Livestock branding

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A cattle rancher brands a young steer using an electric branding iron while another rancher makes an earmark.

Branding irons

Livestock branding is any technique for marking livestock so as to identify the owner. Originally, livestock branding only referred to the practice of burning a mark on livestock using a hot iron, though the term is now also used to refer to other alternative techniques such as freeze branding, earmarking, ear tagging, and RFID tagging. In the American west, it has evolved into a complex marking system still in use today.

1 History
2 Modern usage
3 Freeze branding
4 Symbols in branding
5 Tattoo
6 References

Cowboys branding a calf. South Dakota, 1888

Branding of Gypsy Vanner horse

Originally the word brand meant anything hot or burning, such as a fire-brand, a burning stick; by the European Middle Ages it commonly identified the process of burning a mark into a stock animal with a thick hide, such as a cow, so as to identify ownership under animus revertendi. In the American West, a branding iron consisted of an iron rod with a seal-like mark which ranchers heated in a fire. After the branding iron turned red-hot, the rancher pressed the seal-like marker against the hide of the cow. The unique mark meant that the cow could then graze freely among other cattle on the free-range of the American West. Drovers could then separate the cattle at round-up time for driving to market. These customs of the American West evolved from the practices of the vaqueros.

Free-range grazing is less common today than in the past. However, branding still has its uses. The main purpose is in proving ownership of lost or stolen animals. Many western US states have strict laws regarding brands, including brand registration and required brand inspections. In many cases, a brand on an animal is considered prima facie proof of ownership. (See Brand Book)

In the hides and leather industry, brands are treated as a defect, and can diminish the value of the hide. This industry has a number of traditional terms relating to the type of brand on a hide. Colorado Branded (slang Collie) refers to placement of a brand on the side of an animal, although this does not necessarily indicate the animal is from Colorado. Butt branded refers to a hide which has had a brand placed on the portion of the skin covering the rump area of the animal. Native refers to a hide without a brand. ^[1]

Humans sometimes have designs branded on themselves (like a tattoo) as a part of body modification; see human branding for more information.

In contrast to traditional hot-iron branding, freeze branding uses a branding iron that has been chilled with a coolant such as dry ice or liquid nitrogen. Rather than burning a scar into the animal, a freeze brand damages the pigment-producing hair cells, causing the animal's hair to grow white where the brand has been applied. Freeze brands cause less damage to the animal's hide than hot iron brands, are less painful, and can be more visible. Horses are frequently freeze-branded. At this time, hogs cannot be successfully freeze branded as their hair pigment cells are better protected. Also, freeze branding is slower, more expensive, less predictable (more care is required in application to assure desired results), and in some places does not constitute a legal brand on cattle.^[2]

Most brands in the United States are capital letters ("S" being the most common), numerals, other characters (such as slash, circle, half circle, cross, and bar), and combinations thereof. Brands of this type have a specialized language for "calling" the brand. Some owners prefer to use simple pictures; these brands are called using a short description of the picture (e.g., "rising sun"). Brands are called left to right, top to bottom, and outside in.

Letters and numerals can appear upright, reversed, or turned 90 degrees so that the character appears to be lying down or lazy. Upright symbols are called normally, reversed symbols are called with the word crazy before the name of the symbol (e.g. "Crazy K"), and turned symbols similarly with the word lazy (e.g., "lazy 5"). Furthermore, a letter that starts and ends with a horizontal line is prefixed with the word "flying". There can also be certain combinations such as with two lines (e.g. "double flying" then the letter). Combinations of symbols can be made in the straightforward manner (left to right), or they may be connected (symbols are touching, ), combined (symbols are partially overlaid, ), or hanging (symbols are touching, but arranged top to bottom).