The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1891-01-15
THE COWBOY, TOO. GOES.
Interesting Facts Abont the Skill of the
uerdsmen-What an Expert Can Do.


'The cattle trade in America is
rapidly changing hands," said South
ern man the other day. The cowboy
of the prairie is 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
donesticity and are being bred more
to milk than horns. The cowboy and
the herdsman came in with ranch life,
ard were preceded by the cattlemen or
cowmen, who let their cattle run wild.
rounding them up once Il year. They
were shipped to Cuba from the South
ern territory in thousands fifty Years
ago, for then America supplied the
Cuban beef-market almost exclusively.
There are plenty of small cattle
owners yet in the South who have
herds of from 100 to 800 head, but the
wire fence of the immigrant is cutting
mp the ranges, the cattlemen'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.
They are peculiar set of men, liv-
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 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 quickly pick up the ways of civili-
zation 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 a young
steer in the face at branding time, and
be able tG tell where he can find it when
it is old enough for beef is misleading
in as far us his mode of ascertaining
where il is concerned, but it is not anv
more surprising than what he really
does.
''IeXaS cattle are as 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 behind and has wearied
himself with running. He thinks that
he'is free but rs the old cowman leans
OH the pine rails OF the inclosure he
thinks to himself:
HELL be fit for beef in the fall, and
feels no misgivings about his hasty
departure. 1t was my business once to
buy cattle from these men for bio
ranchmen who were situated farther
north. and our cowboys were ALWAYS
mystilied by the peculiar instincts of
these men. To a cowboy COW is a
COW. He knows nothing of its modes
of thought, but treats it as machine
belaboring it III one direction OF
another. He has - idea what Il 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 cowmau turning to
four of my boys who had succeeded in
dispensing herd of 200 cattle all over
the country.
""Loak hyar," he said. "a caow
amt beef; it's n critter. You jes 90
home. Eli bring in the chaws about
the shank of the eveniu' myself And
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 fear of being
begged in mud, therefore. early in
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
and chase them through. Ii they are
hungry and an attempt is made to drive
them across good pastuage they will
scatter and wander. If it is mosquito
time you can drive them into a 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 viii not let his herd walk
after the track of another herd. His
feelings of jealousy must be respected,
ot lHcic W III DC Il > lJllt III INC plOCcS-
sion. The old bulls and COWS and the
young calves form the nucleus around
which the gregarious instincts of the
animals attract them. IT, therefore,
few young heifers or lively steers
break from the herd and 60 galloping
back to the prairie, to pursue them is
folly. They will come back if let
alone and bring their tails behind
them.
This lore is almost interminable.
An old bull will take the herd to feed
ing grounds that suit his declining ap-
petite and failing teeth. A young bull
will choose coarser pastures, where the
grass is luNuriant, but not 50 tender,
and an old cowman knows just about
where they will all be any time of the
year, and in all weathers if they are
alive, and he can saddle his horse and
ride thirty miles to Il bunch of cattle
that he hasn't seen for nine months. So
y. J. Tribune.
The elephant is almost rs amphibious
an animal as the hipropotamns. 1t can
stay under water five minutes at a
time without any Inconvenience and
swHns Ike Il duck.
1.-THE Angelus."
1t is limited rs an example of Ameri-