Registering our brand

If you own cattle, you need to put your brand on them. That’s a requirement to claim ownership and avoid theft. For that you need to register the brand with the local authorities where the farm is located.

This is how it works in Chepo, Panama.

First you need to present your identification and pay a fee. An office clerk fills out a number of forms and sends you to the cashier.

After paying $16 one takes the receipt and the forms to the secretary of the district administrator who will make a new entry into the book of brands. As you can see that’s done in handwriting and the brands are drawn on top of the sentences that describe the official act. Most brands are simply letters while a few use a symbol. One farmer before us actually registered the Dollar sign as his brand. So let’s hope he makes a lot. ;-)

As the iron has the brand upside down here the secretary is using paper and a pencil to obtain an imprint. She will later cut out the imprint and clip it to the page in the book - the same way she did with the dollar sign brand.

The last step is to draw the sign onto the bottom of the official act that will then be signed by the district administrator.

Our brand is a large C with a star in the center. It is derived from the the Caimito fruit that has a star like pattern when cut in half.