Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 September 1891 — LIVE STOCK. [ARTICLE]

LIVE STOCK.

Branding Cattle. The Clarendon (Tex.) News gives the science of branding in the following exposition: The object of branding is to produce another and different crop of hair where the irons touch, which may be clearly distinguished from the other hair about it. This is effectually done by burning the outer cuticle of the skin. To burn deep does not improve the brand in the least. The iron should be heated to a dark cherry red and quickly applied. When the burn is almost instantaneous, giving but an instantaneous sting, when the pain ceases, as has been a thousand times proven be the actual cautery to the human subject. If a half heated iron is held to the skin a long time it cooks through the skin and makes an ugly sore, which subsequently gives the animal great pain. It is true that there is a good deal of this sort of inhuman branding done. It is Inhuman and injurious to the hide of the animal for purposes of leather. It is also true that a burn on the outer cuticle will ultimately show through the entire thickness of the skin, owing to the changes that take place in the skin in consequence of cicatrix on the surface. Leather is tougher, firmer, and more durable where brands have teen applied than where they have not. The only drawback is, that it will not finish smoothly over the brands. In other words, the more a side of leather has been properly branded the better it is for wear.