A brand is vented by putting the same brand on the animal's shoulder.

Look! There's one now." He pointed to an animal a short distance away.

"See, that steer is branded Diamond-and-a-Half on hip and shoulder, and Cross-Triangle on his ribs.
Well, when he was a yearling he belonged to the Diamond-and-a-Half outfit.

We picked him up in the rodeo, away over toward Mud Tanks.

He was running with our stock, and Stillwell didn't want to go to the trouble of taking him home--about thirty miles it is--so he sold him to Uncle Will, and vented his brand, as you see." "I see," said Patches, "but that's different from finding a calf misbranded." "Sure.