Even for smallholders, marking or branding animals is required by law. If you become a livestock farmer, one of the first things you need to do is to obtain a brandmark that is registered in your name with your ID number.
Louis Steyl, chief operating officer at Bonsmara SA, shares his expertise on the process of livestock branding as well as the requirements.
Registering your identification number is the first step. Importantly, pay close attention to where and how you mark your animals after registration.
“There’s a couple of ways that you can do cattle branding. The most popular one is branding the cattle with your registered brandmark that you receive from the livestock animal identification registrar,” he explains.
Alternatively, there is another way which is used with larger livestock in the stud industry. That is the tattooing of animals.
“If you are a registered stud breeder, you can tattoo the herd designation mark, which is normally a three-letter word or symbol that you can tattoo in the ear,” he says.
Types and process of branding
Hot iron branding: For ease, use a different iron for each character of the mark. Get assistance from someone. The assistant must approach the animal and firmly grasp it. It will be simpler to brand if you have a crush pen. The iron should be hot enough until it turns yellowish. To check if the iron is hot enough, test it on a piece of wood.
Keep the animals from kicking you by knee-harnessing them. Take the first iron and slowly count to three while pressing it against the animal’s skin. Don’t push. Take the iron out. Do the same with the second iron. The third should be treated similarly, and so on until your registration number is complete.
Freeze branding: Collect the necessary tools, including gloves, 95% ethyl or methyl alcohol, 95% dry ice, ethyl, methyl, or isopropyl alcohol, an isolated container for the coolant, a set of copper or high-quality bronze alloy branding irons, and a set of clippers.
The assistant must approach the animal and firmly grasp it. It will be simpler to brand if you have a crush pen. Your livestock should be knee-haltered to prevent them from kicking you on the spot where you will brand, and shave the hair. Put the irons in liquid nitrogen or a spirit that has been frozen with dry ice to -40°C to freeze them. The irons are cold enough to burn letters into the flesh when the bubbles stop emanating.
Tattooing: Get assistance from someone. The assistant must hold the animal firmly while it is turned on its side. Place the characters in the tattoo tongs in the appropriate positions and order. Apply the tattoo ink to the desired body part (ears or oxters) while wearing a pair of rubber gloves to prevent tattoo ink stains on your hands. Press the tongs into the skin until tiny holes start to emerge. Ink the holes by rubbing them in, and the inking procedure is finished.
Where can the animals be branded on the body?
Animals can be branded any place on the body. However, if you are considering tattooing your animal, it must be in a place where there is no hair.
“The only two places you can really tattoo an animal is either on the inside of the ear where there is no hair or underneath the tail, but that’s very difficult so most prefer the tattoo method in the ear.
“If you tattoo in the ear and you have applied enough ink, then normally it won’t fade. A brandmark on the body will also not fade if it’s done correctly,” Steyl says.
If the brandmark was not done correctly and if you used an iron that was designed incorrectly, it would leave a big scar and at times make it difficult to distinguish the letter.
An immobiliser also helps to stabilise the cattle and avoid movement that can injure farmers.
“If you have good infrastructure with the kraal where your cattle are – essentially you will only need one person to brand the cattle,” says Steyl.
The benefits of branding
In the case of moving the animal, you need to have a removal certificate that confirms you are the owner and that the animals that are being transported match the brandmark that you registered with.
“You must also have a certificate that states that you are the owner of the specific animal, which shows the specific brandmark with the animal identification,” Steyl explains.
Branding is the only way to identify the animal as yours rapidly, unless you have to do DNA testing with other animals on your farm and that can take a while.
But the reality is if your animal is not branded with your registered brandmark and it’s stolen, there’s a possibility of not being able to identify them. This is despite the animals having tags that the stock thieves can just remove.
“If the animals are found with someone else and you can show that those animals belong to you then you can claim those animals back,” he says.
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