That branding book was held by Suffolk County, NY which has a steer on
its county seal or "coat of arms". An apocryphal "bull" story exist
too for a part of it, in  Smithtown, NY where "Bull" Smith was granted
as much native American land as he could cover riding a steer from
sun-up to sundown as the story goes, from a chief Wyandanch perhaps. A
similar story exists in Greek legend though it was the amount of land
a hide could cover and it was cut in one long continous strip that
stretched for miles. Some think it may have been a competitive
footrace instead, creating Smithtown, NY mot the "bull" story".

I also read that within Smithtown (after "Bull" Smith, a large statue
of a bull exists there at the crossroads of now two highways and the
Nissiquogue River) in the village of Nissiquogue, the first native
American "reservation" may have been created with the remains of the
Wecqueskeck, the local Algonkian speakers of modern Westchester and
Bronx Counties, who shared a boundary with the Lenni Lenape to the
west (and perhaps down the middle of Manhattan) who were "removed"
there after the war conducted under the direction of Dutch Governor
Kieft who was recalled by the Dutch West Indies company and government
and replaced with the former Governor of Curacao, Peter Stuyvesant.
Apparently as England had claims on Long Island as did the Dutch, a
treaty was drawn up to relocate those left after a massacre in New
Jersey, and its cited that they were relocated there.

On 11/27/06, George Myers <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> "Seventeenth Century Montauk was home to America's first cattle
> ranching system. Each spring, East Hampton Town colonists would drive
> cattle across the narrow Napeague strip to let them graze the rugged
> downs of Montauk. The herds were fenced in Naturally by the
> surrounding waters. Historic Third House at Theodore Roosevelt County
> Park originated as the home for these early cattle keepers."
> http://www.co.suffolk.ny.us/webtemp1.cfm?dept=10&id=888
>
> There's said to be a book of brands that was kept there from the 17th
> century to around 1960 to register one's mark and adjudicate strays.
> It was in the State Museum collection it said online. In New England
> there were local little stone fenced in areas a "pound" which strays
> were taken to, and where one would go first to see if it had been
> found. I've seen a few marked in New Hampshire.
>