104 Western Live-stock Management 
is not at all difficult, the only trouble being that if the rope 
is not properly managed when it is dropped down off the 
hips, the animal may kick out of it with one foot, if not 
with both. The method is not very fast, and is hard on 
the animals, causing much excitement in catching, and 
also “wooling” them around more than is desirable. It 
is, however, convenient for the farmer who has only a few 
to brand and is about the only method for castration. 
The modern method of branding, however, is with a 
“mash” or chute with movable sides. This method of 
branding is faster, and easier on the animals than the 
roping process, although this depends largely on the con- 
veniences that have been arranged for getting the cattle 
into the chutes. If the corral is large and only a short 
wing of twenty-five or thirty feet is used, there will be 
much difficulty in persuading the meaner cattle into the 
trap; but if a larger wing is used, and especially if it is 
divided with one or more stop gates, the cattle can be 
put in as fast as the iron can be applied. 
The essential point in regard to branding irons is that 
the design be simple and the iron large. Small compli- 
cated designs are easily blurred out, and even if they are 
put on correctly, long hair soon covers them over so 
they cannot be read. A good brand must above all 
things be legible. A brand that cannot be read until the 
animal is sheared is an abomination. If the iron be large 
and simple and properly applied, the brand should be 
legible all the vear round. The actual size will depend 
on various things, but in general each letter, if letters 
are used, should be seven or eight inches high and M’s 
and W’s even larger. The stock of which the brand is 
made should also be large, three-eighths to one-half inch 
across the face. The depth of the stock is not so im- 
