Thousands of Cattle Brands Set to Expire

Listen Now

Cattle branding's still the way to mark ownership of livestock in the West. But July 1st is the last hurrah for several thousand Colorado brands. It's the final deadline for Coloradans to pay the fee that gives them the rights to their brand, so we figured it would be a good time to check in with Rick Wahlert. He's the director of Brand Inspection for the Department of Agriculture. Wahlert spoke to Zachary Barr, and he began by talking about his memories of branding cattle on his family's ranch in northeastern Colorado.