Branding is actually the process in which a design will be burned on an animal’s hide permanently in order for the owner to identify it easier and it’s actually a practice that exists for thousands of years. The cattle has been brought to the New World by the Spanish a long time before they began to fence its wilderness. So basically branding has been a part of the history of Texas from the time that it was at the same time part of Mexico. If you are living in Texas and you have a lot of cattle then you should know that here the brands are registered in each county by the county clerk and they will expire in just ten years.
Earliest Brands
In fifteen thirty seven the king of Spain has established in New Spain a stockmen’s organization and this required that everyone who owned cattle to have them braded in order to identify them. Till seventeen seventy eight the famous cattle brands were registered in Mexico, yet after that they were moved to San Antonio. At the middle of the seventeen hundreds while cattle raising has spread through the entire Texas the king of Spain ordered that all cattle should be branded. There were no number or letters in the branding, but actually a pictographic representation. In a short time these designs became ornate.
Anglo-American Brands
When they arrived in Texas the Anglo-Americans designed cattle brands that were very easy to read from the horseback. This type of branding was possible by using dotting irons which could be used in order to form shapes and also letters. The one who registered the first brand in eighteen thirty two in Texas was Richard H Chisholm and that happened in Gonzales county.
Mavericks and Updating Brands
The herds were neglected by the Texas ranchers when during the Civil war the beef markets collapsed. In that time a man called Samuel A. Maverick did not really bother with branding his cattle and at roundups any cattle that had no brand on it would be his. The appetite of the Union though after the war has increased a lot and that is what made owning cattle very profitable once again. So herds that were formed with cattle from many owners required to be stamped with irons that would eventually produce the whole brand with a single application.
Yet since nineteen forty three in order to reduce the number of registered brands which were no longer used, every brand had to be are-registered. One of them was the popular Running W of King Ranch which was registered and used since eighteen sixty nine.
Modern Methods
In nineteen sixty six freeze branding has been designed by doctor R. Keith which actually is visible all year long and reduces the damage done to the hide. There are also chips used in order to brand cattle, but they are not dominant so in Texas still the option of branding remains viable. And that’s about it with the famous cattle brands in the USA.