June 30, 2010
Branded, but not for life
In just a couple of hours, a number of cattle brands–some in the same families for over a century–are set to expire:
Cattle branding’s still the way to mark ownership of livestock in the West. But July 1st is the last hurrah for several thousand Colorado brands. It’s the final deadline for Coloradans to pay the fee that gives them the rights to their brand, so we figured it would be a good time to check in with Rick Wahlert. He’s the director of Brand Inspection for the Department of Agriculture. Wahlert spoke to Zachary Barr, and he began by talking about his memories of branding cattle on his family’s ranch in northeastern Colorado.
comments
Leave a Reply
whew, had me worried. for a minute ther i thought the old Ponderosa pine brand would be nothing but a memory….