Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1933-09-27

cold iron, dipped into a chemical and applied to
the yearling. A few days after this application
the chemical, without pain to the animal, will
have eaten away the hair. turned the red skin
to white and produced permanently the owners
mark. This new method, introduced by a doctor
In Amarillo, Texas, has been tried successfully.
II this method proves successful and LIS gen.
orally adopted, 1t will not only mark the passing
of an instrument which, along with the rifle, the
axe, and the prairie pillow were symbols Of vari-
GUS phases In American pioneer life, but 1t will
also satisfy the main objections to a custom
which was very necessary to the development Of
the cattle industry to the proportions which 1t
attained during the three decades after the Civil
war.
One of those objections was an economic one
the fact that the deep burn inflicted by the
branding iron damaged the hide Of the steer and
decreased the value of this by-product of the
cattle business. This objection was largely done
away with when 1t was learned that all Eastern
buyers classed all Western hides as branded
stuff, even IL they were not. and made a certain
reduction In their value. So the new branding
method may lead to a revaluation OF hides from
Western cattle, since the chemical will not dam
age the hide as the red-hot iron did.
The necessity for cattle branding In the United
States goes back to. the days Of free grass and
open range when the brand was an absolute
necessity In order that owners might Identify
their property In the annual round-ups. With
the coming of fenced range this necessity was
largely obviated, but the brand still served to
place guilt upon cattle thieves and made 1t pos
sible to stamp out cattle r~ustling. Then followed
q period when cattle branding fell somewhat into
disuse. But recent years have seen a revival of
cattle ~rustling and the motorized cattle thief"
who uses a truck In which to carry away three
to ten prime beef steers, began cutting into the
Western stockman's meager profits. Only q short
time ago the board of brand inspectors of one
Western state declared that a return to the
branding Of live stock was the only solution Of
the new-0r rather the revived-menace to their
business. Indications are that similar action will
be taken In other states and IL the Texas doc
tors method of marking with chemicals proves
feasible the ranges and shipping pens of the
West may be filled once more with branded cat
tle-branded by a modern scientific method and
branded because modern mechanical methods of
rustling have made 1t necessary.
In the early days Of the cattle industry, brand
ing was haphazard. There was much duplication
of brands and consequently frequent quarrels
over ownership.
Texas, the fountainhead Of the cattle indus
try, was the first state to regulate branding and
other states soon followed suit until most of
them have very definite branding laws. These
differ In tome respects but the underlying prin-
ciples are the same. the main one being required
registration Of brands. Some allow q certain
brand to a rancher and he may put 1t on any
place on the animal. Others permit different
men to have the same brand, but the different