/of F63 CORNELL UNIVERSITY THE THIS BOOK IS THE GIFT OF .. CWyNOw ^iiensWxj^ c^..-^ VojgjaSJD^ Cornell University Library SF 101.F53 The identification of animals by brandin 3 1924 000 934 301 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924000934301 CIRCULAR NO. 2 1-2' '"\^'' ■ S NEW YORK STATE VETERINARY COLLEGE AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY THE IDENTIFICATION OF ANIMALS BY BRANDING AND OTHERWISE BY PIERRE A. FISH ITHACA, NEW YORK JANUARY, 1910 h'o.HhM-&^ PREFATORY NOTE The agricultural law for the State of New York now provides for the branding of cattle suffering from tubercu- losis either as determined by physical examination or tuberculin testing. Tuberculin reactors, if appearing physically sound, may escape branding, if they are to be retained for breeding purposes, provided a description of the animals is filed with the Commissioner of Agriculture and a permit obtained from him for that purpose. The law requires a brand in the form of a letter T not less than two inches high and one and a half inches wide. This is to be applied upon the right side of the neck from six to ten inches back of the jaw bone or upon the forehead. In Colorado, reacting cattle are branded upon the forehead with a perpendicular line not less than three inches high. In certain other states reacting cattle are marked in various ways to identify them. Preference is given by some to excising the letter T or some other symbol from the ear by means of an ear punch. This system has been in vogue in Canada for five years and is said to work very satisfactorily. The experience of others is often of great value in escaping pitfalls and aiding in reaching the desired end more expeditiously. The efficiency of a law is promoted by co-operation, uniformity of method and a minimum of technical detail. Because branding has not been extensively practised in the East, it has seemed desirable to utilize the experience of others supplemented with some experimental work on this subject, with the hope that it might be of some use to the veterinarians of the State in co-operating with the law. Jan. 1910. P. A. P. THE IDENTIPICATION_OF ANIMALS BY BRAND- ING AND OTHERWISE Pierre A. Pish However dissimilar the markings of a given individual may be from other meinbers of the same species, there is always the chance that his counterpart may be found. In commercial transactions certain animals may have their color markings artificially changed so that they may simu- late the appearance of another individual. It is obvious that some mark of identification is needful in the case of the larger domesticated animals when they are kept in large numbers, not closely confined, but allowed to roam over territory that other animals of the same species, but differ- ent ownership, traverse. It is also obvious that some peculiar mark of sufficient size displayed upon a prominent portion of the body renders the identification expeditious and unmistakable. A Bertillon system, with its multiplicity of detail, would be considered too time-consuming in its application to animals to compensate for its accuracy. The need of any system for identification in the human race probably originated, and has since been associated, with criminals, as well as, in the earlier days, with slaves. In barbaric times the infliction of pain upon a fellow being was of little moment and as a hot iron had the property of searing the flesh so that an ineffaceable scar resulted, the system of branding arose. Iii ancient days the Greeks marked their slaves with the stigma; in Rome, runaway slaves fugitivi and thieves fures were branded with the letter F. In later times the custom was still retained and adopted by other peoples. In an article on the ' ' Horrors of San Domingo" it is stated that "if two planters happened to be using the same mark, the brand was placed upon different parts of the body. The heated plate, with an interposing piece of oiled or wa;xed paper, was touched lightly to the body; the flesh swelled and the form of the brand could never be obliterated, . . . (slaves weTe) sold and resold, till their bodies were as thick with marks as an obelisk." The word brand is derived from the old Anglo-Saxoji word irinnan meaning to burn. The term has, to some extent, been diverted from its original meaning, as when used to designate certain brands of wine or articles of food or various other products. The word is also used synonym- ously with mildew, rust and smut to designate the fungoid diseases or blights of grain crops. Even in the branding of animals, there has been, of late, some departure from the original intent of burning with a heated iron. In some localities, so-called branding fluids have been substituted. The end desired, in any case, is the permanent removal of the hair, so that a lasting outline of the symbol can be dis- tinguished. The heat from a branding iron undoubtedly cooks the skin for a greater or less depth at the point of contact and from this center the injury to the skin