The cutting of marks in the ear seems to be the more primitive and, perhaps, the easier, as involving less need of tools or apparatus; but it is difficult to give sufficient variety to enable many farmers to have each a distinctive mark. One slit, or more, in the right or left ear, a “swallow-tail” in one and a slit in the other, or a hole punched with a wad cutter, are among the most common; but all are liable to be torn off by dogs or wild animals; and the hole in the ear is especially objectionable, as the creature itself is almost sure to tear it through by scratching with his hinder foot.
Moreover, almost all are liable to be altered should the marked property fall into dishonest hands; and most farmers, and, it may be said, all traders, now employ the branding iron—fashioned to represent either their own initials or some arbitrary sign, as a cross, a square, a triangle, a circle or any segment of it, a star of any particular number of rays, the figure formed by crossing two triangles (as here shown).
In America, and some other countries, it is requisite on the purchase of animals—horses and mules especially—that the traveller should not only get a receipt for his purchase money, but get indorsed on it by the seller his acknowledgment of the new owner’s counter-brand, in manner as follows: “Received of Capt. ——, the sum of —— dollars, in payment for a brown mare mule. Seller’s brand, O. B.; buyer’s brand, W. Signature, &c.” The new brand should be placed under the old one, and unless these precautions are taken the new purchaser stands a very excellent chance of having his recently-acquired stock seized on at some frontier post, and detained until the legality of the transfer has been ascertained. It is sometimes agreed on that the owner shall renounce all claim to an animal by reversing his own brand above that originally made by him, thus,
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There are tales, however, of certain dwellers at a distance from the law who have acquired considerable skill in altering the marks of any stray cattle that may fall into their hands, and this is an operation requiring no little skill, for should the mark be old, an iron made too hot will burn the addition in so deeply that it will for a long time display an air of freshness not in accordance with the original. Some initials are very easy of alteration; thus, C may be converted into O, or Q, or G; I may be made at least into thirteen letters without increasing its size, which, when it is used in combination with others, is a point of considerable importance, and into several more if a slight increase may be ventured on. P may become B or R, and L or F may be changed to E. It may be well for us to point out to those who have charge of Government stock, or are likely to have stolen animals offered them for sale, that the thief not unfrequently sees fit to adopt an anchor as his brand, as, if it is of proper size, the broad arrow, by the addition of the stock and flukes, makes a very respectable one. We have heard of an unscrupulous colonist who branded all his cattle with a frying pan, and had no particular place on which to apply it; thus, no matter what the brand on a stray horse or ox might be, he had nothing to do but to clap the red hot disk above it, and his own mark speedily and effectually obliterated every other. It is said that he afterwards repented, and, in proof of it, led a most exemplary life in a Government department for fourteen years.
It is a good plan to have a small iron and to brand cattle upon the horns, as it is impossible to efface the mark by any process that would not betray itself. This iron may also be used for branding small articles—such as tent poles, yokes, waggon-gear, or anything in the traveller’s possession—not only as a precaution against theft, but as a means of affording an indication of his fate should he perish, as many a poor fellow has done in a gallant but fruitless effort to explore an unknown country.