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Freeze Branding for Animal Identification

Animal Husbandry Research Division, USDA, Beltsville, Maryland

ABSTRACT

Lack of accurate identification is a limiting factor in livestock improvement programs. For example, in 1966 about 21% of the dairy cows were enrolled in production testing programs. Because cows could not be identified by sires, approximately 673,000 records were rejected in the National DHIA Sire Summary Program. In fact, only 55% of the records received by the USDA could effectively be used in sire and cow summary programs, because of incomplete identification, especially of sires. The growth and development of beef cattle improvement programs have been severely hampered by inadequate individual animal identification. State and national disease control and eradication programs are dependent on accurate animal identification. Finally, the success of day-to-day herd management decisions concerning breeding, selection, calving, culling, and feeding depends on accurate identification of individual animals on the farm.

In recent years the need for improved methods of animal identification has received considerable attention in the United States and other parts of the world.