Posted 1:31 am Sunday, January 22, 2012
Make Your Mark: Re-Register, Deter Cattle Rustling
By ADAM RUSSELL
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
Each time Joe Prud'homme or one of his four ranch hands put the Seven P Ranch brand on a spring calf, it signifies more than an identifier to deter thieves or mark his product.
To him, the brand signifies family. It signifies a promoting tool for quality that Prud'homme stands behind. It signifies 40 years of his life's work, a 50-plus year marriage to a driven Texas cattlewoman and the gains and losses in the market and in life.
Prud'homme and his late wife Mary created the brand in 1973 when he began breeding cattle near Winona. It was a simple brand, he said. Much simpler than the JLP brand he used as a high schooler and college student/cattleman in the 1950s. JLP became a jumbled mess on the rump of a calf, he said.
The Seven P, a combination of the number seven with the bowl of a P jutting from its vertical line, represents Prud'homme, Mary and their five children -- seven Prud'hommes.
"The cattle brand is romanticized, but you have to have it to protect the herd and the industry, but it also identifies you," he said.
Every 10 years, county clerk offices around the state re-register brands. The deadline to re-register existing brands is Feb. 29. After the re-registration deadline passes, all brands that have not been renewed will become "open brands" for the general public.
Brand marks have been used to identify livestock ownership for thousands of years. The Egyptians and Romans used fire brands to mark livestock. Spaniards brought the practice to North America. Mexican vaqueros improved the method in early frontier Southwest, where there were no fences and free ranging cattle were the norm. Brands helped the cowboys separate herds during round-ups before they were sold.
Richard Chisholm owned perhaps the first recorded brand, registered in Gonzales County in 1832, according to the Texas State Historical Association. Recording brands was provided for but not rigidly enforced after Texas became a Republic in 1836.
Smith County was formed in 1846, and its available brand and livestock mark records date back to 1873. Early records show most Smith County ranchers notched their cattle's ears in a distinct way rather than use brands. Some combined ear notches and brands.
Larry Hand, a special agent for the Texas and Southwest Cattle Raisers Association, said brands emerged as the most basic and effective method to identify livestock ownership. Hand said brands can be viewed from two perspectives -- their practical use as a deterrent to cattle rustlers and their symbolic and historic significance within the industry and individual ranches.
"Some particular brands and the branding irons themselves have been in a family for a number of years or generations so history and nostalgia plays a big part," Hand said.
Brand records have several applications, including their use in criminal investigations, for disease traces by the USDA, and to determine ownership of stray animals.
The association's special rangers have seen a rise in livestock thefts in recent years. The association reported 28,399 cattle and horses stolen or reported missing between 2007 and October 2011. Those numbers escalated from 2,400 in 2007 to 7,700 in 2010.
With beef prices on the rise, Hand said ranchers should mark their cattle with more than ear-tags which can be easily removed.
Cattle raisers are not required to brand cattle, but they are required to register brands with the county clerk if they do mark their animals. Registering became necessary as a way to officially record individual brands and ensure they did not share similar characteristics with other nearby ranches.
In 2001, during the last re-registration period, county clerks across the state registered more than 102,000 individual brands, according to the cattle association. Ranches can and do register more than one brand, which can signify specific breeds or barns within the ranch, Hand said. Brand location, such as on the left hip or right shoulder, allow individual ranches to share brands.
Smith County registered 364 brands in 2001. Since the registration period began in August 2011, 65 ranches have re-registered.
Hand said technology has improved in the past 80 years with the advent of computer chips and tattoos, but brands remain the best deterrent for cattle thieves. An individual can register brands, earmarks, tattoos and electronic devices in as many counties as needed for livestock ranging from cattle to goats and hogs.
"Fire branding is the most proven, economical and visible permanent way to mark your cattle, and it is all of those things," Hand said.
Hand said cattle theft has been on the rise in recent years. With the price of beef expected to continue its climb, Hand said ranchers who don't brand now should consider it. When designing a brand, Hand said simplicity is best. Ranchers should be wary of designs that could be easily altered to appear like other marks, but complex designs can become muddled.
Designs should have enough space to be distinguishable when applied, he said.
"Ranchers should use what works for them, what they are interested in and what is nostalgic or historic for them," he said. "But in the back of their head they need to be mindful of what can be altered."
Prud'homme has used every type of branding equipment, including electric and freeze brands, but "fire-branding" with a heated iron was the best way for his operation.
Not every Prud'homme calf gets the Seven P mark on its left hip. His ranch has practiced selective breeding of Simmentals, Brahmas and Herefords for decades and only calves that "measure up" are branded.
Not every cattle-raiser handles full-bred cattle or practices the same scrutinizing production regimen as ranches such as the Seven P, Hand said. But in an industry that still, despite technology and time, turns on a handshake between buyers and sellers and is susceptible to crime, a rancher's brand is as important as ever.
"We're known by our brand," Prud'homme said. "The thing that is important to us is integrity and standing behind what you do and you don't just get that overnight."
