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 Veteran
Posts: 140
 
| I'm going to be ordering a shoulder brand soon but not sure what size to order. How big is everyone's everyone's shoulder brands?
Edited by lilac lane farm 2017-03-21 7:17 AM
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 Expert
Posts: 3815
  
Location: The best kept secret in TX | I made my large enough it wouldn't be covered by a foot if someone was riding my horse and I also made it small enough that you could still see the conformation of the shoulder without the brand taking all the limelight.
my brand looks similar to this: __M__ Only they are all connected.
My brand measures about 7" wide and is about 5" tall. Give or take a bit. I got it in both a freeze brand and a hot brand. I also registered it as a hip brand. It is registered as a shoulder brand on the left shoulder and a hip brand on the left hip.
Speaking of I need to renew. LOL |
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Veteran
Posts: 140
| Thanks for the info! |
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  Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | I think regardless of location the iron iteself should be no more than 4" x 4". If put on a baby, it will grow with them and be pretty big. Ours is 4 x 4 and here is a horse that was put on as a 5-6 month old. Rio is 2 yrs old in this picture. It is PLENTY big and maybe someday I will buy another brand that is smaller to use on the weanlings and save this bigger one for older horses.
Edited by wyoming barrel racer 2017-03-21 12:07 PM
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | wyoming barrel racer - 2017-03-21 12:03 PM I think regardless of location the iron iteself should be no more than 4" x 4". If put on a baby, it will grow with them and be pretty big. Ours is 4 x 4 and here is a horse that was put on as a 5-6 month old. Rio is 2 yrs old in this picture. It is PLENTY big and maybe someday I will buy another brand that is smaller to use on the weanlings and save this bigger one for older horses.
I think your brand looks good, dont look to big to me..  |
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Veteran
Posts: 140
| Thanks? for the info! I already have a large hip brand for the mature horses but and going to be getting a different brand for the shoulder and didn't want to get one too big.
Edited by lilac lane farm 2017-03-21 1:53 PM
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Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | lilac lane farm - 2017-03-21 12:52 PM Thanks? for the info! I already have a large hip brand for the mature horses but and going to be getting a different brand for the shoulder and didn't want to get one too big.
I am a brand inspector for my county in WY. Trust me, most shoulder and hip brands are the same size. I prefer to see nothing larger than 4 x 4 on either. A horse is not a bill board lol. Cheek brands are often about that size too, but most of the cheek branded horses I have come across were all branded as mature horses, not weanlings. |
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 Straight Shooter
Posts: 5725
Location: SW North Dakota | Mine is a shoulder brand- I only have one brass iron and it's about 3". I don't brand them until they're fully grown, but it's easy for me because I don't raise babies.
I've been a brand inspector for 21 years. I could write a book on "branding dos and don'ts!" UGH.
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Tried and True
Posts: 21185
Location: Where I am happiest | 4 x 4 is almost to big. I cant stand a huge brand on a horse. It's ugly, gawdy and detracts from the horse. 3 x 3 really is about perfect. Plenty big enough to be seen easily not not to big to look like a ugly ghetto billboard. |
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Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | ND3canAddict - 2017-03-21 1:28 PM
Mine is a shoulder brand- I only have one brass iron and it's about 3". I don't brand them until they're fully grown, but it's easy for me because I don't raise babies.
I've been a brand inspector for 21 years. I could write a book on "branding dos and don'ts!" UGH.Â
Love that brand! A clean shoulder and hip brand are my favorite. I have close friends that have one that is a hip brand, about 2" by 2". Waste of time. Can't tell what it is unless you are right there. I agree with a 3 x 3 is best, especially if you brand young horses. When we ordered ours, that was either what they had or what they recommended. |
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Expert
Posts: 1611
| ThreeCorners - 2017-03-21 6:49 PM
4 x 4 is almost to big. I cant stand a huge brand on a horse. It's ugly, gawdy and detracts from the horse. 3 x 3  really is about perfect. Plenty big enough to be seen easily not not to big to look like a ugly ghetto billboard.
This totally this! I saw a horse on fb yesterday and thought oh my word he is gorgeous then he had this big gawdy kinda crooked brand on his shoulder. |
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Straight Shooter
Posts: 5725
Location: SW North Dakota | wyoming barrel racer - 2017-03-21 7:00 PM ND3canAddict - 2017-03-21 1:28 PM Mine is a shoulder brand- I only have one brass iron and it's about 3". I don't brand them until they're fully grown, but it's easy for me because I don't raise babies.
I've been a brand inspector for 21 years. I could write a book on "branding dos and don'ts!" UGH. Love that brand! A clean shoulder and hip brand are my favorite. I have close friends that have one that is a hip brand, about 2" by 2". Waste of time. Can't tell what it is unless you are right there. I agree with a 3 x 3 is best, especially if you brand young horses. When we ordered ours, that was either what they had or what they recommended.
We can totally geek out on brands together! I love that brand, too. About 15-20 years ago, we had a cheif that I loved. He called me when this brand came open, as I wanted a clean, one iron brand. The old fellow that had this one passed on and none of his kids cared about it, so I took it over. I have it on the left rib of a cow, I put it on with 2 J irons. A brand inspector's dream on a cow- it's high, clean and about 6-8". Cant miss it, even when they are haired up.
I also got a really great milliron brand on the LH horse and LR cow. Milliron up over a milliron down. So pretty! I've never used it, but I love that I own it! I got it as a gift from MG Olson, who was a big race horse breeder. He and I had breakfast together at the sale barn almost every morning, and he gave it to me shortly before he died. It's a treasure! |
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Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | ND3canAddict - 2017-03-22 10:31 AM wyoming barrel racer - 2017-03-21 7:00 PM ND3canAddict - 2017-03-21 1:28 PM Mine is a shoulder brand- I only have one brass iron and it's about 3". I don't brand them until they're fully grown, but it's easy for me because I don't raise babies.
I've been a brand inspector for 21 years. I could write a book on "branding dos and don'ts!" UGH. Love that brand! A clean shoulder and hip brand are my favorite. I have close friends that have one that is a hip brand, about 2" by 2". Waste of time. Can't tell what it is unless you are right there. I agree with a 3 x 3 is best, especially if you brand young horses. When we ordered ours, that was either what they had or what they recommended.
I also got a really great milliron brand on the LH horse and LR cow. Milliron up over a milliron down. So pretty! I've never used it, but I love that I own it! I got it as a gift from MG Olson, who was a big race horse breeder. He and I had breakfast together at the sale barn almost every morning, and he gave it to me shortly before he died. It's a treasure!
Yes!! I love brand history. My husband's brand was bought off a homesteader named Lawerence Gibbs. So our cows carry that. A Reverse L Reverse G. We used it on our first horses but it was too big and we wanted to move to freeze branding. WY had a book going around of old abandoned brands, but WY had a new rule that any new brands -even out of that book- had to have 3 irons UGH! So we found the upside down grazing bit looking brand. Renamed it (what it really was) a Bar Mill Iron Bar. They accepted it, and we made it into a one iron brand. The company we ordered it from recommended the 4 x 4 but I really would like to buy a 3x3. My grandpa gave my oldest son his brand. G over lazy E. Hate the location-right hip, but I love that my son has his great grandpa's brand. We bought my youngest a brand that is an R Diamond Bar. Left shoulder. Easy to read but I prefer rib brands. People seem to apply them better...unless they get them down in that arm pit or on the belly |
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Location: In my own little world | Check your state's law regarding size to see if they have size requirements as some states do. |
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