This facsimile reproduces The Stockman's Brand Book for Keya Paha County, Nebraska, compiled by Otto Mutz and originally published in 1902 by George Brothers Printers of Lincoln, Nebraska. Dedicated to the stockmen of the Northwest, the book served as a portable field reference enabling ranchers, lawmen, and neighbors to identify branded cattle and horses on sight. As Mutz noted in his preface, a stockman carrying the brand book could quickly identify a stray animal's owner and send a postal card to notify them — saving days of riding and potentially recovering a valuable animal. At the same time, the book made cattle theft far riskier, since the evidence needed to identify stolen stock was now in every man's pocket.
The book is organized by precinct — Burton, Custer, Garfield, Holt, Keya Paha, Mills, McGuire, Norden, Pine, and Simpson — with each entry listing the stockman's name, post office, range location, brand reading and size, registration type (state, county, or individual), and breed of stock raised, including Durham, Hereford, Short Horn, Polled Angus, Red Polled, and mixed herds. The book also reproduces a useful summary of Nebraska livestock laws, covering brand registration and confliction rules, the estray law and disposition of unclaimed animals, the herd law governing stock damages, the hide registry law requiring butchers and hide purchasers to maintain inspection records, and criminal statutes relating to animals. Practical reference tables for estimating hay tonnage in stacks and bushels of ear corn in storage cribs round out this handbook of open-range cattle country at the turn of the twentieth century.
5.5" x 8.5". 120 pages.
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