Cattleman: A Rancher's Story (2nd Ed, 1964)

[Music] [Applause] The West isn't like you see it on television. I've run a cattle ranch for 35 years and we don't shoot our problems out. We think them [Music] up. Last summer, I stayed up a whole night making one big decision for our ranch. I'll tell you about it, but let's get the whole story from the start. Our ranch lies in a long valley. And there's a million dollars worth of beef down [Music] [Applause] there. Just after school let out, I was trucking Wendy back from the airport. Every year she flies out from New Jersey to spend the summer with us on the ranch. This other little girl's my daughter Chris. She's been out in the woods since right after breakfast. For Chris and my whole family, a ranch is much more than a business. It's a home and our whole way of life. [Music] Chris doesn't know a thing about the business problem I've got on my [Music] mind. For her, it's just the day for Wendy to arrive. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Wendy didn't have to bring much with her. We've got all the convenience she has in the city since electricity came to the ranch. She didn't come out here for a regular city summer. [Music] It's been a whole year since the girls have seen each other. Wendy's been away so long her horse doesn't even know her. [Music] You need a lot of space for livestock. Chris and Wendy can ride for miles without seeing a single head of cattle because it takes 20 acres of grass to feed each cow. We can't graze him on the meta if we're going to raise hay for the [Music] winter. The girls are headed for the high pasture we call the summer range. It's miles from the nearest road, so what a handy excuse to take a horse. [Music] The cows can't wait to get up to the high green grass in the summer. I know why the girls can't wait to get up there. It's the same every year. Wendy can't wait to see Ranger. He's special to me, too. He's the first cowboy I ever hired, and he's a regular part of the family. The name Ranger stuck on because he's the one who arranges our big fall cattle drive. [Applause] Down at the main place, I've got crews haying, fencing, and irrigating, and I sure couldn't keep my eye on all of them if I was on horseback. Ranger never learned to drive my truck. He's used to the old way of doing things. He's got more cattle knowhow than any man I ever met. He can pair a calf off with its mother from the time it's born till it becomes a yearling. Each calf grazes through two summers in the winter in between. Then Ranger sets up the big drive to take him to market. During those 18 months, the calf becomes a yearling and it's ready to sell. Ranger helps me show the young hands how to shift them from pasture to pasture so my whole spread is grazed evenly. He knows overg grazing can really ruin the range. Ranger wants me to raise more yearlings each year so he can organize bigger drives over the pass. He cares more about the number of cattle than the profit we make. That's the one thing that old cus doesn't understand that it takes money to pay bills in the banker. Ranger knows the story of every building on the ranch. If he doesn't know it, he makes one up. He takes the girls to the first cabin on the place built by an old Swede whose family came from the east Wisconsin someplace. It's tumbled down and spooky now. So the girls don't much care for going alone. Old Johansson built well. Once the cabin kept out a winter so cold it froze 13 head of cattle. But Johansson stuck it out. He had grit like all the early ranchers. He'd learned ranching out on the plains. that were dry as dust or cattle died of thirst. He had windmills all over his old spread to pump water cuz there weren't mountain streams. Water was more trouble than rustlers rats grabbing sheep men. Ranger knows how Johansson fought for the water holes when he moved here. Rers's dad and uncles trailed into the valley when they were boys to punch cattle for the sweet. Ranger won't let go of the old cattle stories. He likes things the way they've been done for years. But some things have to change if you want to stay in [Music] business. It takes a lot of money for overhead to run a ranch. We've got to have cattle to breed the calves. And it takes at least $1,000 to buy one good bull. [Music] We have to dig ditches in pastures that don't have natural water holes. We put salt where we want the cattle to go cuz they like it. Now, one way to save money is to market them sooner. Sell six-month calves instead of 18-month yearlands. That would save me the money I spend on 12 months feeding and labor. I spend a whole night thinking it over. I've raised them till they were yearlings all my life, but the bookkeepers show me I can't afford to do this anymore. And another thing, this young fell has been trying to sell me on the idea of trucks. Cattle lose a lot of weight walking the market, which they wouldn't lose in trucks. Cabs would lose even more weight than yearlands. Ranger always plans the big drive carefully and we look forward to the day it starts. If I switch to trucks, there won't be much arranging. Trucks take only hours. Trailing takes days. Ranching is changing faster than the automobile industry. And I have to change