mwj said:
Let me pick a rockinh brand in a pen of Midwest cattle on an 800 lb steer. You are telling me that this steer can be traced by brand alone with no supporting paperwork :shock:
Yes it is possible in a state that brands & has active brand inspection for sale & transport of intrastate & interstate livestock.
Here a case in point story. A semi load of cattle arrived at one of La Junta, CO sale barns. The load wasn't consigned by the owner. The load arrived pre-dawn when the attendant was sound asleep in his bunk and wasn't notified. No bill of lading was left to indicate who the owner was or any other note or paper trail.
The cattle were moved to a separate pen when discovered and the usual brand & vet inspection commenced. The vet quickly noticed some of the cows were obviously sick; drooling, vesicles on the nose. He diagnosed VS a highly contagious disease. Through brand inspection the owner was contacted to come pickup his animals and other than having to disinfect the load chute and pen the cows were in and alley way in between, there was no other contamination to other livestock or the facilities. The whole process took about 6 hours.
Is it a perfect system, No. It a system that works, you bet.