radiates to a greater or less distance according to the degree of heat employed and the length of time of contact. A claim that has been urged in favor of the use of the so-called branding fluids is that the injury to the skin is not so great. The amount of pain inflicted will undoubtedly vary according to the nature of the fluid, and in some cases it is possible that it may equal in intensity that of the hot iron, although perhaps not equally rapid in effect. Branding in general. — In the United States the brand- ing of the domesticated animals has long been associated with the ranches of the "West. In an article by George W. Rust on Calf Raising on the Plains, in the third Annual Report of the Bureau of Animal Industry published in 1886, some points of practical interest are offered in the matter of branding the western animals. It is desirable that the branding iron should contain sufficient metal to hold the heat some little time. The lines of the brand should possess a proper width. They must be far enough apart. J^ecause if the design is small and in the form of a letter S or M or figure 8, the middle portion or parts between adjiacent lines may also burn. On the plains, the irons are heated mainly in fires niade from the dried droppings of the animals, or "chips" as they are commonly called. The irons are heated as hot as they can be made in such fires and applied quickly with a firm hand. Particular care must, of course, be observed to prevent the iron from being moyed during the struggles of the animal. Large brands are excusable only in those cases where the animals are so wild that one cannot approach them closely and it is there- fore necessary to identify them from a distance. The following information relating to branding has been obtained from quite a wide correspondence and my acknowledgements are tendered to those collectively who so kindly favored me with it. In many of the Western States practically all of the horses and cattle are branded. An animal without a brand is almost public property,- — any one may brand it. A maverick or unbranded weaned calf is anybody's property and is branded whenever caught. In some of the states where cattle are grazed upon the ranches, provision has been made for the registration of brands and "Brand Books" have been issued which show all the brands for animals that have been recorded, together with the names and addresses of the owners. No identification is complete or binding without a brand. All bills of sale and quarantine blanks should^specify brands. No one is entitled to use a brand but the owner. In buying a herd of cattle a person may also buy the brand and therefore, in time, have stock with many brands. The purchased brands die with the cattle and in tbis way many brands become extinct. The seller "ventg" his brand, that is, he rebrands the animal in a certain way Tyhich shows that he has released ownership. A purchaser jnay use his brand in addition to the one already upon the ^jijmal. In this way a number of marks may appear upon -a single individual. In adding these brands it is necessapy 6 to be careful not to deface the original, as this, in some states at least, is a penitentiary offence. In some localities it is said to be almost impossible to originate a new brand, as nearly every conceivable combination of lines, letters and symbols has already been utilized. In such a ease it is necessary for the individual to get some extinct brand and have it re-registered for his own use. It is illegal to possess a branding iron not registered, or to possess one that is registered for some one else. It is also illegal to possess a "running-iron" (a type of branding iron used in earlier days to change and deface brands already used, as for ex- ample to convert the letter E into a B, L into E, etc.). Restraint of animal for branding. The position of the animal will depend upon the portion of the body to be branded. On the ranches where the brand is usually imprinted somewhere upon the side of the animal, the cattle or horses are dragged near the fire where the irons are heating. Three or four or more may be thrown to the ground and restrained so that the iron, if containing metal enough to hold the heat, may be applied to two or three of the animals in succession before being cooled sufficiently to require reheating. If the animal is to be branded upon the forehead, cheek or neck and there are only a few of them to be thus treated, and assistance is limited, the head of the animal may be tied firmly to a strong upright post and the iron applied. This method is, of course, more applicable in the East, where the animals are tame enough to admit of their easy control. The branding period in the West is a general utility time on many of the ranches. While the animal is under restraint the opportunity is also taken to remove the horns in the case of cattle and the testicles in the case of males. On a large ranch the branding time is a hurry-up period and everything is in a rush. The situation is very aptly