Ranch Rorschach Test

[Kali]

below are a couple photographs of a livestock brand. brands are required by law for identifying livestock in my state, they are permanent and good ones are hard to alter - sort of like a good internet password. some people anthropomorphize the pain they imagine a calf feels when receiving a brand but forget the animals live outdoors and spend their lives doing things to each other and to the brush and trees that are much worse with little to no effect at all. to me (and I have accidentally branded myself any number of times) it seems to be about the equivalent of a fast burn that does not even blister, on a less sensitive part of the body such as your back or outside of your knuckles.

A well done brand is will be easy to read, and can even grow hair back on it, but in a raised pattern so you can still read the brand. A shitty one that blotches or makes to much of a scab will be hard to read and sometimes leaves a big lump of scar tissue.

This young cow walked into our headquarters corrals a few days ago. I did not recognize her and thought maybe she was one we missed branding when she was young, but then I saw she did have a brand on her right hip. I could not read it (and I am pretty good at it, if I may brag a bit) so today I put her in the sqeeze chute (read about them from Temple Grandin, they are a restraining device that keeps a large dangerous animal from struggling and hurting themselves or their handlers) so I could get close and feel around with my fingers to see if there was more scarring under the hair or what.

Brands are read right to left, then top to bottom. they can be in various positions, for example a figure on its side might be "lazy" or tumbling, or reversed. they can be humorous such as the famous 2 lazy 2 P.





Brands are classified in a book in a specific order - numerical, then alphabetical, then various shapes (heart, diamond, rafter, bar etc), finally with "miscellaneous." with this book, if you can read the brand you can look it up like a code and in the index there is a list of who owns the brand and their address. But you gotta be able to read the brand.

some examples:


this is the four F




old Joe the Horse had a four spear (arrow) on his left thigh




these boots have a Rocking R (aka R rocker)




here is a random image from google, a bar N if I am correct (LOL duh the link says that is what it is)








so back to the stray and my attempt to figure something out. I want you to scroll down and look at the two pictures. Give me the FIRST impression of what you see. don't overthink or analyze until you record your very first impression. I am hoping you guys can help be get a starting point for searching my brand book. None of the neighbors near me brand on the right hip and I am just baffled about what I am looking at or who this animal must belong to.

so, give me a few guesses and lets see if any of us are seeing something similar
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[riderinthestorm]

1. A flaming torch when I look at it one way

And a stylized bird with outstretched wings when I look at it the other way.

Are you sure its not an old gash scar? That's what I really think it looks like...

[Kali]

2. I have almost never seen a scar on a young cow.

bulls will have them, but they all have such tough hides it really takes a serious injury to break their skin, especially on the "topside" (in contrast don't LOOK at a horse wrong LOL)

to me anything "mechanical" that would have caused a scar that size would have caused it to be so much deeper - this is thin and quite pliable (for the location). it has to be a brand.

[riderinthestorm]

5. Ah well I have zero experience with cattle.

My first guess was that she'd had a run in with a t-post. The bulge with the two "wings" reminded me of the bottom end of it - like she was struck somehow. Or caught up in barbed wire

I'll be really curious what the brand turns out to be.

Thanks for the mini-lesson on branding! Good luck

[Kali]

8. if I ever find out I will update this for sure!

I sent these to the Livestock inspecter and he is baffled too. I will probably post a couple notices in the feed store and post office, and if nothing comes of that she will have to go to the state as a stray. In which case I might be able to buy her after they hold her for however long they do that. she IS a nice young cow and seems right at home here

[Ptah]

3. I'm stumped.

It looks like a cobblers hammer?

[Kali]

9. yeah kind of

I am baffled.

[haele]

4. A popecicle? An otherwise faboulous person?

Looks kind of like a bust of a person in a tall hat with the right hand over the heart (or on the hip) and the left hand outstretched on a stick.

Or a bird, like a cormorant (diving bird) with either a long neck or long tail.

Or an upside down L (or reverse P) over a line (or pole) poorly branded on the cow.

On edit, could she be a stray from Mexico? Are you close enough from the border that she might have crossed, or got caught up on barb wire on the way over?

Haele

[Kali]

10. I am a little far for livestock to wander, though it does happen a lot right ON the border

interestingly a lot of Mexican brands are quite ornate and intricate - much closer to the old Spanish styles. whatever this is, was probably a fairly simple design that blotched a little and makes it hard to figure out.

[taterguy]

6. TFLDR

[Kali]

7. but there are pichurs

did you look at them?

[Paulie]

11. Is it symmetrical? Can't tell how high above the circular area

Looks like an elongated 4 point star.

[Kali]

14. no not symmetrical

the top right "branch" is slightly curved like a backwards c and the blotch in the "center" is not symmetrical at all

but hellifino what it is

[Tuesday Afternoon]

12. CL

The L is upside down ... do people use the letter C ... ?

CJ

LL

[Kali]

15. all letters and numbers can be used

if this turns out to be some kind of injury and not a brand I sure am going to be embarrassed

[Tuesday Afternoon]

18. I do think it looks like it could be a scar, from an injury, maybe a barbed wire fence ... ?

[GoCubsGo]

13. It looks like a peacock's head.

Was going to say a goose head until I noticed the little doohickey on top.

[Kali]

16. I can sort of see that

but I sure don't know of any brands like that


this is turning into a good mystery

[Tuesday Afternoon]

19. I also thought of a bird head ... I can see that. Yes. n/t

[Duer 157099]

17. Is Cap'n Hook missing his cow?

Or perhaps the Corner Bar?

