# Question on branding



## AClark (Aug 23, 2016)

I've done a fair amount of hot branding before on other folks cattle, but was thinking about it today and wondered if freeze branding is an option? I know it works well on horses (the BLM freeze brands their necks, and my horse had a freeze brand on his shoulder) but not sure on cattle.
I've never seen anyone freeze brand anything, so not sure if it's painful or as bad as a hot brand. Just a thought I had and figured I'd ask folks who are probably a bit more on the up and up on freeze branding.


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## greybeard (Aug 25, 2016)

Yes, freeze branding works on cattle and lots of people use it. Some say it works better on dark hide than light hide, or that it doesn't show up in winter coat, but if done right it will. I don't use it, but have seen freeze branding--they do jump when you put the cold iron on the area where  the hair has been clipped short. 
here's a vid:


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## jhm47 (Aug 28, 2016)

I have many customers who freeze brand.  There are even people in this area who do custom freeze branding for others.  I've seen it done a lot, and it's much less painful than hot branding.  Cattle in this area are primarily black, with a few reds now and then.  The brands show up quite well on all of them, even in winter when the hair coats are thick.


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## Kusanar (Aug 28, 2016)

They did a study horses and found that there isn't much difference in stress levels between hot and cold branding, pain probably isn't quite as bad with cold, but you have to hold it longer, with hot it's very fast.


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