A culture and a legacy: Noyes family carries on tradition of brand inspection 

Matt Noyes is a District Investigator for the Montana Department of Livestock, covering Big Horn, Rosebud and Treasure counties in south central Montana. In addition to running his own ranch, brand regulation has been a career for him for over 25 years. But the reality is, he’s been doing it his whole life – growing up following his dad and grandfather, both of whom were brand inspectors. He also has a great-uncle, an uncle and a cousin who were or still are brand inspectors.  

It’s a way of life, a career, and a public service that runs in the family. In many ways, the work he does today is the same as the work his father, Cecil Noyes, and grandfather, Coil “June” Redding, knew. 

“I used to follow my dad around and sometimes he would get after me a bit, because I’d always have a rope and want to be swingin’ it at some calves, and my dad would remind me those weren’t my cattle, and to put my rope away,” Noyes said.  

His role as a District Investigator involves enforcing livestock laws, working with local brand inspectors, and responding to various livestock issues and violations in his district. 

Noyes started his career as a general brand inspector in Montana in Billings, then worked in Chinook for several years, followed by a stint working as the District Investigator based in Glasgow, before the opportunity came to return home to his family ranch on Tullock Creek, east of Hardin.  

As a District Investigator, Noyes is an official officer of the law. “I’m authorized to enforce all livestock laws in the state of Montana in my district. If there’s a violation in my district or a dispute, it goes through me.” The position requires law enforcement academy training in Helena, which Noyes completed prior to being hired as an investigator. Although he has more authority than local brand inspectors, he doesn’t supervise them. Brand inspectors are contractors and do not have direct hierarchy, but investigators are the ones they come to for help if they’ve got problems or need books. And in turn, they help him. 

“I’ve got a great set of local inspectors; if I need help, they’re willing to jump in. They’re not afraid to ask questions. They’re the ones that I think see more stuff going on than what I do; they’re the eyes and ears out in the country. And they call me and they’ll tell me who’s moving cattle where and what’s going on,” Noyes said.  

Brand inspection is Montana’s oldest law enforcement agency. According to the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame, the Montana Territorial Legislature of 1885 passed a bill which provided for a board of stock commissioners, appointed by the governor. They hired seven stock inspectors to protect stockmen against theft of livestock. These inspectors were paid $125 a month and required to cover all their own expenses involved with regulation. “They were left with their own horses, their wits, and their grit to police the largest industry in the Montana territory,” the Hall of Fame nomination of the Montana Department of Livestock reads. It was an era where cattle theft was certainly a way to make a living, albeit it a poor one. Today the Department of Livestock allows for local inspectors in addition to department employees, like Noyes, and cattle theft is less common – mainly because of the success of the system. Brand inspectors oversee the movement of 2,000,000 head of Montana cattle, respond to disease outbreaks, and advise livestock owners on herd health. They get paid $1 a head by the livestock owner. 

Today Noyes’ work still involves a horse and a rope, as well as a brand book and a deep appreciation for a tradition that has kept ranchers’ cattle accounted for and livelihoods protected for almost 150 years. Things have changed a lot but the basics are still there, Noyes said. “You still have to go look at cattle, look at horses, and do at a brand inspection. We still physically look at the livestock.” 

However, the technology has evolved. 

“The district guys that I grew up looking up to, they had to use their house phones. When I started, we had a bag phone and I remember having a tape recorder and a camera – remember 35 millimeter film? You’d have to take it in and get it developed. Now we have everything in your palm. The technology has helped in some degree, until you’re somewhere where you don’t have service,” he said. 

Although brand inspection in Montana is a legal requirement to move cattle across county and state lines or transfer ownership, the culture of the work is an art, not just a law. Inspectors are part of the ranch and cowboy culture and have to know how to work around cattle, where to be to not cause a wreck, and still get their job done correctly and efficiently. 

Noyes’ favorite part about the role is “being able to get out and visit with the producers I serve, especially in the fall when they’re selling their calves or moving cattle back. It’s getting to work with different people and different types of cattle and seeing how each facility works to make it happen – even those you really think ‘There is no way this is going to work!'” he said. “I’ve seen some facilities that are top notch that somebody spent a pile of money on and they don’t work very good, and then I’ll see a set of portable panels that can ship out 17 semi loads in three hours. You see it all. 

“I just do my job and don’t say anything and try not to tear things up because I don’t like building fence any more than anybody else.” 

Matt has had to make a few arrests during his career, including one for a case involving fraud against banks. “I guess the judge must’ve thought the crime was pretty serious because if I remember right, this guy was on a half a million-dollar bond. We got done working the sale in Glasgow; it was late at night, about 20 below, and one of my local inspectors at the time in Glasgow owned a motel. He calls me up in the middle of the night and he says, ‘Matt, you’re never going to guess who checked into the motel – the guy you’re looking for.’ So we knocked on the door and he got to be my first arrest.” 

John Edwards is a local cowboy and former ranch manager with the Padlock Ranch, based in Ranchester, Wyoming. Now a few years past 70, he worked for Coil Redding when he was a kid. “On weekends and in the summer I’d help them; I grew up with his mom in 4-H, and later knew his dad and then Matt his entire life.” Later, when Edwards was on the Padlock, Redding would regularly come as their brand inspector. “He did that until he was probably in his late ’70s or early ’80s before he stepped down,” Edwards said. “Later on we’d hire Matt to come help us brand, and then he eventually became our brand inspector too.”  

It’s a legacy and a skill that runs deep. 

“His grandfather (Coil) as a younger man had worked around Big Horn county a lot and he could look at a brand on a cow or a horse, and know exactly which ranch it came from and where it had been. That stuff would just roll off of him – he knew where that brand belonged. It might be a ranch that had been out of business for 30 years, or the brand had changed hands, but he knew the history and the story. He had a heck of a memory.” 

Edwards said he sees similarities in the third generation. 

“I think Matt’s gotten that way over the years. He’s seen so many horses and cattle, the brand just pops up to him. That’s a good thing, you don’t have to spend a lot of time looking in the archives to see who it belongs to.” 

The work really hasn’t changed a lot over the years, but brand inspecting isn’t a role that is open to just anyone. Although anyone can go through training to become an inspector, there is a certain legacy to it. Many family members, when they decide to hang up the brand book, encourage a younger family member to become certified and take their regular customers. 

“It’s kind of an honor, as long as their etiquette stays with them,” said Edwards. “If they get pushy the public gets pushy back. The brand inspector is always right, but how they go about it is what keeps them in the business a long time.” 

The Department of Livestock is a producer-driven organization within the state government, which Noyes believes is important to maintain, and he takes his role as a public servant seriously. Although technology is constantly looming, with an unspoken threat to eliminate the system, Noyes says he hopes it doesn’t change.  

“Cattle theft is still there, even if people have found ways to get a lot more creative about it,” he said. “If brand inspectors were to go away, it would put the burden of all we do on local sheriffs’ departments, and it could be a lot. We still work for the ranchers and protect their way of life, and because of brand inspection, we have a system that is successful.”  

A large part of that success is due to three generations and a family tradition.