The Bad Lands cow boy. [volume] (Little Missouri, Dakota [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-1886, 1885-12-03

held in Chicago q. sS3 q
Branding Cattle .5a 4
The range business, itsWould seem, has
another sin to answer for and it is one
which affects:eyerYbody. 1t Itappears that.
by improper branding, thousands of
hides are soinjured that they are COM
paratiyely worthless. tt is estimated
that the loss from this source alone at
Chicago is $2,O0o,OoO 4 Year and that.
throughout the entire country it will
reach IS, 100000. But considerable leath-.
er that is damaged in this way gets into
the leather articles that we use and of
course is not SO serviceable.. The cattIes;
men say that they tannot remedy the.
evil. They must brand and practically
as they do now to protect their property.
They cannot, they say. use smaller
brands, for they could not be distin-,
guished in rounding up. They cannot
brand on a less valuable part Of the hide.
for the brand would not be prominent
enough. That niay all be true, but it
does not help the tannerso or the pur-
chaser Of an imperfect leather article.
Five million dollars, too, is pretty high
cost for o method and to save that, ought
to be sufficient motive to attempt to do
wise some less Objectionable means to
reach the desired end. But there is one.
fact that is plain enough t0:allyone who
will examine these branded hides. Many
Of them are not properly done. They
show that they have been done either by
somebody who did not care how llo did: it
or by somebody who was mad when he
did it. The depth Of the brand is often
powerfully suggestive that the brute
WHO did the work, became angry with
the animal for some reason, and branded
for punishment. In one conclusion all
will lagree and that is that there is no
necessity Of burning the animal clear
through. little sense and humane
ffeeii1ig Wouid sssa
|eFil complained 81. 1ssss
Tie above article, froEi the Western
Rural, is in the main written in a fair
spirit, but throughout,it shows the ina
ability common to all eastern writers,
Of putting themselves in the place Of tile
cattlemen and looking at the matter
from a range standpoint. Tie simple
facts are as follows: A mans brand is
his signifcation of ownership. Accord
ing to range law it is impossible for q
man to claim an animal unless his
brand is on it. AS a natural consequence
man wants his brand to be as plain as
possible. Another reason. for; wanting
the brand plain,ls that probably nils
lions Of dollars are saved yearly in word
being sent concerning strays, as a ready
means of identification when stolen, as
a virtual Insurance against theft if the
brand is large and distinct, and in many
other ways. The whole matter resolves
itself to this: An unbranded animal can
be claimed by no one, while the chances
are that even should q well-branded ami
NAL stray a thousand miles from the
home ranch, the owner will beas safe in
finally getting fullYalue for it asif he
had kept it constantly in his barn. The
Rural must remember that the range
cattlemani does not by, any means see his
cattle every day or every week or even
every year. A plain brand, however,
makes his. ownership as secure as if they
were constantly in sight. The Rural
must also remember that tanners cut but
h small figure in range profits; immeas-
urably less than tile loss would be il ami
mails were not branded, Then also, the
question: arises, will animals branded
with q small brand Or none at all, bring
| q higher price in the Chicago yards than
those well branded We have the an
tsWer from q man who is not only a prac-
tical tanner, owning one Of the largest
tanneries in New York; state. but is also
a large owner Of range cattle, that the
beef prod tlucing qualities Of an animal
Fare alone taken into consideration by the
buyer and proves his belief by branding
with two large brands that about cover
the side of the animal. Again, the cow
linen are no mora responsible for tanners
using these damaged hides than they
are for the grocer putting chicory in Ills
coffee. He sells the carcass and the hide
goes witt, it. FINAL let the Rural find
Isome better plan than branding as q
means Of identif tifcation and we will
lguarantee that there eswiH be q perfectly
unanimous and willing change to it. No
lone appreciates the: bad qualities Of the
present bTanding system more than the
Estockmen themselves. sss
Aberdeen-Angus and GalloWays. # 4
Black polletl cattle have been bred III
4 Scotland for hundreds Of years. but III
|effort was nude to inprose them before
!. 100. Since that time. they have grattu
Tally grown Iii popular favor. AT tllt
Paris exposition lii 1878, they wert
awarded FIRST premium for hest cattle d
1any breed and also championship prizi
4 J. for best group of beef. producing breeds