described in a quotation from the Hon. W. C. Barnes, Dorsey, N. M., in a leaflet published in 1903 by the TJni- versity of Arizona. He says: "In branding time on my ranch we usually cut out from two to three hundred calves, put them into a lane in the corral, cutting calves into one pen and cows into another. One man grabs the calf by the right hind leg, another grabs the tail, gives a quick jerk and the calf is on his side with one man holding his hind legs and another on his neck. No sooner does he hit the ground than a man is at him with the iron while at the same time another man marks and castrates, and this year a third man dehorned with a clipper. With two pairs of men to throw, one to run the irons, one to cut and mark, and one to dehorn, making seven men in all, we have fre- quently branded out ninety calves in an hour and kept it up at that clip for three or four hours." The operation for castration is a hurried one and usually no observable antiseptic precautions can be detected. Parts of body branded. There is no invariable rule as to location. In some cases the whole side of the animal was decorated. This practice was carried on when on account of the wildness of the animal it was necessary to identify it at some distance, and usually from on horseback. In general the shoulder is branded in the horse and the hip in the cow, but horses are also frequently branded on the hip. The left side is usually preferred. It is recom- mended that the brand be placed on the lower portion of the shoulder and hip so that the value of the hide may not be so much affected. Brands may also be placed upon the neck, cheek and forehead. In the army the horses are branded with the symbol U. S. upon the left shoulder. Branding iron. The symbol of the brand should con- tain a sufficient amount of metal to retain the heat for an appreciable length of time. A longer period is, of course, required to get the metal heated to the proper temperature, but the greater legibility of the impression makes it worth while. As the name indicates the metal commonly used is iron, but copper has also been used with great success and is more highly recommended. The size of the brands is growing smaller. More of the western areas are being fenced in and long distance identi- fication is not so common as in the old days. Another factor of undoubted importance is that the large brands caused too much deterioration in the hides and small brands brought greater financial returns when the skins ^were dis- posed of. Temperature of branding iron. Opinions vary in this matter but there seems to be considerable unanimity on the point that, where no artificial means are used, the metal should be as hot as possible. "When ordinary fires are used it is practically impos- sible to get the temperature of the iron hotter than the degree indicated by the color "dull red," "cherry red," "bright red," etc. Better results may be obtained if the metal is at a white heat. The brand is more sharply defined and the period of contact of the hot iron with the skin may be shortened. A portable forge or similar arrangement is necessary, as the white heat cannot be produced without some kind of a blower. The hot iron is of itself a sterilizer and there is not much risk of infection from the wound. Sloughing of the surrounding skin may sometimes occur, but this is gener- ally believed to be due to the improper degree of tempera- ture of the heating iron. Another feature relating to improper temperature is the blurring of certain forms of letters where the lines come together at an acute angle, as W, M, N, etc. The area included in the acute angle is gen- erally indistinct. The denseness of the hair in horses and cattle is a factor which necessitates a greater degree of heat in the metal than was required in the old days when human flesh was branded. In the latter case there was no danger that the mark would be obscured by overgrowing hair but the cicatricial tissue of the wound would serve to permanently differentiate it from the normal tissue. In the hairy animals the scar tissue is not so much to be depended upon as the absence of the hair. The tissue, in time, is more or less overgrown by the adjacent hairs. Degree of pressure and duration of contact. This can be learned only by experience. It has been estimated that with the iron at a red heat a degree of pressure amounting to forty or fifty pounds might be used. The duration of contact will depend upon the pressure, but an average of ten seconds has been estimated with the iron at a red heat. With the iron at a white heat, less pressure and a shorter period of contact would be required — about five seconds have been estimated. In this ease the iron burns quickly and makes a sharply defined brand. In some cases the operator is guided by the color of the area burned. When- a certain coffee-brown color is obtained, the right degree has been reached. This leaves a hairless scar, but there are many grades, as the operation is often overdone or under- done. In all