PYROGLYPHICS - HOT IRONS: OWNERSHIP, IDENTITY AND LOCATION - A SUMMARY OF THE ARIZONA SUPREME COURT’S RECENT LIVESTOCK BRAND DECISION BY THOMAS KELLY
Although associated with western cowboys, branding one’s cattle to assert ownership and identity began centuries before the legendary cattle industry of the American West. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics depict the earliest record of livestock branding 4,700 years ago. Later, ancient Romans used hot irons to sear unique markings into livestock hides to evidence identity and ownership. Herńan Cortés, the legendary conquistador who defeated the Aztecs for the control of Mexico in 1521, is thought to be the first person to brand cattle in the new world. Cortés marked ownership of his cattle with a brand of three Latin crosses. The practice of branding was adopted by cattle growers in the Americas and the act of “dragging calves to the fire” was made famous by the cowboys of the American West. The earliest recorded brand in Texas is believed to be by Richard H. Chisholm, registered in
Gonzales County in 1832. Among one of the oldest continual brands in Texas is the “Running W” belonging to the King Ranch, originally registered in 1869. During the same year, one of the oldest ranches in Arizona,the Sierra Bonita Ranch marked its cattle with the Crooked H brand, which is still in use today. With the completion of the railroad through northern Arizona in 1881, the cattle business flourished in Arizona; the Arizona Cattle Company ran over 16,000 head of cattle under the A1 brand in some of the finest grazing lands surrounding Flagstaff. Branding cattle in the Southwest remains largely unchanged today. Branding irons are carefully fashioned from a hand-forge, calves are “mothered up” and sorted, irons heated over a fire, the calf roped, dragged to the fire, then the brand applied at a specific, approved location on the animal. The pride of ownership can be seen with a brand expertly
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applied showing consistency in quality, size and location. A brand is more than a symbol: it indicates proof of livestock ownership and is associated with the ranch and the rancher’s identity. As a result, the ranch brand is often reproduced anywhere and everywhere —on entry gates, burned into doors, walls and beams, laid in tile entryways, set in concrete walkways, carved into saddles, chaps and leather furniture, embroidered on jackets and shirts, on license plates, painted on the side of pickups and stock trailers – anywhere the rancher wants to communicate their identity. In fact, a ranch itself is often identified, not by the name of its owners, but by its brand. The O RO, Seven Up, Yolo, PZ, Bar U Bar, Cross U, TK Bar, Hash Knife, Bar Triangle and Diamond A’s are a few of many ranches identified by a brand. Even the United States has a unique brand. A brand may be passed through generations of a ranching family as an heirloom, indicating a proud connection to the past, a reminder of when cattle growers flourished during the settling of the Southwest. In addition to its specific design, a brand is placed on livestock at a specific location. The rib, shoulder, neck, nose, jaw, side, flank, thigh and loin are specified locations on cattle. The US brand was originally placed on the left hoof of an animal and later changed to the left shoulder. The brand is still used today by the United States Forest Service. Recently, the issue of ownership and the location of a livestock brand became the subject of an Arizona Supreme Court Case, Stambaugh v. Killian. The case arose as a result of a proposed duplicate use of the Bar 7 brand by two different cattle growers in Arizona. The Bar 7
