The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1891-01-10
STUDIES IN cow SENSE.
PECULIAR SKILL OF OLD
HERDSME.N,
An Expert Can Ride Thirty Miles
Straight TO Il Herd He has not
Seen for Nine Months.

''Thc cattle-tradc in America is rapid- /
ly changing hands," said Il Southern
man the other day. ''Thc COWBOY of !
the prairie is 9ivin" way to the Stable-boy /,
of the farm. and the Wild cattle of the |
South and West are being handled, fed, |
stabbed, and curricl into domesticity
and are being bred more to milk than
horns. The cowboy and hcrdsmen came
in with ranch life, and were preceded
BY the ctttlcmcn or cowmen, who let
their CATTLE run wild, rounding them up
once Il year. They We're shipped to Cuba
from the Southern territory in thousands
fifty years ago. for then America supplied
the Cuban bcCf-markct almost exclusive
ly. 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 cattlemcn's sons are going
into stores and offices, and it is probable,
after the present generation of them dies
off. that this country will never see their
like again.
''rhey are a peculiar set of men, living
on little farms where IA few vegetables
are raised. Their houses are comfortless,
and the families in cold weather gather
about pine-kno fires in their yards, seat
ed on rude chairs with bottoms made of
cowhide cut from some place in the skin
where the hair was prettily 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 quick
l. = Of civ yaf ion nd
leave their former wild life. An old
cowman can do things in his own line
little short of the marvellous. To say
that he can look young steer in the face
at branding time and be able to tell
where he can find it when it is old enough
for beef is misleading in as far as his
mode of lsccrtaining where it is is con
cerned; but it is not any more surpris-
ing than what he really does.
Texas cattle ere rs wild as 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,
through the woods, swamps, under
brush, everything till he has left his
tormentors far b, hind and has wearied
himself with running. lie thinks he is
free, but as the old cowman leans on the
pine rails of the Enclosure he thinks to
himself He'll be fit for beef in the fall,
and feels no miSgivings about his hasty
departure. Ii WAS my business once to
bur cattle from these men Tor big ranch
men who were situated further north and
our cowboys were always mystited by
4 L 4. 70 -
cowboy a COW is COW. lie knows
nothing of its modes Of thought, but
treats it as a machine, beiaboring 1t in
one direction or another. lie has no
idea what COW or herd will do, so he
rides about it. cuts off its progress in one
direction and stimulates it in another.
On the open plain he is all right, but in
the woods, or alone, he is helpless. |
remember one old cowman turning to
four of nv boys who had succeeded in
dispensing herd of 200 cattle all over
the country.
Look a hyar, he said, "a caow amt
a beef, it's Il critter. You jcs 90 home.
nj bring in the caows about the shank
of the eveinin' myself And he did 1T.
1t would take book to tell all that
these men understand of cOw-sense.
Their skill is based upon the theory that
COW mind acts in the same way under
similar circumstances. For instance cat
tie have u fear of being begged in mud,
therefore early in the day, when the herd
is rested, if ii is driven into hog hole the
animals will all come out on the other
side without the herdsmen having to fol-
low and chase them through. 1T they
are hungry, and an attempt is made to
drive them across good pasturage, they
will scatter and wander. If it is mos
uuito-time, YOU can drive them into Il
wood, and they will come out on the
other side; but if it is hot weather, and
about midday, they will scatter and stray
in the woods. A bull will not let hi:
herd walk after the track of another herd.
His feelings Of jealousy must be respect
ed or there will be q split in the process
sion. The old bulls and cows and
the Young calves, form the nucleus around
which the gregarious instincts Of the ami
mails attract them. If, therefore, a few
young heifers or lively steers break from
the herd and go galloping back to the
prairie, to pursue them is folly. They
will come back if let alone and bring
their tails behind them.
This love is almost interminable
An old bull will take the herd to feeding
grounds that suit his declining appetite
and failing teeth. A young bull will
! choose coarser pastures, where the gras'
is luxuriant, but not SO tender, and an
old cowman knows just about where they
will be, at any time of year, and in al
weathers, if they are alive, and he can