Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1894-12-14
BRANDING TEXAS STEERS
HARDEST PIRcE OF WORK IN THE
cow BUSINESS.
Duties of the Ropers, BulIdoxgers
and Punchers-A Queer Thing
ABOUT brands.

Y the COW business ever
has TO do?'
"Well. remarked Joseph Keith, of
Bclcherville, Texas, who certainly has
been at the business long enough to
KNOW what DO , talking about there
are good many things he has TO do
that haven't much funin them. Stand
ing guard in the rain or riding around
EN- on dark night would neither
one he considered a picnic by most
people, btt when il comes right down
to sweating and tugging and good old
hard words, believe branding beats
any job | ever tackled. "
Perhaps the reader may be, as |
was, little inclined to wonder how
the mere making of marks on COW s
hide can involve any really hard man
ual labor; but il he once learns the
details of the process all wonder on
this point will cease. He will learn,
Furthermore, that it requires not only
muscular strength, but experience and
courage and brains. The average
hard-working Missouri farmer wonld
find it about as hard to make q sue
cess of branding cattle in Texas us at
building ships in Maine.
| OF course, in order to brand cattle
one must have have the proper tools.
Branding il Jns are of two kinds
stamping irons and dotting irons.
| The former consists OF wrought-irou
stamp containing all the characters in
the brand. For instance, if the brand
were Y l t, there would be an iron
stamp composed of these three letters,
with an iron handle running back
from some convenient point, as the
middle of the |. These stamps were
formerly much in use, hut have now
become almost completely abandoned,
except among the very largest outfits.
! Their place has been taken by the dot
ting irons. which consist merely Of a
straight iron rod and half circle
with long handle attached. With
these two implements any letter in
the alphabet can be made, and M as
tonishingly large variety of other
characters as we'll. For instance, the
reader can easily understand how the
Y I outfit makes its brand by five
applications of the straight rod. "B'
requires one application of the
straight rod and two of the half cir
Gle. This may not make n very beau.
tiful b, but i, makes one which any
child that knows its letters would be
apt to recognize II more elaborate
designs are wanted, the simple dot
ting irons are found sufficient to pro-
duce them. The straight rod is gen
orally about yard long, and has
a ring in the handle end. Toe
handle to the half circle is about the
same length. They are generally
heated in brisk fire on the open
prairie, though on the largo ranches
there is sometimes furnace built es-
pecially for the purpose.
For branding any class Of cattle
properly at least four men are re-
quired. OF these four, one is the
roper, two are bulldoggers, and the
fonrth is the pnncher. As | am writ
ing in the English language, | take it
for granted that my En9lish.speaking
readers all have perfectly accurate
idea of what these words mean. OF
course, We all know that roper is one
who ropes II necessary, one man can
do all the roping required, but two
men do better. The roper throws his
lariat around tho neck of some animal
to be branded, and then, by the main
strength of his horse, haus it mp with
in reasonable distance OF the fire.
The horse he rides is called the cut
ting horse. He is called the cutting
horse, not because he can cut, but be.
cause he is used in cutting out cattle
from the herd. Some idea of the hard
ness of the work may be derived from
the fact that during the branding sea
son each roper is allowed from ten t,
twelve horses for his own individual
use.
When the roper has driven AM
dragged the steer to be branded to the
usual place, he turns him over to the
bulldoggers. These men catch hole
of the animal and hold him while tn,
puncher applies the hot iron. Doe
the reader imagine that he and som,
other man like him could tackle bis
full-grown Texas steer and hold hin
down? Possibly they could if they
knew how, but knowing how il
the trouble. Even one gooC
able-bodied man can do so if b,
can manage to get the right kind o
grip. Usually, when there is only
; one bulldogger, he plants his knee
squarely in the tanks of his prostrat,
! victim, passes the animals tail bacl
between its legs, and grips it firmly
with both hands. 1t might be vel
, for the reader to remember this tn,
next time he wants to hold vicious
COW down. The attitude may not be
> very graceful one, but it gives thu
D man death-like grip on the brute
a The horns may toss viciously and tn,
( forefeet pound away at a vindictiv,
o rate, but rs long as the grip on th,
tail holds the hinder quarters STAY
: close to the ground. 1t is hard on tn
a COW, but it is also hard on the mu scula
t strength of the man who does the hold
Q ing. For this reason the bulldogger
a generally work in pairs. One of then
t takes the grip just described. Will,
a the other one grasps fore hoof of tn
!, animal in each hand, as if in the fervo
h of double handshake. When it is
colt that is being branded the att
o tudes are varied. One man holds tn
q head down, or sits ON it, while tn
a other sits down fiat on the ground an
:. grasps the upper one of it's hind leg
q firmly in both hands. One nigh
= think that for two men to hold caf
n down is not very hard work, but whel