H5 Ranch work day

It was time to gather the cows up and work on them. They got vaccines against respiratory diseases, a virus that causes severe diarrhea, and a group of bacteria called Leptospira that can cause all types of different diseases. (The adult cows get these in the fall.) Everybody also got a vaccine against pinkeye, which is caused by a bacteria spread by flies. This was the first fly tag for the calves, so they got a new ear piercing. The cows all had fly tags last spring. We used last year’s piercing holes for the new tags. It’s sometimes a little hard to be sure we get back into the same hole, but it’s worth it to not put “extra” holes in their ears. Between the vaccine and the fly tags in their ears, these cattle are pretty well protected against pinkeye! They also get dewormed and if needed we brand them.



 

First we gather up all the cows and put them into the working pen. Then one by one we send them into the grey weighing station. It has digital scales in the grey box and tell us their weight so we know how much medicine to give them. Maci is hollers out their weight and we write it down and draw up the shot. 



 

 

Mauri Laken is writing the weights down and keeping all the paperwork straight

 

 

After that they go into the blue squeeze chute and into the head gate.

This is where they will receive the vaccines and ear tags.



 Gotta love our table, its a one of a kind piece lol

The Farmer is a hot iron branding fan but I wanted to go with the freeze branding. I talked him into it believe it or not and so that's is what we use. I'm not against hot iron branding my train of thought goes to I would rather someone hold an ice cube to my skin then fire. Crazy I know. 

Freeze branding uses a branding iron that has been chilled with a coolant such as dry ice or liquid  nitrogen. Rather than burning a scar into the animal, a freeze brand damages the pigment-producing hair cells, causing the animal's hair to grow white where the brand has been applied. Freeze brands cause less damage to the animals' hides than hot iron brands, and can be more visible on our Black Herefords.

 

 

To apply a freeze brand, all hair is shaved at the branding site. This is because hair is an excellent insulator, and must be removed so the extreme cold of the freeze branding iron can be applied directly to the skin. The iron, made of metal such as brass or copper that removes heat rapidly from the skin, is submerged into the coolant. Immediately before the iron is applied, the animal's skin is rubbed, squirted, or sprayed with a generous amount of 99% alcohol, then the freeze branding iron is removed from the coolant and held onto the skin with firm pressure for several seconds. The exact amount of time will vary according to the species of the animal, the thickness of its skin, the type of metal the branding iron is made of, the type of coolant being used, and the color of its hair coat. Because a freeze-branded hair follicle regrows as white hair, a light-haired animal will have a freeze brand kept on the skin longer than does a dark-haired animal, so as to eliminate the hair follicle altogether and allow bare .

This is our H5 brand and it goes on our bulls and momma cows front shoulder while their registered number goes on their back hip. skin to show the brand.



Immediately after the freeze branding iron is removed from the skin, an indented outline of the brand will be visible. Within seconds, however, the outline will disappear and within several minutes after that, the brand outline will reappear as swollen, puffy skin. Once the swelling subsides, for a short time, the brand will be difficult or impossible to see, but in a few days, the branded skin will begin to flake, and within three to four weeks, the brand will begin to take on its permanent appearance.

Rhett just wanted to hang out with Maverick and have boy time