The Wild

Daily writing prompt

What are your favorite brands and why?

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Have you ever wondered where the term Brand comes from? Have you considered what it is your actually saying when you choose a brand – and proudly display your affiliation.

I grew up on a grain farm. They call it a grain farm because that is what we did. We farmed grain. Mostly wheat, but also barley and canola. Those crops made up the majority of our production.

A few miles north of us one of my uncles ran a feedlot. He lived there with his family in a small house that the company provided. They were good decent folk, and I would often visit or spend time with my cousins there.

Feedlots are miserable places where cattle are sent to be fattened up. They are an extension of our modern factory farming system. High density, and high production – essentially they are designed with one factor in mind. Efficiency. To his credit my uncle is a good and decent man. He managed the operation very well. Not only for the animals, but for his men too.

I would have been about ten when I got my introduction to branding. It was late, the sun had set, and the men were relaxing in the house after a long day. I was playing with my cousins when the commotion started.

An unexpected cattle truck had rolled into the yard and the driver was demanding that the cattle be unloaded. My uncle was away, and the men made a call. “Back to work!” While they were suiting up someone suggested that I come along and help. “You can do the branding” one man said as we walked out to the receiving area.

Branding is a practice that has been around for a very long time. It is the most ancient means of identifying and marking animals (or people) that are your property.

I will never forget the sound of hot metal burning through hair and flesh as I pressed the red-hot branding iron into the flank of the first animal. It bellowed and thrashed, but the man beside me held my arm when I thought to draw back.

“You need to hold it there for a couple seconds so the mark is clear” he yelled over the noise of the animal bleating in the cattle collar.

Then the smell hit me. Burning hair and flesh, which was quickly followed by the rank odor of shit and urine as the cow voided itself into the grating under the cattle chute. There was another smell too – something heavy and metallic. I guess it must have been the smell of fear.

I have no idea what was on my face at that moment. Perhaps my revulsion showed clearly, or maybe I had gone slack and pale with the shock of sensory overload. The man beside me must have seen something, because he quickly decided that I was too young for the work. I only did the one brand, and then was sent away.

As I walked back to the house I felt that I had failed. The feeling was fleeting.

Shortly after my introduction to the cowboy life our family gave up on the farm and moved to the city. I would never hold a hot brand again.

I guess you could say that this early experience made me brand conscious in a way that few modern consumers can appreciate.

Somewhere deep in my consciousness is that poor cow, pissing and shitting itself every time I see someone with a brand stamped on their t-shirt or handbag.

I wont call it contempt – but I certainly cant say I approve. Not for animals, and not for people. Next time you go shopping, take a moment and really consider the history and meaning of the word BRAND.

Stay Wild!