Texas Branding Iron Styles

A brand on a cow or a horse indicates to whom the animal belongs. Historically it was used to keep track of cows and horses on the open range. Without fences, animals from different herds would mingle, and branding made it easy to separate them when the time came to move them. Texas branding iron styles are an important part of the state's history and heritage.

  1. Early Texas Branding Styles

    • The earliest Texas branding iron styles came from Spain. They were almost always pictures or symbols of some sort and were quite decorative. Hispanic branding iron styles indicated both the owner of the cow and what family the owner belonged to. When a rancher started with his first herd of cattle, he would brand them with the symbol of his choice. Then when his sons got cows of their own, they would alter their father's brand slightly by adding a curlicue or pendant. This practice would continue in each new generation.

    Anglo-Texan Branding Styles

    • In the early 19th century after it gained independence from Spain, Mexico encouraged Americans to immigrate to what later became Texas. These new Anglo-Texans preferred simpler brands, usually based on the rancher's initials. The first recorded brand in Texas history is believed to belong to famous Texas cattleman Richard Chisholm. Over time, Texas brands evolved to include often clever combinations of pictures and initials. For example, one Texas rancher named A. Coffin used a brand that looked like the letter A inside a coffin.

    Texas Branding Iron Styles Today

    • Today, Texas brands must be registered with the county clerk. There are now two types of branding irons in use: hot irons and freeze brands. Hot irons are heated over a fire and then pressed into the animals' flesh to burn off hair and the top layer of skin, leaving a permanent scar. Freeze brands are cooled with liquid nitrogen and turn all the hair touched by the branding iron white. Some Texas brands have been used by the same ranch for more than a century. For example, King Ranch's Running W brand has been registered since 1869. In the 1940s, Texas made all ranchers who wanted to keep using their brands re-register them in order to allow brands that were no longer being used to be recycled.

    Identification

    • To identify a brand, you need to know what the different symbols associated with branding mean. Letters are easy to read, but they only tell half the story. To decipher the brand, you also need to look at the position of the letter and any attached symbols. For example, if a letter is horizontal, it's "lazy." A horizontal M would be read as "Lazy M." Wings on a letter translate to "flying." The King Ranch's "Running W" brand is "running" because the sharp corners on the "w" are changed to loose curves. When it comes to reading brands, there are three general rules: read from right to left, read from top to bottom and read from the outside in (for letters enclosed by another symbol).