My iron in the fire

One of the rites of passage of a cowboy's life is the day you get your own brand. I remember the first time I took my iron out of the fire as all work stopped in the corral. I knew then that this town kid with no ranch and little cash had arrived. I doubt that calf realized the honor being bestowed on it as it became the first to carry my brand. I'd branded cattle before, but I was still nervous about putting it on upside down or blotchy so I practiced for a week ahead of time, but branding a corral board is a little different than branding a squirmy calf.

You don’t get to choose your own name in life, but you should be able to pick your brand. It will forever be your identity in the cow business, and when your cattle hit the auction ring, everyone present will see if you’re a good cowman or a pretender. Everyone always knew I was a gyppo trader because there was always plenty of reading material on my cattle.

I never have writer’s block, but I remember having a brain freeze when I tried to come up with my brand. First I tried using my initials L and P. I tried laying the P on its back, but that either looked like I was dead or lazy. If I laid the P over on its front it gave the impression I was face down in the dirt drunk and couldn’t stand up for myself. I got so desperate I even considered the well known 2 lazy 2 pee brand but that ruined the whole P concept for me.

I considered using just my initials but as a kid I remember every album you bought had on it in big letters L P. It stood for “long playing,” and I didn’t want my identity in the cow business to be that I was a gas bag. So I tried reversing my initials and came up with P and L, which made it sound like all I cared about was getting filthy rich.

We should thank our forefathers for coming up with great ways to enhance our initials. You can make them walk, run, swing, hang, drag, tumble, hook and fork. Still I didn’t want it recorded in brand books that I rocked or rolled. My initials didn’t look good in a box, and when I made them tumble it looked like my brand was a crazy LP. Enough people think that already and I don’t need to reinforce the idea.

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