This message is from: Marsha Jo Hannah <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> "Linda" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> I have a question........does anyone have experience with freeze branding?
> [...]
> I am about to microchip my fjords but realize unless a scanner is used (in
> the event of being stolen....at auction...etc.) a microchip is useless. A
> brand provides a visual clue to check data on a horse.
There are freeze brands, and freezemarks. Freeze brands are like hot
brands---you have your own branding iron (for your ranch, or
whatever), and apply your registered (with your county or your state)
brand to your animals. It identifies that animal as yours, but it's
the same for all of your animals. However, someone in a different
state (or county) could register that same brand as theirs!
Freezemarks are unique to the individual animal, and are a technology
"owned"/franchised by:
Kryo Kinetics Associates, Inc.
http://www.horseweb.com/kka/
I just verified that their web page is still there; it has buttons
for more info, and to send them e-mail.
Several years back, I was planning to take one of my Fjords to a
clinic, held at a stable all-too-convenient to a freeway. Since there
had been a spate of horse theft in the area, and since Fjords are
nice, big "meaty" horses, I wanted some obvious ID on the animal.
(The claim is that horse thieves shy away from horses with obvious
freezemarks---which the police can use as a "vehicle ID number" to
fill out stolen property reports. And, in theory, the slaughter
houses are required to have a more convincing paper trail for
freezemarked horses, since the BLM uses that system to ID mustangs,
and there is a Federal law requiring that slaughter of such horses be
properly documented. I can't say if it actually works that way, but
there have been anecdotes of mass-thefts, in which the freezemarked
horses were left behind, or turned loose nearby. I.e. it's less
potential risk to steal an unmarked chestnut horse than a freezemarked
chestnut horse.) Anyway, while I had the KKA technician out, I had
all of my equines freezemarked, Fjords and donkey.
The marks are fairly obvious in the summer, but should be kept clipped
for best visibility in the winter. I don't bother unless I'm taking
the horses somewhere that I would need to ID them, or would need the
theft deterence.
Marsha Jo Hannah Murphy must have been a horseman--
[EMAIL PROTECTED] anything that can go wrong, will!
15 mi SW of Roseburg, Oregon