cases there should be firm enough pressure to prevent the displacement of the iron during the struggles of the animal. Some have said to practically burn through the skin. This ought not to be construed too literally if pene- tration of the skin by the metal is meant. The heat from the application of the iron in most cases passes through the entire thickness of the skin and that should be sufficient. In hairy animals the essential factor is to apply sufficient heat long enough to destroy the hair bulbs so that no further growth of hair may occur on the part branded. Healing of the wound. The time required for the healing of the part varies. The wound wiU heal more quickly if the metal has been applied at a white heat. As long a period as two or three months or even longer may be required for the brand to heal. Hair hranding. This term applies to the brief applica- tion of the hot iron to the skin with light pressure. The purpose is to cause a roughening of the hair sufficient to give an outline of the brand. In this case only a few of the hair bulbs are injured or destroyed and the appearance of the brand is not so unsightly as with the heavier brands. This form of branding is often used in connection with 10 valuable animals, especially horses, to avoid a too unsightly blemish. Hair brands are usually placed upon the cheek or neck. This method has also been practised dishonestly by men working on ranges, if not watched. These men may later steal the animals and apply a permanent brand of their own. Age for branding. Age, apparently, is not an impor- tant factor. On the ranches, as a rule, the spring calves are branded at the fall round-up. This would make the usual age about six or seven months. AU calves, however, are branded at this time, and there may be some included only three months of age. Occasionally one or more may have been overlooked in the regular round-up and they then take their turn with the others in the following year. The groivth of the brand. It is an interesting fact that when an animal is branded young, the size of the brand may increase considerably when the adult condition is reached. The location of the brand plays an important part in this matter. A cheek or neck brand does not appear to increase much in size. In the ease of the shoulder and hip, the growth is more noticeable. A brand on the ribs grows and spreads considerably and oftentimes the brand is more or less distorted. A fresh brand 2% to 3 inches in height on the young animal may have attained a size of 5 to 7 or more inches in the adult. The increase may be as great as lOO^o to ISO^o. The damage to hides. Although the brand may not perforate the skin, the heat undoubtedly penetrates it. No process of tanning has yet been devised which will restore the branded portion to the same degree of excellence as the unbranded portions. The pliability of the part is lost and the brittleness is considerably increased. The proprietor of a large tannery who tans leather for belting states that branded leather is not good for that purpose, because on account of its brittleness it breaks easily when put into use. The financial loss on the branded hides as compared 11 with the unbranded will vary in different localities and it will also vary materially according to the size, number and location of the brands. If the brand is of small size and placed on the forehead, cheek, upper portion of neck or low on the shoulder and hip, the depreciation ought not to be so great as if placed higher up or on the side of the animal. In some localities, a branded hide is never considered the equal of an unbranded one, no matter how small the brand nor where located. In the export trade, branded animals usually bring smaller prices. J. Sterling Morton, in his report as Secre- tary of Agriculture for 1896, states that the "prices of many American cattle are lowered because of the deep branding on their hides. It has been estimated that 10% has been deducted from the value of some animals because of the branding upon them. ' ' In the Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ani- mal Industry, 1899, "William R. Fitch, United States Minister at Montevideo, gives information regarding the injury sustained by hides in the branding of cattle in Uruguay. The information relates to a note from the Chamber of Commerce of Rouen, France, in which statistics from the principal tanners of Europe for 1897-8 showed that there were received 813,891 hides branded wjth one mark; 537,476 hides with two marks; and 184,277 hides with three or more marks. This makes a total of 1,535,644 fire-branded hides for that period. The value of the hides decreases with the increased number of brands. The loss on the above total of hides is estimated at about $800,000 in gold, simply because of the brands. Branding fluids. Fluids have been devised for the pur- pose of branding the skin, with the idea that the injury to the hide may not be so great and that its value will be little if at all depreciated after it has