The maternal instinct of a cow and the dependence of the calf upon its mother gave the old rancher of immemorial times sufficient proof of ownership in the increase of his herd.

The calf would run with its own mother and with no other cow through its first season.

So that if an old Mexican ranchero saw a certain number of cows at his watering-places, and with them calves, he knew that all before him were his property--or, at least, he claimed them as such and used them.
Still, this was loose-footed property.

It might stray away after all, or it might be driven away.

Hence, in some forgotten time, our shrewd Spaniard invented a system of proof of ownership which has always lain at the very bottom of the organized cow industry; he invented the method of branding.