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July 21, 2015 2:41 PM Subscribe
"Brands were, and continue to be, a critical element of the cattle industry unless –bonus fun fact!– you happen to have been 19th century Texas politician and rancher Samuel A. Maverick, who refused to brand his cattle and consequently saw his own surname immortalized as a brand for those independent few who refuse to follow the precepts of social order."posted by Flashman at 3:02 PM on July 21, 2015 [8 favorites]
item: How would you use the ink?
There is 19th century technology to dye hair, but the mark could be removed by shedding or shaving. There is also 19th century technology to tattoo the skin, but then you have to place your mark where it will not be covered by hair.
For the 20th and 21st centuries you have freeze branding. Supposedly it hurts less than fire branding, but just love the way the hair grows back white. I am pretty sure this has been posted to mefi before, but I can not find the post: Cowboy horse brands. It shows some nice examples of freeze branding.
posted by Doroteo Arango II at 3:11 PM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
There is 19th century technology to dye hair, but the mark could be removed by shedding or shaving. There is also 19th century technology to tattoo the skin, but then you have to place your mark where it will not be covered by hair.
For the 20th and 21st centuries you have freeze branding. Supposedly it hurts less than fire branding, but just love the way the hair grows back white. I am pretty sure this has been posted to mefi before, but I can not find the post: Cowboy horse brands. It shows some nice examples of freeze branding.
posted by Doroteo Arango II at 3:11 PM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
item, what would you suggest to replace brands? When cattle roam they have to be marked, not just for the rancher but to trace cattle on the open range and for sales. Rustling still exists.
AzrealBrown you quite probably looked at a brand from my great-grandparents, who would have drawn their brand in exactly the circumstances you describe.
posted by ITravelMontana at 3:21 PM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
AzrealBrown you quite probably looked at a brand from my great-grandparents, who would have drawn their brand in exactly the circumstances you describe.
posted by ITravelMontana at 3:21 PM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Each ranch gets their own uniquely-designed Deely Boppers, permanently affixed to each animals' head.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:34 PM on July 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:34 PM on July 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
item, what would you suggest to replace brands? When cattle roam they have to be marked, not just for the rancher but to trace cattle on the open range and for sales. Rustling still exists.
There's been some experimenting with injectable RFID tags, just like you would for a dog or cat. RFID tags also have the benefit of being able to replace ear tags and are much harder to forge than a brand. (Forgers add elements to a brand to turn it into something else. e.g., if Teddy Roosevelt wanted to rustle some cattle, he could find whoever had an upside down-T in the same location and then overlay his maltese cross brand. Yes this is still a thing.)
The books AzraelBrown mentioned are still around. The entire ND Stockmen's Association Brand Record is available online as PDFs.
posted by nathan_teske at 3:35 PM on July 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
There's been some experimenting with injectable RFID tags, just like you would for a dog or cat. RFID tags also have the benefit of being able to replace ear tags and are much harder to forge than a brand. (Forgers add elements to a brand to turn it into something else. e.g., if Teddy Roosevelt wanted to rustle some cattle, he could find whoever had an upside down-T in the same location and then overlay his maltese cross brand. Yes this is still a thing.)
The books AzraelBrown mentioned are still around. The entire ND Stockmen's Association Brand Record is available online as PDFs.
posted by nathan_teske at 3:35 PM on July 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
I'm not pro-branding, but RFID tags would probably be relatively easy to remove, so not an ideal solution.
posted by Ferreous at 3:38 PM on July 21, 2015
posted by Ferreous at 3:38 PM on July 21, 2015
I mean, the other suggestion for horses is to tattoo the inside of the upper lip, which is its own kettle of fish and would take considerably longer than either a freeze brand or a conventional brand. And at least horses get handled frequently--beef cattle, especially beef cattle at that time, didn't get much individual handling. That translates into an animal that is going to be much more stressed while it's being handled than a horse that gets handled for good stuff all the time. So you want a method for permanent identification that isn't going to require you to spend too much time restraining the animal to minimize stress.
As a bonus, you can't tattoo hairy bits of the animal, which are also the most easy parts of an uncooperative steer to reach and manipulate while you have it in a cattle chute. (That's what people use to restrain cattle for medical treatment today--you drive the cattle down a narrowing corridor only wide enough for one cow at a time to pass through at the end, and you encourage it to move into the chute. Then the cow's head goes through a slot, you vaccinate it and check it for necessary veterinary care and maybe brand or ear-tag it, and then you open up the front and it heads out to rejoin the herd. Then you shut the front again and let the next cow in. That lets you get through everyone quickly and efficiently without having to, e.g., put any cattle on the ground.)
