Branding Ruminants

[cakadu]

branding cattle is a matter of choice by the producer Linda. It isn't mandatory to brand cattle, in fact I would venture a guess that a lot of producers don't own a registered brand.
I haven't branded my cattle in years, they are purebred and are tattoed, and are pastured at home so I am not overly worried about having to identify them in someone elses bunch.

[cowman]

Surely in this day and age we can come up with a better solution than burning animals? No matter how you view branding, everyone should realize how cruel it looks to the urban consumer?
Now maybe PETA has been a little slack in getting that message out? The cattle business has sort of got a free ride as the animal rights people focus on factory farms?
So if you want to practice various cruel practices on your animals you really shouldn't broadcast it too loudly, or you might get PETA knocking on your door!

[cowman]

branding cattle of course stems from cattle being grazed on open ranges where no-one used BARB WIRE ! I have sat in auction barns and seen some of the horrific messes people have made of branding cattle. Frying is more like it. There has to be a better way of identification.

[WoolyBear]

I did a search last night about " How to Brand Sheep" and came to an Austalian site. They use a "brand" on their ID tags that I would consider equivalent to our "Canada" mark that is on the RFID, barcode, and the Pink sheep tags. Surely to goodness this should be sufficient.

Maybe the USDA should test brand themselves just like police officers have to experienc tazers and pepper spray. <grin>. I've been burned enough times to know what it feels like.

[pandiana]

As those of us who tattoo and/or have hairy animals, tattoos, RFID's, pink sheep tags, all require restraining the animal and searching for the ID (good luck required in some cases). It seems to me the branding was to provide a highly visible mark on pens of animals to make sure they were in the correct pen...reducing mistaken identity in the feedlots. Also, as we know tags fall off.

[ALICIA]

I have one animal in my herd that has a brand on her hip and the only time you know that she has a brand is in the summer. Even then it is not that visible and you realy can't make it out. I think the first leter is a C but the second letter could be a N or B.

[pandiana]

One has to wonder who makes these rules? This could be because the rules are made by non-farmers, or beurocrats that have never been within a block of a sheep, or, this is a clever way show that they are complying with OIE guidelines and that sheep can be imported by the US but then they make rules are impossible to comply with.

[kato]

How about processing the sheep here and shipping the meat? Problem solved! LOL

I can't imagine how you would ever brand a sheep. I guess a black faced sheep could have a little bitty freeze brand on the cheek, but that's about it. Hardly a solution, I would think. It seems like one of those impossible requests designed to make it so difficult that no one bothers.

[cakadu]

How many federally inspected plants are there that process sheep? I know of the old Canada West, now Sunterra, here in the West. I'm not sure if any of the other Western provinces have a federal sheep facility. There was one is Saskatchewan, but last I heard it had run into trouble and I don't know if there are any others or not. There must be at least a couple out East, but where I'm not sure.

It shouldn't just be sheep that we kill here and sell across the border; we should be doing it with all the species and keeping the value of the animal here. Production is not where the money is made - it is made further down the line.

We have to start producing what will sell, not sell what we produce.

[pandiana]

I agree with your comments on processing our own, kato. But here we are back where we started from...limited packing facilities monopolized by one owner.

As cakadu said, the strength of Canadian lamb market was the the US was the major buyer. Post BSE (not post scrapie a sheep disease which is still believed not to be directly related to BSE), markets have totally collapsed. Many, many sheep herds have been dispersed with ewes going for $20.00 or so. Because this was a smallish industry it has fallen through the cracks. Sheep producers are not that important to the economy.