Division of Animal Industry's Brand books, 1849-1930

Any results found will provide a link to the matching Brand book online, though researchers will then have to navigate to the correct page number provided by the index.

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Utah State Archives Series 540

Brand books contain all livestock brands and ear marks registered with the State Department of Agriculture. Livestock is assumed to include all types of animals raised for pleasure or for profit. The 1917 law was the first to specifically mention cattle, horses, and mules as livestock [ Laws of Utah, chapter 105 (1917)], although the brands of these and perhaps other animals may have been recorded before then. Subsequent revisions of the brand law expanded the definition of livestock to include several other animals.

The first surviving book in the series is an 1874 cumulation that records all brands that had been issued in the territory since 1849. A second cumulative brand book was published in 1884 covering the previous ten years, followed by several supplements. The practice of regularly rerecording brands every ten years started in 1901. The pattern was to publish a cumulative issue with supplementary books published more frequently that would include all new brands registered since publication of the last cumulative issue. Brands and marks not renewed were dropped from the brand book and could be reassigned.

Regular cumulative issues start with the 1901 edition, but some issues are not included in Archives holdings. Beginning in 1976, cumulative issues start appearing at five year intervals. Many annual supplements are also missing from the series as well; and it is possible either that both the supplements and cumulative issues were never published, or that copies were simply not found in the series when it was processed. Laws required publication of supplements only "as often as was deemed necessary".

Entries in the brand books include the brand symbol, name of the person registering the mark or brand, the location on the body of the animal, county of residence of the applicant, and the date the brand was recorded. Graphic illustrations of where the marks and brands appeared on the body were added to the books with the 1901 volume. Brand registry numbers were added beginning in 1922.

Finding Aids: A series inventory is available.