The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-01-11
western Cattlc.Raising
st. Louis Republican,

81. Louis republican.
Nearly all the cattle mSn OF Wyoming are
getting out of Telss cattle and are breeding
up their cow-herda and getting young stock
from the extreme western country Idaho,
Oregon and Washington and Washington
Territory. The drive from the above points
into Wyoming this year has been about l50,-
900 head, which found q ready market All
the country lying north of the Union Pacific
railroad, is considered better than the ceun-
try south of it, on account Of gross, winter
range and water. The loss to stock in that
country per year is very light, not being over
2to per cent, and very seldom reaching B
per cent A ranch is run at comparatively
very small expense. A ranch of 5000 head
can be ran for one year at an expense of
81 per head. With ranch Of 10000 head
the cost would average from seveRty-fVe to
eighty cents per head, and $4,000 hesd would
not cost much over fifty cents head. 1t re-
quires TO run q rancho, say for 6,O0O head,
about four men during the winner months
and ten men during the summer. 1t is gen
orally estimated that they require two horses
for every 100 head of cattle, which gives TO
each man about ten horses during the sum
mer. There is Dothingsafoot IN that country.
Everything is done on horseback. Horse
flesh is the cheapest muscle that can be en-
ployed. A stock ranch is better off with ten
men and enc hundred horses than twenty
five men and fifty horses. The horses are
ridden until they become tired out then a
fresh horse 10 taken until the cowboy
ute5 all the horaes allotted to him then
he begins again with the horse at first tir, d
out. Each ranch has o trusty foreman,
whose wa, ea are shout $1,000 per aDnum and
"found." The ordinary herdsmsn get about
$50 per month and found. They are rough,
hardy, industrious set Of men, generally
very trusty. The common desdbeat is not
going out there to rough 1t. IL Is good
school for temperance and the absence OF
dissipation, and the men generally lay up
money, There are no stGblihg, no sheds fer
the winter. The cattle run just as the
buffalo used to do. There is no cutting of
hay to be'done and gsrnered for tbs winters
fodder. The cattle do their own moWiL G
from one wears cad TO The other. In the
eastern states it he's been said that the
pitchfork has 10 be handled by the farmer
about nine months in the year. In summer
the new-mown hay hes 10 bs spread, turned
and pus into cocks and loaded up and un-
loaded into stacks snd mows, and during the
six winter months is used as fodder. In Wy
oming the cattle during the winter drift from
fifty to ssventy.fvo miles from their respect
i've summer ranges. During q cold storm
they generally move with it, and keep going
till they get into q sheltered place in SONS
rsyine or behind q lodge, travelling SEINE
times IN this way twenty-five milss during o
heavy storm. But to whatever dis
lance they may stray during the winter, when
spring comes they a:e all found during the
general roundup" or general gather
ing up, when they are driven back IA
their respective ranges without less, where
the herdsmen attend to them until the winter
sets in again. At one roundup last spring
there were thir!y-iive mon, thirty wagons
and 1900 herses. That roundup is run
by regular organization, and is commanded
by captain whose orders arc implicitly
obeyed, he having entire charge over The
operations. The cattle are all separated nc
cording to tho brands denoting their owners
and then started bsck TO their laDges. The
calves are also branded anu sgsin turned
loose with tho herd. The operation Of col.
Letting, separating and branding at q round
up occupies sboNt two months before Tic
cattle are got back, during which tho whole
country ia secured by the cowboys. It il
generally time of wild and boisterous ex-
citement, reminding one of the annual as
semblages of the old fur-trsders when they
met to exchange their peltries for supplies
brought up from st. Louis.