Freeze Branding at the Bull Test

Today was freeze branding and breeding soundness at IBEP (Indiana Beef Evaluation Program). There were 75 bulls that made it through to be sale elgible...but they had to pass the breeding soundness exam first. You see... the whole point of having a bull is so he can breed the cows and then you have calves, which you can either keep (in the case of heifers) or make hamburger or steak (in the case of steers). So if your bull isn't able to his job... then you, the producer, lose money. And that is bad. Thus... we have the bull test.

The running of the bulls...

Once in the chute... they stop off for a hair cut. This will make a nice smooth surface to apply the IBEP brand.

Next stop- the breeding soundness portion. I'm not going to explain what is done here... other than to say it involves a probe with electical current.

Down in the pit, they collect a sample and check it to make sure that "things" are working properly.

Note: I am not involved with this part of the process. Ok- that's not true- I've had to wash the probe thing off a few times (NOT A FUN- or clean- JOB), so I try to stay at the other end of the shed where the branding takes place.

Freeze branding works the same as hot branding...but is a much more humane way of doing it. Liquid nitrogen is used to cool irons (they are very cold). When the irons are pressed to the hide of the bull, it only takes a few seconds to numb the skin. As you can imagine, they don't really care for the subzero cold metal being pressed to their skin, but calm down once it's numb. The irons are held there for a minute (or more depending on the color of the animal). The way it works is the cold temperature kills the hair folicle, leaving the brand behind. Eventually the hair will grow back, but when it does it will come in white instead of black. Each bull that makes it through the test and is sale elgible is branded with the IBEP brand (state of Indiana outline with a T) and the year of the test (this time '08). Not all make it through... they have to be in the top 2/3 of their breed for rate of gain (how fast they gain weight) and they have to pass the breeding soundness. OH- and they can't be mean. Mean bulls can cause problems...so those are dismissed due to a poor disposition score. I know some people I'd like to dismiss because of poor disposition... oh wait... I digress...

Just for proof that I know how to brand ... Someone has to show these boys how to do it right! HA! Just kiddin'.

Oh the fun things I get to do in Extension!

So there you have it... now you know what I did today- and all you need to know about IBEP!

How did you spend your day??