands for 2 minutes, Brad opens the chute and the cow runs back to the corral. Another cow enters the squeeze chute and the process starts all over again. Now you, like me, know what freeze branding is all about.

After about 10 cows, I got bored and came back to the house. Guess I won't make a good cowgirl. Oh me...another lost career option.

Feeding Time

The first order of business for cowboys is feeding the livestock. Generally this is a three hour job from loading the hay, taking it out the the field, and distributing so every animal gets a share.

Today, I rode on with Henry, Frank and Kyle as they feed 720 cows. These cows are fed once a day with 15 bales of hay. Each bale weighs about 1200 lbs and measures 4'X4' square. The hay is loaded on the back of an open trailer using a fork lift. The trailer is then hauled to the field by a John Deere 8200 tractor. Three men run the feeding operation; one to drive the tractor and two to "flake off" the hay into manageable chunks.

Henry pulled up in front of the house about 7:30 am to pick me up and I rode in the warm and comfortable tractor cab. There is a radio, heat and a swivel cushioned chair complete with a cup holder for your coffee. It was a slow 2 mile ride to the meadow where the 2nd year calf cows were waiting for their breakfast. (2nd year calf cows are three years old and they are giving birth to their second calf.)

Once we got in place, Henry stopped the tractor and Kyle help me climb up on top of the bales for a great advantage spot for taking pictures. Frank climbed up and he and Kyle stationed themselves on the back of the trailer to start the days feeding. The cows knew what was about to happen and began crowding near the rear of the trailer. Strings were cut from the bales and the cowboys gently peeled off about 50 lbs of hay and slide it over the side of the trailer.

The cows pushed and shoved each other as they grabbed for the falling hay. The tractor continues forward and hay is pushed off each side as the cows hover nearby. New mother cows bring their babies but according to Frank, they just kinda play with the green stuff and don't really try to eat solid for the first two weeks of their lives.

It took about 30 minutes to distribute the hay in an orderly fashion. As each big bale disappreared, I would move toward the front of the trailer. At the end of feeding, I climbed back into the comfort of the tractor cab and we made our way back to the house.

It was a beautiful, frosty, and foggy morning as you can tell from the pictures. If you look closely in the picture of Frank you can see 4 calves playing near a momma cow a short distance away from the main herd. Wish you were here!