The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1891-03-14

xneepeeelng Hsote About the Skill Of ehe
Hssdsnsn-whats IN Expert Can Do.
THE cattle trade in America e
rapidly changing hands" said South
ern man thA other day. Tho cowboy
Of the prairie q giving way to the
stable boy Of the farm. and the wild
cattle of the South and West are being
handled. fed. stabbed and curried into
domesticlty. and arc being bred moro
to milk than horns. The cowboy and
the herdsman came Ia with ranch life.
aud were preceded by the cattlemen or
cowmen, who let their cattle run wild.
rounding them up once a year. They
were shipped to Cuba from the South
crn territory In thousands fifty years
ago. for then America supplied the
Cuban beef market almost exclusively.
There are plenty Of small cattle
owners vet In the South who have
herds of from 100 to 800 head, but the
wire fence of the immigrant Is cutting
up the ranges, the cattlemen's sons
are going into stores and offices. and 1t
is probable. after the present generation
OF them dies of. that this country will
never see their like again.
They are peculiar set OF men. liv-
ing on little farms were a few veget-
ables are raised. Their houses COM
fortress, and the families In cold
weather gather about pine knot fires
in their yards, seated on rude chairs
with the bottoms made of cowhide cut
from some place in the skin where the
hair was prcttily marked. In wood
lore they are wonderfully skilled. The
men are splendid riders and good rifle
shots. The, children fish. shoot or
lounge In the sun till they are old
enough to get into some town. where
they quickly pick up the ways OF civili-
cation and leave their former wild life.
IAN old cowman can do things in
his own line little short of the marvel
Gus. To say that he can look young
steer in the face at branding time, and
be able to tell where he can lind it when
1t is old enough for beef is misleading
in as far as his mode of ascertaining
where it is concerned. but it is not any
more surprising than what he really
does.
Texas cattle are as wild rs deer.
Corral one lasso, brand and turn him
loose, and he cuts the wind open, his
tail stands out stiff. his neck and head
are thrown aloft and he bounds forth
away and away, across the prairie,
the woods. swamps, under
brush, everything-till he has left his
far behind and has wearied
himself with running. He thinks that
he is Free but rs the old cowman leans
on the pine rails of the Enclosure he
thinks to himself:
Hell be tit for beef in the fall, and
feels no misgivings about his hasty
departure. 1t was my business once to
buy cattle from these ihen for big
ranchmen who were situated farther
north. and our cowboys were always
by the peculiar instincts of
these men. To cowboy COW Is
COW. He knows nothing of it's modes
of thought, but treats II as machine,
belaboring it in one direction or
another. He has no idea what a COW
or herd will do. so he rides about it,
cuts of its progress in one direction
and stimulates 1t in another.
ION the open plain he is all right, but
In the woods or alone he is helpless.
OuC olu COWUuu LuIulug 10
four Of my boys who had succeeded in
herd of 200 cattle all over
the country.
"Loak hyar," he said, "a caow
amt beef; it's critter. You jes 70
home. I'll bring in the chaws about
the shank of the evenin' myself. Aud
he did it.
1T would take book to tell all
that these men understood of cow
sense. That skill is based upon the
theory that COW mind acts in the same
way under similar circumstances. For
instance cattle have a fear of being
begged in mud, therefore, early ia
the day when the herd is rested if it is
driven into its bog hole the animals
will all come out on the other side
without the herdsman having to follow
md chase them through. II they are
hungry and an attempt is made to drive
hem across good pastuage they will
'catter and wander. If it is mosquito
line you can drive them into wood
ind they will come out on the other
tide. but il 1t is hot weather and about
midday they will scatter and stray in
he woods.
"A bull will not let his herd walk
lfter the track of another herd. His
ceilings of jealousy must be respected.
,r there will be split in the process
ion. The old bulls and cows and the
,oung calves form the nucleus around
which the gregarious instincts of the
attract them. II. therefore, a
ew young heifers or lively steers
break from The herd and go galloping
back to the prairie. to pursue them is
oily. They will come back If let
alone and bring their tails behind
hem.
This lore is almost interminable.
An old bull will take the herd to feed
ny grounds that suit his declining APP
petite and failing teeth. A young bull
will choose coarser pastures, where the
grass Is luxuriant. but not so tender.
Ind an old cowman knows just about
where they will all be any time of the
rear. and in all weathers II they are
live. and he can saddle his horse and
'ide thirty miles to bunch of cattle
hat he hasn't seen for nine month";