Branding
Marking cattle permanently on the hide with an owner's sign, made with a hot or very cold iron.
Also: hot-iron branding, freeze branding, brand
A brand is an owner's mark burned into the hide with a hot iron, or made with an iron chilled in liquid nitrogen or dry ice, which kills the pigment cells so the hair grows back white. Branding has been used since ancient Egypt to prove ownership and deter theft, and on the open ranges of the Americas and Australia it was the main way to tell whose cattle were whose. Brands are registered with state or provincial authorities in many places. Branding causes pain, and its use is debated and in some countries limited; ear tags and microchips have replaced it in much of Europe. In India, bulls dedicated to Shiva were once marked with a trident.