The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-07-25
Colorado Herdsmen.

The Fort Collins correspondent of the
Dcnoer Ncoos writes:
For ten days a hundred men have
been sweeping every nook and corner of
this country, gathering in, rounding up,
and cutting out the stock. Men were
there from Wyoming and various parts
of Colorado, eagerly watching every
roundup to catch q glimpse of the pc
culiar mark or brand that should indi-
cate an animal of their own number.
They adopt half military plan, by ap-
pointing new captain for each sepa-
rate roundup. Before disbanding, the
place of assemblage is designated for the
following day, which is sometimes IF
teen or twenty miles distant from the
preceding roundup. Early in the
morning horsemen may be seen radiat.
ing from common centre, and scatter
ing over the plains to every point of
the compass, and from 10 o'clock A. NJ.
until 4 p. NJ. they come stringipg in
from as many directions, each with o
lot of cattle, numbering from a dozen
head up to sometimes several hundred.
As fast as the small lots are driven in
they are assembled in one general herd.
and surrounded by enough horsemen to
hold them until the roundup is COM
pleted, when the work of cutting COM
mences. Getting them together is only
exhilarating exercise, but cutting them
out is quite different thing. From
five hundred to two thousand head con-
stitute the usual number at each round
up, and they are so densely iammed to-
gether in a body that if one moves il
puts the whole herd in motion. Thus
with their long horns in the air. thew
sway back and forth like leafiess for
est shaken by the wind.
Six or eight men are designated as
bukaros, whose duty it is to ride into
the herd of cattle, and, like so many
wild Indians in herd of buffalo, they
dash among them whip in hand select
each an animal bearing the proper
brand, and, squirting their horses to
thei1 utmost speed, they run the gaunt-
let of thousand bristling horns, dash
out of the excited herd through the sur
rounding picket line of men, and out
into the open country beyond, where
the poor brute is left to ponder over the
sudden change, while the bukaros re-
turn to the herd and go through with
another exciting chase. About every
half hour they are relieved by fresh
men and horses, and so the Wild excite
ment continues amid the din and con-
fusion of perhaps fifteen hundred older
cattle and half that many calves in the
beginning, and all striving their best at
once to see which shall out-bawl the
other, until each man has separated
from the herd the entire number bear
ing his brand. The labor is not long,
but extremely severe while it lasts.
Horses and riders are severely taxed,
and some of the calves get their lives
crushed out of them, and occasionally
the elder ones succumb from being over
driven. Pending the cutting-out pc
riod, disputes sometimes arise between
some OF the different stockmen over cat
tie with dim brands, or such as have no
brands at all. In this case, as in other
countries, men are finding more stock
than they anticipated, and out of the
several thousand head that have come
under my observation, not one have l
seen but was in n thriving condition,
and very many of them are fit for the
butchers stall. 1t is now well under
stood that per cent. will cover the en-
tire loss of the stock in Northern Colora-
do for the past winter.