Get Ready for Branding Season

Round ’Em Up: Your Checklist for the Gear You Need for Branding.

It's branding season, when cowpokes and sizzling irons join forces to give livestock a brand — the distinct identifiers — letting everyone know who owns the critters. A lot goes into branding, including equipment, health considerations for the livestock, what to wear, and support for all the hands who chip in to help the branding process.

Fortunately, finding all the equipment and supplies needed for a successful branding doesn’t have to be a complicated rodeo. Murdoch’s Ranch & Home Supply carries the branding supplies needed from start to finish. Let’s take a look.

Handling Equipment: When wrangling livestock, calf tables, chutes, head gates, and panels are the backbone for efficiently managing livestock during branding. Calf tables provide a sturdy platform for working on calves, while chutes and head gates help safely restrain larger animals. Panels create temporary pens to keep the livestock in line.

Health & Pest Control: Ensuring calf health is paramount, and having access to veterinarian-approved medications for doctoring injuries and illnesses and for pest control helps to achieve that goal. Pour-on solutions are both convenient and effective for controlling external parasites. Need a vaccine? Find it at Murdoch’s!

Identification & Tagging: Calf ID supplies help accurately identify individual calves. Proper identification like calf tags fastened to an animal’s ear helps with proper record-keeping and compliance with regulations. Insecticide ear tags are also available at Murdoch’s, a tactic to identify each cow or calf while also controling ticks and flies.

Castration & Banding Tools: Emasculators and bander bands are tools for castrating livestock, a practice that improves herd behavior and management of breeding practices — the secret sauce for managing the “boys” of the herd! Emasculators are used for surgical castration, while rubber bander bands provide a non-surgical method.

Rope: A good rope is worth its weight in gold come branding time, providing control and safety for the animals and the handlers. Murdoch's carries top-notch ropes you can trust, built to last and handle any critter you throw their way.

Western Apparel & Accessories: Branding is no place for shorts and sandals. Go with Western wear, which is not only practical but at home on a ranch and farm — and in a corral full of dirt, sweat, and action. From sturdy boots and hats to durable jeans and shirts, Western apparel is the ticket for comfort and durability for a long day of wrangling livestock.

Outdoor Cooking & Entertainment: After the last critter is branded, everyone who chipped in has earned a well-deserved break. And they’re hungry! And they’re thirsty! Coolers, grills, and spices & rubs make it easy to whip together some good eats and drinks for the crew. For a load of yeehaw, bring in a good Western band for the crew to kick up whatever’s left in its heels. Unfortunately, while Murdoch’s is filled with talented folks, it doesn’t stock Western bands. They don’t fit on a shelf.