Even if you don't have a chute to deal with, the naked bits of your average cow are also located right next to the dangerous parts of the animal. So restraining the cow in order to tattoo it somewhere where you will actually be able to see the tattoo--and also restraining it long enough to read the tattoo--requires you to do something like hog-tie the cow and put it on the ground, which is going to be considerably more stressful than just doing a freeze brand is.
RFID tags would be pretty awesome, though, if you can prevent them from being removed. (Shouldn't be too hard--microchips in companion animals are known to migrate a bit and they're quite small, plus mucking around in a cow's subcutaneous tissue seems like a lot more effort than it's worth.) Plus those really are things you can implant and scan in more accessible locations on the animal.
posted by sciatrix at 3:41 PM on July 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
As a bonus, you can't tattoo hairy bits of the animal, which are also the most easy parts of an uncooperative steer to reach and manipulate while you have it in a cattle chute. (That's what people use to restrain cattle for medical treatment today--you drive the cattle down a narrowing corridor only wide enough for one cow at a time to pass through at the end, and you encourage it to move into the chute. Then the cow's head goes through a slot, you vaccinate it and check it for necessary veterinary care and maybe brand or ear-tag it, and then you open up the front and it heads out to rejoin the herd. Then you shut the front again and let the next cow in. That lets you get through everyone quickly and efficiently without having to, e.g., put any cattle on the ground.)
Even if you don't have a chute to deal with, the naked bits of your average cow are also located right next to the dangerous parts of the animal. So restraining the cow in order to tattoo it somewhere where you will actually be able to see the tattoo--and also restraining it long enough to read the tattoo--requires you to do something like hog-tie the cow and put it on the ground, which is going to be considerably more stressful than just doing a freeze brand is.
RFID tags would be pretty awesome, though, if you can prevent them from being removed. (Shouldn't be too hard--microchips in companion animals are known to migrate a bit and they're quite small, plus mucking around in a cow's subcutaneous tissue seems like a lot more effort than it's worth.) Plus those really are things you can implant and scan in more accessible locations on the animal.
posted by sciatrix at 3:41 PM on July 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
There is also 19th century technology to tattoo the skin, but then you have to place your mark where it will not be covered by hair.
Which, on a cattle, is basically the nose and anus, and if you think that would be less painful, you are *more* that welcome to try it.
Tattoos would also be a much longer process than branding, which, while each individual jab is probably less painful, in total, may well be just as painful.
Collars and ear tags are easily removed. Ear notches aren't, but there are limited number of patterns available via notching. RFID is harder to remove, but removable, and hard to read at a distance.
Freeze branding, at least to *humans* who have been both burned by hot metals and frozen by metals at LN2 temps, causes much less pain, and studies of herd animals that we commonly brand (cattle and horses) seem to bear this out. Freeze branding doesn't result in the same scar, instead, it results in a loss of pigmentation, resulting in a permanent bleaching of the hair, which serves to create the mark. Of course, we truly don't have a way to be certain that it is a less painful method for livestock.
It is more painful for an animal with white hair, because the freeze branding iron needs to be left on the skin long enough to actually destroy the hair follicles to create a "blank" brand -- turning the hair white on a white haired animal isn't a useful way to mark an animal.
Issues with freeze branding -- it's harder to do, and it's harder to keep the materials (dry ice or LN2) around. It's pretty trivial to build a fire and know that you have a branding iron up to temp, it's harder to know that you have a freeze iron down to temp, you have to basically rely on clock time, and you can show up at a dewar and find it empty if you didn't handle it right. However, nowadays, many livestock handlers are familiar with handling LN2 thanks to handling bull semen, which is often frozen with LN2 for shipment.
I've had LN2 hit my skin, but that's not the same as a freeze brand, the Leidenfrost effect protected my skin from almost all of the cold of the LN2, which then skittered off my skin.* So, I'm not going to say that I've had experience with a freeze brand.
* This is why if you're handling LN2 or LOX and you don't have the right gloves, the right answer is to wear *no* gloves. Wearing the wrong gloves means a spill will be held against your skin, and the cryogen will quickly freeze your skin, causing severe damage. Without gloves, the Leidenfrost effect will keep the liquid off your skin until your skin cools to the cryogen's temp, this is usually long enough for it to run off your bare skin and onto the floor.
posted by eriko at 3:49 PM on July 21, 2015 [6 favorites]
Which, on a cattle, is basically the nose and anus, and if you think that would be less painful, you are *more* that welcome to try it.
