Basic Freeze Branding

[Mr.pacojack]

We freeze branded some dogs today and I thought some of you might want to have a step by step. This is just the way I do it so if some of you experts would like to chime in, I would certainly welcome it.

The things I use is
91% Isopropyl Alcohol
Electrical Tape
Coffee can
Liquid Nitrogen
Brand
Leather gloves
Clippers



Next I poor the liquid Nitro into the coffe can and put my brand in it, liquid nitro must cover the brand. The brand will bubble and boil when it has stopped it is ready to use.



Shave the area you wish to brand and the closer the better.



While one person is shaving the other can take the electrical tape and tape the dogs mouth shut. Just for your saftey. It does not hurt the dog but they sure think it does.



I like to have 2 guys helping me and myself. One person to hold the head and front legs and the other to hold the rear end and back legs. If you hold the dog very still you will get a better brand.



Pour the Alcohol on the shaved area and rub it in a bit making sure the whole area is wet, this will give you the best brand possible.



Be sure the dog is immobilized and very quickly take brand from coffee can and firmly press brand on shaved area and start timing, rocking the brand back and forth and side to side. Do not move the brand or you will get a shadow effect.



I went about 10 seconds on my dogs but my brand it pretty thick and really holds the cold.



When your time is up you should have a crisp clean brand.



In a few minutes the brand will disappear and you will jsut see a red outline of your brand. The next day you should see it very well and it may blister up like if you get a burn on yourself. Do not put ointment of any kind on it.



Just a side notes.
If you leave the brand on too long it will burn them like a hot brand and the hair will not grow back. You may or may not have a white outline around the branded area. I will do this on a white dog or a very light dog and then it will show up.
Remember this is how I do it and it works good for me. If you brand your animals do it at your own risk and don't blame me or Biggame houndsman, if you screw it up. Disclaimer.
Hope this was helpful for some of you. Enjoy, Devin

[Shorty]

That's funny, I just branded a bunch of dogs yesterday. I think people will enjoy the photos and the help. There is only one thing I'd like to add. My brand is rather small so I can put it on their ear. Making it this small requires it to be on the thin side. It holds the cold well but when using it with liquid nitrogen the brand comes out thin. So, I use mine with dry ice and alcohol. This calls for a longer brand time as it doesn't get as cold. When done this way my brand comes out thicker and shows up better.

What I guess I'm trying to say is to get to know your brand. The only way to do this is by trial and error. Keep good records of your branding time, location and the thickness of skin. Thicker skinned animals take longer branding times than thinner skinned animals. This is also true from one dog to the next. Obviously, some dogs are thicker skinned than others. Hope this helps.

By the way, I like the anvil brand!

[Big Horn Posse]

Hey Devin was this a brandfest and a breedfest? I noticed in the 5th photo down you have a dog mounting another in the background

[Mr.pacojack]

Thanks for the input Shorty. that is good advise. One thing to think about is a theif can cut a ear off. Just a thought.
Tessa, no this was just us branding, the one you are talking about is in Utah at the end of April at Poser's place. And yes Buster is breeding a Female from Wyoming this week.