The days of cattle barons and range wars are in the past, but cattle, sheep and brands remain. Brands are now registered statewide and are put on other livestock besides cattle.
Instead of traditional branding, sheep are branded with a semi-permanent paint. Si-ro-mark sells sheep marking fluids in red, green, blue, orange, and purple which can be removed from the wool later. (No, you can’t buy it on Amazon yet.) The idea is to dip a branding iron in paint and apply it to the sheep, usually on the back. I myself could have a lot of fun with a paint ball gun, five colors and a flock of sheep. My brand would be the I O EWE. I might get chased by an angry ram who didn’t appreciate my humor, so maybe not such a good idea.
There are over 700 active brands registered in Rio Blanco County alone. In the 1957 Colorado Brand Book, Ed Coryell showed me brands for goats, hogs and of all things, turkeys! How do you even brand a turkey without creating a fricassee? How do you brand a hog without burning the bacon? Ed said he had never been called to inspect hogs or turkeys during his career as a brand inspector.
Granted, there isn’t much call for branded turkeys. I myself can’t imagine a need to brand your turkeys unless they escaped a lot. Maybe if you were organizing a turkey drive through town? Kay Bivens did tell me of an old newspaper describing a turkey drive. The one and only turkey brand listed in 1957 was “7-GT”, read seven bar G T., to Howard Guthrie of Boulder County. I worked many years in Boulder and can attest to the colossal number of turkeys who live in Boulder. Most of them have two legs but no wings or feathers.
Other fun brand facts:
- The average brand is a combination of three letters or symbols.
- One and two symbol brands are generally very old.
- Brands have evolved their own unique language.
- Today’s brand inspectors may carry around a computer or tablet linked to the Colorado Brand Commission Office in Broomfield. Thick books published about every 5 years also help the average rancher.
- A new brand registration requires unique design approval, while old brands have fees that need to be paid every five years to the state. Failure to pay the fees could result in someone else claiming the design.
- Rights to a brand can be bought and sold. Old one- or two- symbol brands might bring thousands of dollars today.
- Some brands have become heritages passed on from generation to generation.
- The Brand Language is not precise. Often the brand can be described differently. Ed Coryell remembers talking to other brand inspectors and describing the letters and symbols and how they were positioned. One man might describe a brand as “E above Y slash.” The same brand could also be described “E stacked Y slash right” An upside down “A” can also be described as an “inverted A” or more commonly a “crazy A.”
- Any letter rotated 90 degrees is “lazy”, I.e.. “ > ” is a “lazy V”.
Symbols, depending on embellishments, can be “crazy, swinging, bradded, barbed, forked, connected, broken, tumbling, walking, flying, running, bowed, backward, stacked, hanging, open, closed, shedding, holding, or rocking.”
If want a more complete list of brand vocabulary go on line to TSHAonline.org … or just make up your own.
Sources: Colorado Brand Commission; Texas State Historical Association; Ed Coryell (retired brand inspector)
By ED PECK – Special to the Herald times