Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1942-01-24
Longhorns' Passing Robbed West of Much Color
Br GEoRGE n. CAsEY

BY GEORGE NJ. CASEY
The Ianghorn has had his day
and II seems too bad, for here
was a beast which gave the west
much Of it's glamour, a creature Of
fOrfftude and endurance which de-
rnanded no favors either Of man
or the elements and which thrfved
under conditions which would kin
a modern, ssubbIe-legged purebred
almost I'm fortnight.
he was disease-resistant fatigue
resistant, a rugged rustler under all
conditions and in all places. He thrived
In the sum baked chaparrd country
and he prospered IN the cold Of Mon
tana- He could 60 for long stretches
without water, getting sufficient mois-
tJre from grass, prickly pear, black
chaparral, chapote and other brush to
keep him going for months without a
drink.
~Ionghorn hardihood was next to
that Of the burro." writes j. Frank
Dobie In 1.-THE Longhorns." The peri
cd of usefulness Of both cows and
bulls as breeders, he adds, was twice
that Of modern cattle.
Herd disease among them was prac-
ticaIly non-existant. Abortion and
tuberculosis were unknown to them.
The heelny was the one enemy the
Ionghorns really feared. When this
insect struck them they would bolt
for water, if any was around, and
stand in 1t. The usual refuge, says
Dobie, was brush, in which they would
squat, attempting to cover up their
ankles.
No Pampering for Him
The pampering that the modern
Shorthorn or Hereford gets today was
not for them. They didn't want It,.
They we're a wild thing, wanting only
to be let alone, and the only reason
they didn't take on the blimpy shape
demanded by cattlemen today was
that they were, by temperament and
necessity more ambitious and active.
And vet, given the same attention
that modern bovineS get, they fill out
very nicely, as the government herd
In the wichita Mountains Wildlife
refuge near Cache, Okla, has dem
onstrated.
It must have been never-to-be-
forgotten experience to trail 1000 or
5000 Longhorns up from Texas to
Dodge City or Abilene or Wichita or
some other shipping point. And it must
have been something Of job as well.
The matter alone of watering the
herd required def handling by the
cowpunchers. The late Teddy Blue
Abbott of Montana, In I'VE Pointed
Them North" has described this pro-
cedure In detail. The problem, Blues
book recountS, was to see that each
critter got clear water. They didn't
like it muddy. And since Mister Long
horn was prone to wade out into water
Of fairish depth before dunking his
nose into it-thereby stirring up the
river bed, nice timing was required.
The cattle on the point, the leaders,
were steered downstream and, reach
ing the brink first, got clean water
and had time to quench their thirst
before those in their immediate rear
walked into the stream above them
and riIed the water. This progressive
upstream drinking continued until the
finish. when the "drags," bringing up
the rear Of the herd, took their swigs
of unmudied water farthest up the
river
It frequently happened that long,
dry, dusty stretches we're encountered.
The watering problem then was
doubly difficult For the herd, on
shifting water-and they could smell
It for niles-would, If thirsty enough,
bolt in that direction and 1t mattered
not what was ahead. Disastrous pile
ups at cliff bottoms often resulted,
with heavy losses.
But watering the Longhorns was not