I wish I knew more about branding. Are they always done in a certain orientation?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

20. The Hook ... The Jolly Hooker Ranch ...

[Kali]

24. I am reminded of a couple of things

one is a set of three letters - a letter T between two Js that are laying sideways with the curl each facing the T and facing up - so that one J is lazy and one is lazy reversed.

the brand is called the hookety hook


then there is the Hooker Hot Springs, (aka the Muleshoe Ranch - another brand) a famous old place now owned by The Nature Conservancy http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/arizona/placesweprotect/muleshoe-ranch-cma.xml

hate to give them hits but there it is

[AnneD]

27. Sometimes ....

cattle rustlers will try to alter a brand. They do this with a short straight bar. Maybe you have a 4J'ed brand (but thieves are rarely THAT clever). It looks like an upside down J. Around the J might be scarring, maybe loss of hair from infection from the site

[Kali]

30. yeah, but she is pretty young to have passed through many hands

plus it still leaves the problem of what it is supposed to be and the fact that nobody in the "neighborhood" here seems to use the right hip.

[AnneD]

42. It is most likely ...

a scar.

[Autumn]

21. It could be an old Spanish brand but that looks like a scar from an injury to me,

If that's a brand it sure as hell is a piss poor one. How far are you from Mexico? Looking at it sideways it could be a flying something.

[Kali]

25. I am a good 50 miles north

I have been trying to remember if I have EVER seen a real cut or tear injury on a bovine (that wasn't actually dead) other than ears or tails chewed off by dogs, and I can't. Never seen one.

it might be a flying something, that is pretty common, as well as walking but the brand book is sorted numerically, then alphabetically. (and there are thousands in the state)

someday it may get computerized (images are so much harder) then you could sort things by say, location or a feature like wings/flying and pull up all of the brands that have whatever criteria you want.

all I have on this is "right hip" because I can't tell WTF that is

[Autumn]

26. I remember helping Dad stitch up a large gash on a cow,

he used to keep large needles, pliers and a thick thread in a box under the truck seat. Have you shaved the hair around the brand or scar? That might clear it up a little and maybe you can make something out.

[Kali]

31. I was going to clip her when we had her in the chute

but I could feel with my fingers that there wasn't anything else there, might do it anyway for a picture. sometimes you see things in a photo that you don't in real life - that was what I was sort of hoping would happen with these pictures.

I have stitched up plenty of horses and a dog or two, but I really can't remember that kind of injury on a cow. broken legs, snake bite, bones and other things stuck in mouths but not a cut or gash that I can think of.

[LiberalEsto]

22. Middle Finger?

[Kali]

32. OMG!!!!

a sign! I love it.

[geardaddy]

43. With a thumb stuck out.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

23. First thing that came to mind

was a Cobra... or a Copperhead, considering the color of the hide.

Good luck!

[Kali]

33. snake head...

interesting, will look in the misc. section, I know there are some snakes and of course rattles from rattlers.

[jmowreader]

28. Maybe the Highly Optimistic Coyote Ranch?

I look at the curve at the top and think perhaps a medium-size predator tried to take the cow down and just ripped off a piece of hide.

[Kali]

34. dogs or inexperienced coyotes usually take tails

or chew their asses out. the hide on the dorsal surface is the thickest and toughest. think about all the "alien surgery" stories - the missing genitals are due to that area being the eastiest place for predators or scavangers to begin eating.

Lions will sometimes grab the hind end with their front claws but I would thing to get that kind of wound there would have to be a similar one on the other side. I had a horse come home once with two huge rips above each hip. we always figured it had to have been a lion.

[Duer 157099]

29. Tumbling Flying Reverse 7 Ranch?

This is as good as the Friday Art Challenge!

[Kali]

35. hahahaha!

it is a good puzzle. too bad I don't have the answer, waiting until I get 50 replies or something.

[Duer 157099]

37. Not buying it?

I dunno...

[Duer 157099]

36. Oh! Now I see it! It was upside down!!

Someone is sayin' "Hi!"

( )

[Kali]

38. OMG

and a little . sure but it is so him, ya know? thanks

[freshwest]

39. I see a Christian cross, period. Nothing else. Christopher Ranch, something like that? n/t

[Kali]

40. dang! you are onto something I think

there is a plain cross and on the right hip in AZ, but it is up near Winslow

but that gives me a few other things to look for - I think the top of the "cross" has a curve, what I know as a crescent or a quarter circle so I will look through the book for some more possibilities around here.

[freshwest]

41. The curves remind me of a Celtic cross:

Sans the circle in the middle. Also called the Irish or cloverleaf cross. May give you more names to extrapolate from.

[Kali]

44. ***UPDATE***

it was a freaking H! nothing but a letter H!


seems a non-contiguous neighbor has subleased his place and these animals belonged to the leasee.

I filed a claim for "gathering" and feeding. Nice little bonus I have passed along. Well part of it anyway hay ain't cheap these days.

Wonder if this will kick back up?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

45. that is the weirdest looking "H" I ever did see

What does it stand for ... ?

Anyway, at least you got some cash out of it. That is always nice.

[Kali]

46. yeah, it is a pretty sloppy mark for sure

but it has 4 "legs" and connected in the middle so I can make it fit in my mind. no idea the origins, the owners name didn't start with an H but it could be an older family brand or something.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

47. well then, if it is good enough for you, it is plenty good for me.

good to see you tonight

[Kali]

48. yeah, good to see you too

I am not for much longer, I am afraid - fading fast.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

49. yeah, me too.

Early day tomorrow. night, Kali.

[sendero]

50. Did you mean...

.... "Brands are read right to left, then top to bottom. they can be in various positions, for example a figure on its side might be "lazy" or tumbling, or reversed. they can be humorous such as the famous 2 lazy 2 P."?

Because if so that brand would read pee lazy two two.

[Inkfreak]

51. Pretty sure that cow belongs to Nike.