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| Used dry ice here for 30+ years, until last year. Had a bunch of heifers and didn’t want to make a two day affair of it so tried liquid nitrogen for the first time. With dry ice we shaved, brushed with alcohol, sprayed with alcohol just before applying iron. A person had to put some arm into it too, like 30 pounds of pressure. Time iron was applied depended on hide, black 55 seconds, red 60 seconds.
The liquid was much quicker, 20 seconds for black hides. Also it made the irons so cold they “stuck” when applied so rarely did anyone slide off if the heifer shifted.
With the ice we always figured 2lbs/head. But we were doing 100 plus at a crack so they sat over dinner hour just evaporating. If something should come up in the middle of branding or you take a break, cover the ice container with a tarp and get it out of the sun. Can’t really see a difference in the outcome of the brands using liquid or ice so going to use liquid again this year.
To school of hard knock: we were warned that applying liquid for too long would indeed burn them and turn out like a hot iron. We tried a minute on a few chars to see and sure enough they read just like a hot brand, no hair growing. I wonder if the ones in the sale barn you see get clipped every year? Was told if a fb wasn’t very bright to shave it. Was supposed to grow in white hair thicker, not sure though as I just read the tag if the brand is that illegible. | |
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Freeze branding with dry ice
