Brands on Livestock 39 



dewlap on the right shoulder." Dewlaps and wattles may be 

 used on the same animal, though one of these is usually con- 

 sidered mark enough. 



Brands — A brand is the principal mark used to indicate owner- 

 ship of livestock in the range country. It is usually a letter or a 

 combination of letters, an Arabic or Roman numeral, a geomet- 

 rical figure or hieroglyphic, or any combination of these which 

 a man's fancy leads him to devise. Both the painted brand on 

 sheep and the burned brand on other livestock may be in any 

 of these forms. The more complex and fancy the brand is, the 

 greater chance the paint has to run into a blotch, and the greater 

 chance the hot branding iron has to kill the hair over the entire 

 area included in the brand, thus causing a blotch instead of 

 alternate bands of bare hide and hair as originally desired. 



The finished brand on a two-year-old depends on other things 

 than the figures in the brand. The personal equation enters 

 largely, for, if the "boys" are in a huriy, the irons may be slapped 

 on the animal instead of being carefully handled, or a part of the 

 brand may show up in an inverted position, or the brand may be 

 put on the wrong hip. Towards evening the chances for poor 

 work increase, for the men may become tired and there may be a 

 long ride before them after the work is over. Climatic factors 

 also enter. If it is rainy weather, the wet hair does not brand as 

 well; and if the w^eather is hot and sultry with lots of fly pests, 

 the new brand stands better chances of turning to a large fester. 

 Under unfavorable conditions the branding iron may not reach 

 the right heat before it is used, and a "cold iron" results in a 

 poorly appearing, blotchy, and often temporary brand. 



The western forester especially, will quite often come in con- 

 tact with the livestock business and the brands used in his lo- 

 cality. A brief review of the Forest Service Grazing Manual will 

 illustrate how often the forest officer is apt to meet with the 

 pleasant job of reading brands. Though there may not be any 

 hard and fast rule of reading, in general a brand will read from 

 the top, then left to right, and ending with the lower part of the 

 brand much as B-X, read "B-bar-X-bar." 



