A farm or a large rural property can generate a lot of profit. When your farm is run well, you can maximise your assets, supply your produce or stock to nearby businesses or use them for your own personal use. Livestock is one of the most important assets for rural property owners, providing farmers with many profit-making opportunities. However, there are also several animal-handling mishaps that can befall inexperienced farmers.
Whatever kind of livestock you have, it is important to maintain reliable records of your stock inventory. Branding can be a crucial part of your stock-management system. How and why should you do it?
Animal Branding
Lawyers in Townsville and elsewhere in Australia have assisted many individuals with issues regarding the management of their livestock. Most of them have used animal branding to identify their stock. Branding is, essentially, the process of marking livestock for identification purposes.
Some methods used in animal branding include earmarking and hot iron branding, which is legal in all states and territories in Australia, albeit with specific conditions.
Why Do It?
Livestock branding allows owners to monitor their inventory. If you transfer or sell animals to, for example, local businesses, branding enables you to identify each animal that is being moved, ensuring transparency with your customers. When you sell stock at the market, many states require that it can be identified with an ear tag. It is the farmer’s responsibility to register their animals before moving them from their property.
Common problems when dealing with livestock, such as rustling, can also be avoided by earmarking. The identification prevents the animals from being stolen and sold cheaply to online markets. As such, branding is a good security measure for livestock.
How to Do It
Owners are responsible for acquiring the tools needed to brand their livestock. They must make sure that these are approved by their state government and do not threaten animal welfare. Two tools that have been considered legal are earmarking pliers and branding irons. Government departments such as Biodiversity Queensland are reliable references to consult when checking the branding processes.
Animal branding is the way to address many of the common livestock-handling issues faced by farmers and other rural property owners. If you’re one of them, consider why and how you should do it.
