Animal Identification on Farms

For hundreds of years ranches have been using different methods to show identification and ownership of their livestock. The most common method of the old west was using a branding iron. Each rancher has their own symbol, lettering, or image to brand into the animal's hide. Many farms out west use branding in order to identify who owns what. Many ranches work in teams as their cattle are mixed together during hard times, cattle drives, branding days, and so on. By having a distinct mark on the animal’s hide it makes it clear what farm the animal belongs to. Thinks like tattoos and ear tags are great for a smaller farm, but in rural America they can’t afford to have an ear tag get pulled out on accident. This could result in the misplacement of the animal and confusion to whom it belongs to.

Typically, branding is done with an iron rod that is curved into a number or symbol of the farms choosing. This piece of metal is heated up to red and placed typically on the livestock’s shoulder or hip. In some cases, as in Mustangs, branding marks are placed under the horse's mane. Over the years branding animals has advanced dramatically. We now can tatto animals, use ear tags, and now have numerous different methods of branding.

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Marking animals by branding, tattooing, and putting ear tags in animals is very important when it comes to selling and breeding. Having a way of identifying a black heifer in a heard of a hundred black heifers that all look the same is crucial. It’s important for both the animals health and livelihood of the herd.

Branding animals is quite unique. Many times the same symbol is used to represent a farm, family, or place. Each animal is branded with the same symbol on the same area of the body. There are many websites where you can take a photo of the animal’s brand and figure out what farm it came from. This helps when wanting to know the animals breeding, health concerns, and past information.

Tattooing animals normally happens on the inner lip. This is commonly seen in racehorses and is a well known way of identifying who they are and past racing history. It is a quick and easy way of putting identifications on an animal without disrupting the animals outer body as an ear tag or branding sometimes does.

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Ear tags are a quick and easy was of putting identification on an animal. Just like having your ear pierced, there is a tagging device. This device looks like a big ear piercer. It is quick to use and makes a day of tagging animals easier for the farmer. With one click the tag is in the cow's ear and they are off on their way back to eating and relaxing.

It’s very important to know who owns what animal. A farm near my house had two young heifers run through their fence. They were out on the road for a day or two. The farmer and his working helped looked for hours on end. They searched till the sun went down and at that point had to call it quits and pray the heifers would come back home. Thanks to the ear tags they were able to call into the county and give the local newspaper the two heifers ear tag numbers. Luckily one wandered back home and the other walked up to a neighboring farm where she was moved into a pen and trailered home. Without the ear tags the farm could have easily just kept her as their own. The ear tag provided ownership of the animal and she was able to go back home.

“In more modern times, we have other styles of identification including ear tags, and tattoos, but branding is still used to identify ownership of animals. This is especially important in Western states, where grazing of public lands is vital to raising cattle. Out on the vast ranges cattle can easily wander or get mixed with other herds. Believe it or not, there are still modern-day cattle rustlers to keep an eye out for. Being able to identify an animal’s owner by a brand is critically important.” (Why Are Cattle Branded)

Having identification on each animal is important and crucial to the animals health and makes life much easier for those taking care of it. Many ranches live off the livestock and rely on them alone to bring in a steady income in order to live and support their families.

-Jaksen Curtin

Resources:

Why Are Cattle Branded? (2013, May 06). Retrieved September 14, 2017, from https://agricultureproud.com/2012/06/13/why-are-cattle-branded/