Tattoos would also be a much longer process than branding, which, while each individual jab is probably less painful, in total, may well be just as painful.
Collars and ear tags are easily removed. Ear notches aren't, but there are limited number of patterns available via notching. RFID is harder to remove, but removable, and hard to read at a distance.
Freeze branding, at least to *humans* who have been both burned by hot metals and frozen by metals at LN2 temps, causes much less pain, and studies of herd animals that we commonly brand (cattle and horses) seem to bear this out. Freeze branding doesn't result in the same scar, instead, it results in a loss of pigmentation, resulting in a permanent bleaching of the hair, which serves to create the mark. Of course, we truly don't have a way to be certain that it is a less painful method for livestock.
It is more painful for an animal with white hair, because the freeze branding iron needs to be left on the skin long enough to actually destroy the hair follicles to create a "blank" brand -- turning the hair white on a white haired animal isn't a useful way to mark an animal.
Issues with freeze branding -- it's harder to do, and it's harder to keep the materials (dry ice or LN2) around. It's pretty trivial to build a fire and know that you have a branding iron up to temp, it's harder to know that you have a freeze iron down to temp, you have to basically rely on clock time, and you can show up at a dewar and find it empty if you didn't handle it right. However, nowadays, many livestock handlers are familiar with handling LN2 thanks to handling bull semen, which is often frozen with LN2 for shipment.
I've had LN2 hit my skin, but that's not the same as a freeze brand, the Leidenfrost effect protected my skin from almost all of the cold of the LN2, which then skittered off my skin.* So, I'm not going to say that I've had experience with a freeze brand.
* This is why if you're handling LN2 or LOX and you don't have the right gloves, the right answer is to wear *no* gloves. Wearing the wrong gloves means a spill will be held against your skin, and the cryogen will quickly freeze your skin, causing severe damage. Without gloves, the Leidenfrost effect will keep the liquid off your skin until your skin cools to the cryogen's temp, this is usually long enough for it to run off your bare skin and onto the floor.
posted by eriko at 3:49 PM on July 21, 2015 [6 favorites]
You wouldn't need to remove an RFID, just zap it with a $5 disposable camera.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 3:51 PM on July 21, 2015
posted by a lungful of dragon at 3:51 PM on July 21, 2015
the always excellent John Mcphee has an excellent essay titled Irons in the Fire (it is the title essay of the book of the same name). he spends time with a brand inspector in Nevada and learns a whole lot about cattle rustling., as well as cattle branding.
posted by OHenryPacey at 4:03 PM on July 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by OHenryPacey at 4:03 PM on July 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
Ear notches aren't, but there are limited number of patterns available via notching.
The universal ear notching system (for pigs). We just notched piglets yesterday. There was a little blood (very little, antibiotic ointment applied immediately) and a little yelling, but it was quick and most of the yelling was about being removed from Mama and held in strange arms. They settled quickly when they were reunited, and I now have a way to identify individual piglets (beyond "that stinker" and "the littlest one").
The worst part? Being hit with a tiny bit of ear, just like the sensation of a clipped nail bouncing off your skin. Ick. Castration is tomorrow night. Whee!
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:26 PM on July 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
The universal ear notching system (for pigs). We just notched piglets yesterday. There was a little blood (very little, antibiotic ointment applied immediately) and a little yelling, but it was quick and most of the yelling was about being removed from Mama and held in strange arms. They settled quickly when they were reunited, and I now have a way to identify individual piglets (beyond "that stinker" and "the littlest one").
The worst part? Being hit with a tiny bit of ear, just like the sensation of a clipped nail bouncing off your skin. Ick. Castration is tomorrow night. Whee!
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:26 PM on July 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
Racing greyhounds' ear tattoos are done by spreading the ink on the inside of the ear, then quickly clamping the ear with a tong-like tool. The tool has reconfigurable letters/numbers made up of pins on one side, and a flat padded area on the other side. There's an account by a greyhound breeder here, if anyone's interested.
