In Texas, brands are registered in the county clerk's office. But the registration is recorded only in that county. The same brand can be registered in other counties, and there is no agency keeping tabs on the state's 254 counties. The cattle raisers association's headquarters in Fort Worth maintains a database of members' brands the field inspectors rely on during investigations. With e-mail and fax, we can have an answer in five minutes.
Many cattlemen leave calves destined for auction unbranded.
Most use an iron heated by a propane burner not a fire. Gary Stephens, who manages several South Texas ranches, used a fire one time, when he was helping a rancher in North Texas who insisted on doing it the old way. That was pretty neat. In fact, that's the only time I've ever done that. Most ranchers today pen the cattle and drive them through a chute for vaccinating, dehorning, castrating and branding.