Branding

What are your favorite brands and why?

Since I do not follow or pay any attention to brands in fashion or most everyday life I will give a little spin to this prompt. Sure, I know that brands dominate my life and flash everywhere before me. In fact, I can look around and see 20 or so without moving but what is the fun in that topic. So here is a history on cow branding, a much more interesting and intriguing concept.

The first known record of livestock branding dates to over 4,700 years ago, depicted in an ancient Egyptian tomb painting, and passages in the Old Testament of the Bible reference brandings. Romans branded cattle, choosing symbols that acted not as identification markers, but as supernatural protection. Our modern-day language is impregnated with allusions to branding. Even the ubiquitous “branding” of marketing departments derives from branding livestock.

The practice came to America by way of European travelers.After they became more widely used by ranches, custom branding irons were made to differentiate one ranch’s herd from another. Variations of brands like crazy, lazy, flying, running and walking soon populated the West to ensure that a ranch’s insignia stood out.

Besides the traditional hot branding, other methods include electric brands, which use an electric heating element, and freeze branding, which uses dry ice or liquid nitrogen to chill the iron.

Today the branding iron’s use can be seen as a wood burning tool, custom branding steak or barbecue, and marking livestock in the same tradition that has been practiced for thousands of years.