The letters and numbers are pretty crude-looking, imagine old dot-matrix printing. But that would be one way to quickly tattoo an animal, without using a tattoo machine.
posted by mon-ma-tron at 5:36 PM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
The letters and numbers are pretty crude-looking, imagine old dot-matrix printing. But that would be one way to quickly tattoo an animal, without using a tattoo machine.
posted by mon-ma-tron at 5:36 PM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Australia has the National Livestock Identification System. Each property that wants to buy, sell or breed cattle, goats, sheep, pigs and alpacas has to have a PIC (property identification code). Each ear tag has a separate identification number that includes the PIC and a microchip. When I attached them to our calves with the appropriate punch gun, it didn't seem to cause them any bother or even irritation beyond being in the crush for 30 seconds. Sure, the tags can get rubbed off occasionally or removed, but you can't trade or even legally truck cattle anywhere in the country without registering their movements with the NLIS.
My last horse was a standardbred who came via a rescue so her history was unknown. Her freeze brand was invaluable in helping me work out who she was, where she came from, and what day birthday treats were due.
posted by Thella at 5:49 PM on July 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
My last horse was a standardbred who came via a rescue so her history was unknown. Her freeze brand was invaluable in helping me work out who she was, where she came from, and what day birthday treats were due.
posted by Thella at 5:49 PM on July 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
Yes, as Thella says, but to say it more explicitly, there's no cattle branding in Australia, and we run a world class identification scheme, from producer to plate. Ear tags. Pretty simple and takes no time at all.
posted by wilful at 6:16 PM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by wilful at 6:16 PM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
the naked bits of your average cow are also located right next to the dangerous parts of the animal.
This, I would say, is advice that applies to many other situations besides cattle.
Ear tags. Pretty simple and takes no time at all.
I pass a herd of cows every morning with ear tags, but how do ear tags help with rustling? It would seem trivially easy to remove your tag and clip on mine, or to move an ear tag from one animal to another, but maybe in a situation with a national registry those things are more difficult.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:23 PM on July 21, 2015
This, I would say, is advice that applies to many other situations besides cattle.
Ear tags. Pretty simple and takes no time at all.
I pass a herd of cows every morning with ear tags, but how do ear tags help with rustling? It would seem trivially easy to remove your tag and clip on mine, or to move an ear tag from one animal to another, but maybe in a situation with a national registry those things are more difficult.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:23 PM on July 21, 2015
It would seem trivially easy to remove your tag and clip on mine, or to move an ear tag from one animal to another,
People trucking cattle can be pulled over for their PIC registrations and transport paperwork, even for one or two steers bought from Bert down the road. If you were rustling for food and slaughtered on-site then left with the carcass hidden, then I guess tags wouldn't matter. If you were rustling big numbers of cattle, say out west, you would have to have yards and crushes and process each animal at a time, removing one tag and replacing with another, and you're dealing with cattle unfamiliar with yards and crushes. Not fun. And then you'll need your own legitimate PIC and tags, and a providence of where the cattle came from.
Bureaucracy: putting cattle rustling out of business one tag at a time.
posted by Thella at 9:16 PM on July 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
People trucking cattle can be pulled over for their PIC registrations and transport paperwork, even for one or two steers bought from Bert down the road. If you were rustling for food and slaughtered on-site then left with the carcass hidden, then I guess tags wouldn't matter. If you were rustling big numbers of cattle, say out west, you would have to have yards and crushes and process each animal at a time, removing one tag and replacing with another, and you're dealing with cattle unfamiliar with yards and crushes. Not fun. And then you'll need your own legitimate PIC and tags, and a providence of where the cattle came from.
Bureaucracy: putting cattle rustling out of business one tag at a time.
posted by Thella at 9:16 PM on July 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
What I'm saying is that branding is a pointless tradition, especially in this modern age, and it needs to cease.
Trust me. Branding is the very least of it.
posted by JackFlash at 10:32 PM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Trust me. Branding is the very least of it.
posted by JackFlash at 10:32 PM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Name your cows. Love them. Know their characteristics. If they are missing, post flyers in your neighborhood.
MISSING or RUSTLED
Holstein
Answers to BESSIE
Has a spot that looks like South America on her shoulder
Loves belly rubs and alfalfa treats
If found please call (256) 555-9246
posted by Monochrome at 9:16 AM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
MISSING or RUSTLED
Holstein
Answers to BESSIE
Has a spot that looks like South America on her shoulder
Loves belly rubs and alfalfa treats
If found please call (256) 555-9246
posted by Monochrome at 9:16 AM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by AzraelBrown at 2:55 PM on July 21, 2015 [11 favorites]