too. [Music] [Music] Everyone's up at 6:00 the next morning. You got to be up early to have breakfast on a ranch. Sleep late and you miss the big meal of the day. Cowboys have to get up to the range and the ranch hands have to tend the equipment. I haven't told the men or the girls about the two changes we're going to make. Next year, we'll be selling calves before we really have a chance to know them. And this fall's big drive over the pass will be their last. It'll hit some harder than others. [Music] After breakfast, I meet that fell from the trucking company. He tells me that I can truck those cabs in only 8 hours instead of trailing them for 3 days. I'm glad Ranger's not around to hear us. He's stubborn. Doesn't give up the old ways. Most cowboys don't even shoe their own horses anymore. They take him to a horseshoe. Ranger hasn't give up showing his. He's too strong-headed. I'm strongheaded, too. Right now, I'm all caught up with a new idea, and I'm going ahead with it. [Music] [Music] [Music] Can't stop progress. July and August mean hours of repairs on the haying machines. I've got five crews out cutting and bailing every day this time of year. The first big job of the pioneers was to develop meadows that could be cut to feed the cattle during winter. Young ranch hands are good with mowers and windowers. Ranger says an idiot could operate them. Truth is, he'd do more with this machine in a day than in a week with a team of horses. First year we used the big machines. Ranger kept saying he was going to quit, but he stuck on. I knew I could count on him. After it's cut, we bail it. We don't need to buy any extra hay this winter. There won't be any yearlands to feed, just the breeding stock to take care [Music] of. The buyer comes to the ranch to look the cattle over and quote his price. He knows quality when he sees it. I expect each year will bring about $210. I've always been proud that all livestock has been bred and raised right [Music] here. Next year, the buyer will be looking at calves instead of yearlands. They'll be moved from my ranch now to the feed lots in Denver till their yearlands more efficient. But it won't be the same. [Music] [Applause] At the fair, I find out Burns is crossing Herfords with Angus at his place. I tell him he's crazy, but who knows? He might be right. My wife picks up recipes while she judges the baking. Fair is the only real time we have to visit in the summer. Chris spends quite a bit of time with the 4H boys who train sparrow hawks for [Music] falconry. United States flag and wild flag of a rodeo producer. Now we have a few introductions coming. [Music] [Applause] After the big britches rodeo, we've got a little Bridg's rodeo for the kids. [Music] Wendy says she's looking for somebody to teach her to ride a bull. But men don't figure a girl should learn feller stuff. [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Last thing before the final drive, we round up all the cattle and take out the beef with trained cutting horses. This means we run them into separate pastures. The cows that'll stay behind for breeding go through one gate. All the beef that'll start from market the next morning go through another. Tomorrow, this meadow will be filled with cattle as they start the last big drive. Other years, the day before the drive, the girls were never able to keep up with Ranger. He's threatened to quit before, but never did. I hope he doesn't this year, but he's got a lot of pride, and I've made a big change. [Music] [Music] Next day, the yearlings head over the pass for the last time. Thousands of them. I'll save money next year by [Music] trucking. Before school starts, Wendy heads back for New Jersey. She and Chris have had a full summer. [Music] She goes from a 20,000 acre ranch in Wyoming to her backyard in New Jersey. Wendy knows now what progress means to a cattle ranch and what it means to [Music] people. She's seen the start of an economic change. [Music] Winter comes early and it's going to be long. A couple times each day, my hands take slays to feed the breeding cows and bulls. With no yearlands to fatten up, there's a lot less work. But for me, winter means income tax and inventory. The measure of my ranch used to be the number of head. Now it's the pounds of beef per acre. In every season, a rancher's first job is to provide for his cattle. They eat the hay we piled last summer. [Music] We use squeeze shoots now. Before Ranger in the other hands had to rope the cattle and pin them to the ground to inoculate them against disease and dehorn them. Cows as well as bulls have horns. They'll hurt themselves or other cattle if we don't trim them [Music] now. Winter gives me a chance to catch up on any branding I've missed. We put our mark on our cattle so nobody else will claim [Music] them. Chris loves feeding elk on the refuge meta. Next she's going to have a job she's not going to like. We're taking Ranger to the [Music] bus. Chris has to say goodbye. I've explained to her that some things have to happen. Ranger has a place to go. He'll live with [Music] relatives, but we'll probably never see him again. [Music] This is where the story ends. Before long, the range will be green again and a whole new season will start. [Music] [Music]