The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-07-22

short order by plunging and slannming
against the cattle. If the animal
makes a break on the edge of the
bunch and gets out into the open he
will lead the puncher a pretty chase
before he can be got back, and much /
dpends on the pony's sagacity; albeit |
a COW pony can be meaner than gar /
broth when it likes. 1t can run fur
ther, jump harder, pitch higher and
buck longer than any other specimen !
of the equine family, yet becomes as
docile as an old cow when taken for
family use.
| HOW THE BRANDING is DONE.
| The great and in fact the prime fea-
ture OF the roundup is the branding.
If done out in the open it is tedi-
GUS process. The creature is 1assoed,
or more commonly speaking, "roped,"
being caught by foot or head and
| thrown, and a second rope is attached
to the end that is free the moment he
touches the ground. A puncher jumps
on the kicking creatures head while
two others on their ponies hold the
ropes taut and a fourth clasps the red
hot branding iron on haunch or ribs,
sometimes on both; the odor that 1t
raises is a crosss between a tan yard,
abattoir and glue factory fragrance.
The ears are usually split, clipped or
owners brand. This is for the pur-
pose Of identifying the stock, as the
owners ride rapidly though the herd,
the ears being always in signt. and
other brands are not. If the branding
/ is done in a pen, it is built especially
| igor the purpose, nearly circular IN
| form, of thick timbers and flares at
the top like an old-fashioned ash hop
per; the snubbing post is in the mid
die, and to this the cattle are fastened
! till the branding is done. The process
| is not particularly painful, but the
older the steer is the worse it will pitch
under the soaring. AS fast as the
branding is done the animals are turned
loose to go where they will on the range
and no more attention is paid to them
1 till the owner concludes to sell bunch
of cattle of a certain age, and then
they are rounded up till sufficient
number are secured. After that they
feed from north to south, till the
roundup comes again, and they and
their progeny go through the same old
routine of being driven up among the
lplateaus and grasslands Of the cooler
north 5000 feet above the level OF the
sea.
A brand is proof of property to the
man who has that brand registered.
Unbranded cattle picked up in passage
through the range are called MAYER
ticks. and 1T came about in this way:
A Texas stockman of that name once
turned his cattle loose upon the
IplainS unbranded, and never tried to
lclaim any of them afterward. or
course the range was oVerrun with ms
unbranded stock, and as all careful
Istockmen brand even the calves, when
any Of these unbranded ones were en-
countered, it was said of them that
they were Mavericks" Thus the
name has been perpetuated for all
that class of stock. There have been
men on the range who got rich
I1.-a,o onUeTiplXS h1lt thew
Istole them outright, going out on the
range, seeking them out and branding
them wherever found. Then in the
grand roundup they came in and
claimed their property. The thing is
mot tolerated where known, however,
for there is a peculiar sense of honor
among stockmen. They wink at a
good many sly practices, but they
usually have an impromptu necktie
party when they find a man who is
branding mavericks which have not
been secured to him in a perfectly leg
itimate way.
BIG HERDS DWINDLING.
The cattle business is not what it was
once. and the big herds dwindle year
. by year. Stockmen are learning that
, fewer cattle, we'll cared for, are more
lremunerative than enormous herds not
, lcared for at ALL On the big ranges the
Icattle are not fed at all, and have no
shelter other than they get from the
river and creek banks on the range, or
in the gorges and canyons Conse-
quently during protracted drouth,
the cattle die by the thousands for
lack Of water and of starvation; the
hot dry winds kill the grass, the only
Sustenance. In winter, the suffering
among cattle on the range is some
, thing dreadful. And in the spring, af-
ter an unusually severe winter, the
range will be covered thick with the
Whitening bones of cattle killed by the
cold Men ply brisk business gath
ering and selling these bones for fer
tilizing purposes, for cattle are valu-
able. dead or alive, and there is
scarcely an atom of the whole carcase
that can not be utilized.