CATTLE BRANDS

CATTLE BRANDS, although traceable to ancient Egypt, are associated with cattle ranching and range horses. The brand is a mark of ownership, and every legitimate brand is recorded by either state or county, thus preventing duplication within a given territory. Ranchers use brands for stock in fenced pastures as well as on the open range. Brands guard against theft and aid ranchers in keeping track of livestock.

Brands can be made up of letters, figures, geometric designs, symbols, or representations of objects. Possible combinations are endless. Reading brands can be an art and requires discerning differences between similar marks. For example, a straight line burned into a cow's hide may be a "dash," a "bar," or a "rail." Brands usually signify something peculiar to the originator—a seaman turned rancher might use the anchor brand or a rancher might honor his wife, Ella, with the "E bar" brand. Because brands reduce the value of hides and also induce screw worms, in the early 2000s they were generally smaller and simpler than they were when cattle were less valuable.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

August, Ray. "Cowboys v. Rancheros: The Origins of Western American Livestock Law." Southwest Historical Quarterly 96 (1993).

Boatright, Mody C., and Donald Day, eds. From Hell to Breakfast. Publications of the Texas Folklore Society, no. 19. Dallas, Tex.: Southern Methodist University Press, 1944.

J. FrankDobie/f. b.

See alsoCattle ; Cattle Associations ; Cattle Drives ; Cowboys .