Officials Remind Cattle Owners to Register Brands or Lose Them

Here's a little factoid about the cattle industry you may not know.  Cattle brands are like trade-marks and copyrights.  They have to be registered, and the registration has to be renewed every ten years or the brand goes up for grabs in the public domain.  That means anybody can use it. This is especially important for cattle owners who've had to move their stock to greener and safer pastures because of the unrelenting drought and out of control wildfires.

Some owners have been forced to open their gates and let their herds roam free to escape the fires.

Officials and cattlemen say that's why it's important to keep brands current and registered so owners can identify their cattle.

They say if your cattle get out, or if the drought forces you to move them, or let them out to escape a fire, having their brand on file at the county clerk's office allows the cattle to be traced to their rightful owner.

It's a legal and permanent way for cattlemen to keep track of their beef.

via If you don't register cattle brands before February, they could - KTRE.com Lufkin and Nacogdoches |.

Angelina County Clerk Joann Chastain says her office has registered cattle brands on file that go back more than 100 years.  She says some families who got out of the cattle business years ago keep their brands registered anyway so they can keep it in the family, even if they don't plan on using it.