The Angle System For Branding

This is the code used to interpret a BLM freeze brand

The Angle System for Branding was developed by Dr. R. Keith Farrell at Washington State University in the 1960s. The "Angle Brand System," (officially known as the International Alpha Angle System, is a livestock identification method that translates letters and numbers into simple geometric angles. 

It is best known in the U.S. as the system the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) uses to freeze-brand wild mustangs and burros. How the System Works:

• The angle system eliminates complex, forgery-prone curves and replaces them with straight-line symbols based on two concentric squares.
• The first square represents even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8) in a clockwise direction starting at the top-left corner.
• A second square, rotated slightly, represents odd numbers (3, 5, 7, 9) in the same manner.
• The number 1 is represented by two vertical lines, and 0 by two horizontal lines (an equals sign).

Reading a BLM Mustang Brand on a BLM mustang:

• The brand is freeze-applied to the left side of the neck and contains six symbols beneath a federally-owned "U" symbol.
• The first two symbols: Indicate the horse's estimated year of birth.
• The middle two symbols: Designate the registering state of the animal.
• The last two symbols: Represent the horse's unique registration number

It is commonly used when freeze branding horses and is perhaps best known in the United States for being used on United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) horses, aka "mustangs". Used since the 1970s, it offers simplicity, universal application, and the need for only two branding irons to make any number. Usually, when using this system the brand is located on the horse's neck. Freeze branding is supposedly painless.

BLM brands will be located on the left side of the neck.

Only the bar and right angle symbols are used. The illustration put numbers next to each symbol so you can easily see which number each symbol represents.

The angle brand system is used to brand United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) horses (aka "mustangs"). Typically, when using the angle system the horse's year of birth is shown first by using the last 2 digits of the year the horse was born, stacked on top of each other. The numbers following the year of birth are a unique number series used to identify an individual horse.

If it looks like there are extra symbols, the BLM places the brand on the left side of the horse's neck. They add an extra symbol at the beginning of the brand, in front of the year the horse was born, to indicate the brand is registered with the United States Government.

Lastly, a bar is also placed under all or part of the numbers after the year. The bar underneath the numbers acts as a guideline indicating where the actual bottom of each character is.

This "true bottom" guideline can be helpful when reading brands on horses whose necks have arched or dipped due to the horse gaining weight, losing weight, aging, etc., since they were branded. The last character on a brand may be difficult to read. Trimming the hairs at the site of the brand can sometimes make any characters that are difficult to read clear again.

I hope this all helps.