40 Forestry Quarterly 



Brands may be classified about as follows in the order of use : 



1. Straight brands as; P, PV. K, 72, 101, N-N. ^ 



2. Combination brands as; DO , Q] (box-J), and 11 (quarter 



circle-11). 



3. Name brands as; FOX, KT (Katie Barr), DQ? (DeHart). 



4. Lazy or odd brands; 



Lazy qQ (lazy B) , — 3 (lazy T) , and *->J (lazy 7) . 



Crazy. . . . Q (crazv B), <y(crazy L), and ^ (crazy 3). 

 Flying. . .-V\r(flying W), "y (Y),-\r(U). 

 Running. . W(W) , V (V) . 

 Walking.._M(M),A.(A),>L(H). 



The above brands are illustrations only and do not include 

 all the possible variations, for that would fill a good sized brand 

 book. 



Natural changes in brands, due to the growth of the hide, may 

 cause the brand reader a great deal of trouble. In western 

 Montana the usual custom is to brand the calf within the first 

 year of its life. Shortly before the herd is moved to the summer 

 range, a round-up is made of the cows and calves, the calves are 

 separated into a smaller corral, and are earmarked and branded. 

 Our brand used on calves had letters about three inches high, one 

 and one-quarter inches apart, and was applied to the right hip. 



By the time the animal was one year old this brand no longer 

 had the same dimensions as when applied to the hide, but had 

 grown to letters perhaps five inches high. As long as the hide 

 on that part of the animal grew, the brand enlarged at approxi- 

 mately the same rate. Our brand, PV, grew quite uniformly, 

 due to the favorable shape of the letters and their position, but 

 this is not the general rule with brands. The average brand in 

 going through this growing process will enlarge horizontally at 

 a different rate than the vertical growth and may become so 

 irregular that one not well versed in reading brands would never 

 accuse the brand on a three-year-old of being the same that was 

 put on the calf. 



A certain brand on the hip will enlarge in different proportions 

 from the same brand on another part of the animal. The hide of 

 the animal grows at varying rates which is different for the 

 shoulder, hip, side and neck, and the brand may widen faster than 



