Cow tattoos of the old west

"Famous Cattle Brands" postcard

Long before those ear-tag things, or RFID chips, cattlemen identified their herd members with a custom iron design, that would be heated over a roaring fire until it was red hot, then firmly shoved onto each cow’s hindquarters.

You would think that the others would hear the plaintive yells of that first cow, who is essentially saying, “OW! You son of a bitch! Fucking asshole!!!” and stampede the HELL out of there.

Maybe the ranchers enclosed the area with a sturdy fence, designed so a bull couldn’t tiptoe behind and tap on the shoulder of the brand-master, or whatever they called that sadistic bastard.

I guess the best case scenario for the cow was to belong to the herd at the “Tiny Dot” ranch.

Author photo
Publication date:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.