Since 1895, ranch owners have been required to register their ranch brands with first the territory, and later with the state.  The main purpose of the brand was to show proof of ownership at a time where cattle were free range grazing throughout the territory.  In 1908 there were 11,566 brands registered in Arizona, and by 2016 that number dropped to 9, 883.  Today, a brand must be renewed every five years, and it is required to be unique; it is not allowed to be adopted or re-recorded. It was common for cattle rustlers to use a “running iron” to change the appearance of a cattle brand, and while most brand violations are misdemeanors, the intentional changing, altering or disfiguring a brand is a class 4 felony in Arizona. 

Brands are created by using a mix of capital letters either singly or joined in combination, numerals, pictures, and characters.  They are a unique language, and like any language, there are rules on how to read them, or in rancher’s terms, “callin’ the brand.”

Letters:

Can be upright, or “lazy” – laying down.
Can be connected or combined.
Can be reversed.
Can be hanging.

Picture brands are usually used alone.
There are three accepted rules for reading brands.

Read from the left to the right
Read from the top to the bottom.
When a brand is enclosed, it is read from the outside to the inside.

References:
AZ Department of Agriculture, “History of Livestock Brands”
http://www.cowboyshowcase.com/brands.html#origin

Local Brands

Coming soon: 1916

1953: 76 - G, H - N, O - Z

Ranch Brands from a post card given out by the Gadsden Hotel in the 1940's