Reading Brands
Posted by: 
MNSearchers
N 44° 21.910 W 100° 21.326
14T E 391997 N 4913325
For many new livestock owners, the art of reading a brand is a mystery . Brands, to the inexperienced, resemble hieroglyphics; to the experienced livestock person, however, they become a readable language.
Waymark Code: WM1M14
Location: South Dakota, United States
Date Posted: 05/29/2007
Views: 40
With practice and an understanding of some important brand terms, the average person can easily acquire basic skills in reading brands.
Brands have a language all their own. That language, like any other, follows certain rules. The ability to read these symbols is referred to as "callin' the brand."
Brands are composed of capital letters of the alphabet, numerals, pictures, and characters such as slash /, circle O, half-circle , cross +, _bar, etc., with many combinations and adaptations. Letters can be used singly, joined, or in combinations. They can be upright, XIT XIT ;
lying down or "lazy," (lazy S); connected VB connected( V B connected) or combined,VB combined (V B combined); reversed, reverse B (reverse B);
or hanging V hanging S (V hanging S). Figures or numbers are used in the same way as the letters.
Picture brands are usually used alone, for example ladder brand (ladder) or rising sun (rising sun).
There are three accepted rules for reading brands.
1. Read from the left to the right as ML (M L).
2. Read from the top to the bottom as bar M (bar m).
3. When the brand is enclosed, it is read from the outside to the inside ascircle S(circle S).
The reading of a brand, especially the more complicated ones, in one locality or state may not correspond to the way it is read elsewhere.
Mexican brand...is it a bar Z or a Bar 7 quarter circle? Hard to tell.Today, with the influx of Mexican horses from south of the border, we see a lot of odd, hard to read "scripty" brands, a little reminiscent of the old elaborate Spanish brands. Many of them look like they are applied with a "runnin' iron." Unlike a pre-shaped, stamp style branding iron, a running iron is a straight or curved piece of metal that is heated and then the brand is drawn rather than just stamped on the animal.
Marker Name: Reading Brands
Marker Type: City
Marker Text: Not listed
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