The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1882-11-17
He Quit the Cattle Business.

II shall never handle cattle any
MORE" said Patrick Healy the other
day while talking with a Wyoming
stock man. 81 got discouraged a good
many years ago. / had heard that cat
tie would yield all the way from seven
ty-five to ninety per cent. profit, SO l
got 500 head and let nature take her
course. The following spring 1 started
to brand my calves and count up my
profits. My style of branding was
laborious and unsatisfactory. l would
catch a calf, throw him down, build a
sage brush fire, heat my branding iron,
brand him and then start after another.
This consumed a half an hour to the
animal, the best / could do, and it
looked as though it would take till
about Christmas to brand my calves.
However, the number didn't hold out
by one-half, and as l was just closing
the branding, meanwhile cussing my
luck in the stock business, l one day
noticed, with my feld-glass, several
miles away on the plains, q cowboy,
who acted SO strangely that / resolved
to get behind a little knoll and watch
him. AS he got nearer / discovered
bhtb nO lidu " ltbblO ~CudICOdl SbOtC to
tached to his saddle behind, and also
that he had a branding iron secured to
a 200-foot lariat, which he threw with
wonderful accuracy. The cowboy was
an employee of Mr., Tinnier, a neighbor
of mine who had a very large herd of
cattle and made the raising of cattle q
very prosperous business.
"Instead of building a sage-brush fire
and going through the tedious process
of throwing down an animal to brand
him, he just heated the branding-iron
in the little timers stove as he rode
along and when within 100 feet or so of
a cali, just threw it with that deadly aim
of his and Mr.. Tinnicr was ahead u $15
animal.
~ decided right there that 1 would
not raise any more cattle. Science had
the bulge on nature. Natural increase
is all right where it does not have to
compete with science"
II just went to Mr.. Tinnier and said:
Look here, Mr.. Tinnier, l want to sell
you my little bunch of cattle at q fair
figure. l want to see you have them
because you deserve them. A man
who can bring science to his aid the
way you a ought to have this herd,
and l believe you will ultimately have
the outfit anyhow. Things seem to
point that way now and WANTED to
facilitate matters by selling you the
bunch before 1t is everlastingly too
late.
my lows feel just the same as l do
about it. They are willing to do every
thing they can that is honorable in or
der to forward the cattle interests of
the country, but they can't compete
with your craftsmanship. They feel
hurt and very much depressed by it,
and so do /. just want to hasten the
result by letting you have the cattle be-
fore they get too much reduced.
HE saw that / was feeling very I'M
happy over my cattle deal, and he kind
ly took them off my hands. / have
never owned any cattle since that. /
have seen many Of my ~neighbors ac-
cumulate large herds and big fortunes,
but it had no temptations for me. 1
know that with nothing to start with
but the wreck of a bull train and one
of those self-registering branding-irons,
men who didn't know the difference be-
tween q maserick and the Venus of Milo
have become millionaires, but that
don't affect me any. l just squeeze
along the best l can and raise sheep at
a profit of thirty-five to forty per cent.
1t is not so rapid, of course, as the cat
tie business under careful manage
ment, but a man feels better when he
meets the vigilance committee.