Herds West (1955)

[Music] to some folks passing through the Southwest might seem a lonely Place big and barren of not much use an empty Wasteland but it does grow grass and from that grass flows one of America's greatest production lines the cattle of the beef industry a big business that begins in the southwest and the other grasslands that cover almost half of the United States lands too rough and dry for field crops but by cattle grazing they are are made of value to the nation to the beef production [Music] line in the cattle country to the north there is green range and running water from snow and rain but in the southwest water is scarce and precious and to get this ingredient for the cattle production line reservoirs are built dkes of dirt that are piled up across the natural water courses to catch the runoff water after the rain and hold it in tanks of Earth for the dry season in addition Wells are drilled and topped with windmills their Shadows stretch across the sunbaked land in the whole semiarid Southwest on the plains of West Texas New Mexico Arizona and parts of Nevada and California the cattle production line depends on the windmills in the tanks the models of the production line are varied black Aberdine Angus strain brought from Scotland are raised on a few Southwest [Music] Ranches the high- shouldered brahmas thrive on ranches to the South originally from India these rugged animals are better able than other breeds to stand the heat of the more desert-like areas but the red and white herfords are the most common cattle of the Southwest range for these white faces called so for their markings have the straight backs short legs and full bodies that make heavy meat producers they are good rustlers for grass and feed in this sparse land for only in the summer months is the range green then clouds pile up to dump their showers and for a few short weeks the cattle feed on crops of native grasses then forage and water the essential raw materials of the beef production line are plentiful but much of the year the range growth is dried to a brown or to a silvery white and in times of drought may vanish [Music] completely therefore the cattle find roofed feeding bends near the windmills and tanks in the dry seasons these cell feeders of various sizes cover troughs that are filled with cotton seed meal and salt salt is necessary to animals and by it the ranchers control the feeding of their cattle thus in drought time they keep the production lines alive brands are the marks of ownership by which the ranches label their products brands are created from the fancy of the owner numbers or initials may serve or the brand may be suggested by some useful everyday object to poth hooks from a campfire to be placed so and connected by all registered with the state in which the ranch exists they are then the property of that ranch and may be used by no other in the same vicinity but brands are hard to see when the hair grows out and for further identification the ears of the cattle are cut or notched each Ranch has its own special pattern of ear marking this also is registered with the state marking and branding of the new crop of Cales is done in Spring and fall at Roundup time then the catalog gathered from the range and each cowand drives in the few head from the small section he rides to join those driven in by other Riders the growing herd moves on along time traveled routes headed for a familiar Corral the herd is divided and those animals to be branded or sold are selected or cut out cutting out is done slowly to prevent Milling of the herd which causes loss of weight the animals are singled out and shuttled into another group and are driven into the [Music] Corrals here The Branding irons are heated sometimes in an open fire or perhaps in an old oil drum their handles extend from the fire they are carried to The Branding to be stamped onto the top of the calf's thick [Music] hide one cowand quickly notches the ear and one DEH horns the calves another vaccinates as a protection against disease branding over everyone gets a shower of insecticides against flies ear ticks and other pests in some areas the animals are dipped but here they are sprayed with the antiseptic [Music] liquids cattle Sails are held after Roundup on most r an es in the fall to avoid the winter weather but in desert areas they are held in the spring before the summer droughts some ranches sell calves but more often sale cattle are yearlings or older those to be sold are loaded for shipment they may be moved by truck or by railroad as the cattle production line moves on from its beginning on the Range toward its finishing period the feed lot in the earlier days the loaded cattle trains headed only East to the Corn Belt to the silos and feeding pens of the Midwest Farms there the cattle fattened on corn for the packing plants of Omaha Kansas City Chicago and the Eastern Market but of recent years more and more of the cattle trains Head West to fill the ever growing needs of the millions of people who live on the Pacific [Music] slope the trains stop on sidings on the longer halls and the cattle are unloaded every 36 hours into Railside Corrals they are fed and after a 5-hour rest they reload to move on to the valleys of the West along the salt and hila rivers in Arizona and in the Central and Imperial valleys of California upon arrival the animals not yet ready for finishing because of age or condition are put out to pasture the rest are corraled in feed yards that may serve only a few hundred head or may have a capacity of many [Music] thousands here they are fed High concentrate rations scientifically developed the ranchers and feeders have Enlisted the aid of the trained nutritionist and add ing his scientific knowledge of dietetics to their years of practical feeding experience between them they have evolved a concentrated diet made up of several ingredients the main ones of which are usually barley for grain and alfalfa hay to be cut fine for roughage cotton seed meal is included to these are added dried beet pulp cotton seed hulls or other vegetable byproducts in season all of the ingredients are carried from Storage by conveyors through pipes to the feed mill here they are mixed and bound together with molasses inside the mill is the control panel for the exact mixing of the formula as set up by the [Music] feeder there is no guess work six scales are set each with a given weight for a specific [Music] [Applause] ingredient a selector switch determines the product being added and push button controls automatically start and stop the flow from that particular bin each batch of feed is Thoroughly mixed and emerges a soft moist blend it is loaded into motorized feed wagons and weighed for an exact accounting is kept of feeding costs and weight gains once weighed the wagon rolls down the lanes between the pens it feeds several thousand head in a short time for in Western Cattle feeding the day of the horse and the wagon in the Pitchfork is rapidly disappearing for 3 to four months the cattle Feast on the balanced r with nothing to do but eat rest and grow fat then fat and ready for Market they travel by truck on the short Hall to the pens of the packing plants in the cities of the West from out of the pens they move up the ramp toward the packing plant one of America's biggest production lines a great industry that turns the nation's grass leather and a host of other products essential to [Music] man meanwhile back on the lonely range the endless cycle moves on through the seasons the rains come followed by the droughts the windmills pump their precious water and in the barren land the cattle bring forth their new models to start along the great production [Music] line