Veterinarian says ranchers should reconsider cattle branding

A longtime veterinarian wants beef producers to reconsider whether they really need to brand their cattle anymore.

On The Greg Morgan Morning Show this week, Roy Lewis said branding is becoming an outdated practice but still persists in some cases.

“Big ranges where cattle can get mixed, things like community pastures where different owners run together, that’s where it’s still in vogue,” Lewis said.

Lewis recently wrote a column in Alberta Farmer Express in which he argued that branding is no longer necessary in most cases. RFID tags are better, most herds aren’t mixed and, if needed, cattle can be identified through DNA testing, he wrote.

On top of that, branding is painful for the animal, he said, although there are products that can be used to dull the pain.

“I just wanted producers to start thinking of ways where they don’t have to do it. Maybe it’s a select group of animals (or) maybe it’s the steer calves they’re not keeping for a long time,” Lewis said.

“That coupled with pain control methods on the ones that are branded and also coupled with these other forms of identification, hopefully down the line we will get something that’s permanent.”

He added there hasn’t been much research into the pain response of freeze branding.

In his view, tradition is the main reason why producers still brand their cattle.

“I think it’s still a little bit of a mystique. It’s a the-way-it-was type of thing,” he said.

He also questions the benefit of branding.

“There’s quite a labour cost. It takes some work to do it properly,” Lewis said. “That’s surprising because producers are pretty good at looking at ways to increase efficiency.”