Staying on Brand

For 26 years, Paul Johnson has yet to see a routine day. As a brand inspector for the Montana Department of Livestock, Johnson is the person who producers, large and small, depend on for multiple issues. On any given shift, he might sort cattle and ensure that every animal is inspected at a sale, or he might just as easily be called to wrangle goats in a suburban neighborhood.

Brands are embedded within the history of the West. Brand inspectors were among the first law enforcement positions created in 1885 — four years before Montana gained statehood — to get a handle on cattle rustling. Modern inspectors carry on this tradition of ensuring brands on the cattle at sales match outfits selling them, but their scope has greatly increased with more people owning small ranches or hobby farms.

Johnson’s territory includes more than 6,000 square miles. For him, a typical Monday might start at 6:30 a.m. with a trip to inspect cattle 100 miles away. En route, he might have several stops for smaller animal checks, and while he arrives on time to his main appointment, it’s not unusual for the truck hauling the cattle to be late because of mud or snow. After working those cattle, he checks on underfed horses on his way back to town, then he receives a call to wrangle at-large goats in a residential area. At 10:30 p.m., he heads back out to round up some cattle on the loose, and after taking care of that situation, he receives another call of a cow hit on the road. He can finally call it a day at 2 a.m.