undergone the process of tanning. On this point evidence is conflicting, as some dealers are reported as allowing more for the fluid-branded than the fire-branded hides, while others make no conces- 12 sions whatever, simply regarding a brand as a brand no matter how applied. In 1899 references were published in regard to the use of a branding fluid in Australia and New Zealand, whicji was said to give a legible brand and yet not lessen the value of the hide for tanning purposes. Mr. Gordon H. True in a short article on ' ' The Use of Branding Fluid, ' ' published by the University of Arizona in 1903, states that in reply to a communication from him, the registrar of brands for Queensland, Australia, wrote as follows : " A liquid branding material has been patented in New Zealand under the commercial designation of 'Gibson's Branding Liquid.' I submitted it to a severe test in this colony in February last, but although the brands imprinted by its means were legible, it was found when the animals were slaughtered, and the hides tanned, the leather was injured almost to an equal extent with that of the use of the fire brands. The patentees still hope to perfect it so that the hair will be completely removed without injury to the skin." Mr. True also states that the Breeders' Gazette of January 9, 1901, called attention in its editorial columns to a combination of chemicals which it was claimed would take the place of the hot iron in branding cattle. Reports of the successful use of the fluid were said to have come from New Zealand, though conflicting reports as to its use- fulness were received from western cattlemen. The chief advantage claimed for its use was that the value of the hide of the branded animal was not lessened for tanning pur- poses. The composition referred to ' ' consists of equal parts of barium sulphide and coal tar, preferably thinned by a mixture of American potash and water in equal parts by measure, and of spirits of turpentine, each equal in measure to the original composition." Mr. True had a quantity of the mixture prepared and treated two calves with it by dipping an ordinary branding iron into the well mixed fluid and pressing it firmly agajijsrt; 13 the skin of the animal. No scab formed over the surface of the attempted brand. The letters of the brand could not be made out even after clipping the hair. In an endeavor to improve the method he used a wooden form resembling the branding iron but with much wider faced letters, nearly one-half inch instead of three-sixteenths. So far as the application of the fluid was concerned, this appeared to work much better than the iron. Heavy scabs were formed over the whole surface of the brand and it looked as if the operation had been successful. Upon the shedding of the scabs, however, hair grew over a part of the branding, leav- ing only detached bare spots. Mr. Barnes ofi Dorsey, New Mexico, also tried the branding fluid by mixing it in a milk pan and applying with a cold iron. He found that it took a long time for the fluid to penetrate the hair and finally a vigorous calf over- turned the contents of the pan upon the operator. A brush was procured and the fluid was then painted on. This appeared to work all right but required more time than was usually allotted to applying the fire brand. His worst experience seemed to be that after three or four hundred calves had been thus painted and crowded into a small pen, they smeared and rubbed the material all over each other, the sides of the corral and the men's clothing. His conclusion as well as that of Mr. True seemed to be that the hot iron still gives the most satisfactory results. A letter just received from Dr. S. S. Cameron, Chief Veterinary OfSeer for Australia, states that "despite the number of inventions of liquid brands that have been intro- duced from time to time and duly puffed in the press, the old method of the branding iron is still considered the best and is still practised universally throughout Australia." Strong sulphuric acid, also a concentrated solution of caustic potash, will remove the hair and cause scales to form. Various forms of depilatories will remove hair but it is open to question if any of them will produce the same permanent effect as the fire brand. 14 Other methods of marking animals. Tagging has been employed but it is not generally regarded as being very efficient. Tattooing has been, and is still, used and has its advocates. Ear punches are used and meet with consid- erable favor. The dewlap is often mutilated so that a piece of skin with a tuft of down-growing hair results. The actual cautery is sometimes used for branding but the face of the letter or the width of the lines of the symbols are not as a rule sufficiently wide and the result not so satisfactory as that produced by a branding iron. Marking tuberculous or diseased animals. Recently a few states have passed laws requiring the marking of cattle which have been condemned after bein^ tuberculin tested. In Colorado it was ordered in 1907 "that whenever any bovine animal shall be tested by any licensed veterinary surgeon and pronounced by said veterinary surgeon to be affected with tuberculosis, the owner or person in charge of such animal shall brand or cause to be branded, said animal with a perpendicular line not less than three (3) inches long between the eyes which branding shall be done in the presence of said veterinary surgeon. ' ' In New York State the law requires a brand in the form of a letter T not less than two inches high, one and a half inches wide and the face of the letter must be one- fourth of an inch in width. The brand may be placed upon the right side of the neck, six to ten inches back from the jawbone or upon the forehead. In other sections of the country ear punches are being tested for the same purpose. In one section the letter T, for tuberculosis, and in another the letter C, for condemned, is cut from the ear. It is reasonable to assume that laws referring to brands refer to permanent marks. If a condemned cow is not slaughtered soon after the test the brand is not effective a few months later unless it has left an ineffaceable mark. If the law does not specify the method or kind of brand and -some depilatory or a light hair brand is applied and the animal is not slaughtered within a short period, then there 15 are possibilities that the brand will later disappear or be- come obscured and in the hands of unscrupulous persons the animal may be disposed of as sound. In comparison with many of the ranches, the herds of the East' are not large. Fire branding has not been prac- tised to any extent in the East and the veterinarians who test the herds are not by any means as expert in the matter as are those men especially employed for that purpose on the ranches. In many herds only a small percentage of the cattle may react to the tuberculin and more time is con- sumed in the preparation and application of the fire brand for the few than would be required to apply a branding fluid or to punch the ear. Where branding is done on a large scale, as on the ranches, and a force of trained men are employed for that purpose, fire branding is undoubtedly expeditious and satisfactory. A veterinarian branding the reactors, without assistance and possibly against the wishes of the owner, finds a fluid brand more convenient than the iron and furthermore may accomplish his purpose without especially attracting the attention of the owner, which would be impossible with the paraphernalia involved in fire branding. An ear punch cutting out a designated symbol is perhaps even more convenient and expeditious. In addition to the mark identifying the diseased animal many will find it convenient to use smaller and compara- tively inconspicuous marks to designate other data which may be desirable in connection with the animal. For ex- ample, if the letter T is punched from the ear a small circle or slit may also be punched out to indicate the number of retests. A small punch of this character may also be used on healthy cattle to indicate how many times~the tests have been applied. This additional data can also be indicated by the process of tattooing. This has the advantage of being inconspicuous and is permanent if the proper materials are used and are properly applied. Tattooing does not mutilate the ear and there is not much opportunity for the marks to become disfigured. The mark to identify the diseased ani- 16 mal ought, however, to be essentially conspicuous and in this respect the ear punch would appear to have the advan- tage over even an unusually large tattoo mark. Disguising the mark of identification may be possible under any of the systems mentioned. Brands have been disguised and it is no more difficult to disguise a tattoo mark or to mutilate a mark punched into the ear. The best remedy perhaps for attempts of this kind is to make such offenses punishable by law, as is done in certan of the west- ern states in respect to disguising brands. Accidental mutilation of marks punched in the ear may occur, .but this is exceptional. I'he ear punches have been in use in Canada for about five years and very satisfactory results have been claimed. Fire branding is undoubtedly an act of cruelty but when properly performed it leaves a permanent mark. Branding liquids do not apparently cause as much suffering at the time of application, as the animals submit much more readily to the operation than to the iron. But there is the question, when the fluid later penetrates into the skin, if the pain may not be almost as severe as the burn. This will be dependent, of course, upon the nature of the fluid used. The use of the ear punch in cutting out a small portion of the ear may be regarded as scarcely a minor surgical opera- tion. The pain resulting from cutting the insensitive cartilage and the layer of skin on each side of it is of short duration. Furthermore this method has the advantage that healing occurs rapidly and the mark is as permanent as the ear itself. JOURNAL PRINT ITHACA, N. V.