15 June 2010

Modern-Day Cowboy

By Candy Moulton

This essay is excerpted from Pop Culture versus Real America, published by the Bureau of International Information Programs. A profile of the film Unforgiven appears here.

It is cold in Wyoming and the first snow of the season has already blanketed the ground white, even though it is only mid-September. This is the time of year cowboy Duane Wood likes best, a period when he moves cattle to pastures near the ranch headquarters so they will be easier to feed and find when the real storms of winter blanket the countryside. As the days grow shorter, his work pace ever so slightly slows. Before long with other ranch workers he will be pushing the cattle into corrals, sorting them, and separating the calves from the cows.

But during these waning days of summer, Duane, slim, quiet in manner and with a neat mustache, also is getting ready for winter. He repairs fences and corrals, and positions hay for easier winter feeding. He also cuts and hauls firewood to heat his family’s home.

It is tough to define “cowboy” today. Once understood to be a man on horseback in the American West, today’s cowboy just as likely works on an all-terrain vehicle, or in a pickup, as from the back of a horse.

In the 1800s, most cowboys were young men who helped gather cattle on southern ranges, mainly in Texas, and then drove them along on cattle drives during which the cattle could roam, eat, and grow fat for eventual sale. The early image of the cowboy, then, might be one of a young man, driving hundreds or thousands of head of cattle over the land, crossing rivers, eventually selling the herd, and then spending his pay in rail towns like Dodge City or Abilene, Kansas, or Ogallala, Nebraska.

Over time, more people moved into the range areas. Some of the range was fenced, and the size of many ranching operations diminished. Others remain sufficiently large as to accommodate thousands of head of cattle. On those ranches cowboys maintain the tradition of moving cattle to be certain they have plenty to eat and otherwise caring for the herds. The ranch where Duane Wood works also conducts research to improve the cattle breed. That means Duane spends a certain portion of his time tracking cattle statistics such as birth and weaning weights. The office work punctuates the physical labor of ranching.

Duane has not always lived and worked cattle on the Wyoming ranch where he is currently employed. Like many cowboys he has moved around, seeking new or better opportunity. Formerly he worked on a ranch in New Mexico.

No matter where he works, two of the most important tools a cowboy has today are his horse and his dog. The horse is his means of transportation to gather cattle, especially in areas where the country is rough and rugged; the dog is an effective assistant for his work. Duane trains his own horses for the work, and he has a dog, Rosie, who helps with the tasks and is a companion when he is working alone, as is often the case.

“My relationship with my horse is not unlike my relationship with my wife,” Duane says. “We depend on each other. He takes care of me, I take care of him.”

A cowboy’s work changes with the seasons. In the fall, Duane gathers the cows and calves, then separates them (weaning the calves from their mothers) so the calves can be shipped and sold to feeders who will continue to raise them for another year until they are eventually sold for slaughter. Most ranches keep some of the heifer (female) calves for eventual breeding use to replenish the herd. Others, like the ranch where Duane works, will keep young bull calves, raising and selling them at production sales held in the spring when other ranchers need to buy bulls for breeding in their own herds.

During the winter Duane keeps the cattle close to the home ranch so as snow piles up it will be easier to feed them hay. No matter the weather, the cattle must be fed every day, and that is the main work on a ranch until calving operations begin in the late winter or early spring.

When Duane Wood sets out on a winter day or night to check cattle as a Wyoming snowstorm blows across the mountain country, he wears several layers of clothes: insulated underwear, heavy wool shirt, wool vest, heavy overcoat, jeans, and wool socks inside his insulated boots. His gloves are warm, sometimes made of a waterproof material so if he must clear the ice from a water tank, he can put his hand in, remove the ice, and never get his fingers wet. If a blizzard is howling outside, and Duane has cattle to care for, he knows his job. “We just do it. We may dread going out the door, but we just do it,” he said of heading into the bitter cold to feed the herd or handle another task.

For calving Duane moves the cows to a pasture not far from the ranch headquarters where there are trees and other natural protection. This is a hard part of the yearly work. Using a pickup, all-terrain vehicle, or horse, Duane regularly — day and night — moves through the herd, checking on the calves, doctoring one with a shot of medicine if it is ill, and making sure new calves are paired up with their mothers. During calving, sleep comes in short snatches, as the herd must be evaluated every couple of hours.

A cowboy is always aware of the livestock. “Ultimately, we are in animal husbandry,” Duane says. “They depend on us and we’ve got to be there to help them.” That can mean moving stock from an area where water or grass is no longer available or assisting a cow giving birth.

Spring work involves calving, branding the calves to establish clear ownership, fixing fences, and preparing to move cattle out to summer range. During the summer the cattle are on range farther from the ranch headquarters, eating the natural grass and forage. At this time of year Duane becomes a hayfield worker, cutting and baling hay then stacking it in locations where it will be available as winter feed. On other ranches, cowboys might spend summer days riding from just after dawn until nearly dark, moving cattle to different pastures, checking for illness, or otherwise caring for the herd.

The image of a cowboy decked out in cowboy hat and chaps (leather leggings they place over their pants for protection against weather or brush), wearing boots and spurs that jingle when they walk, is accurate to a degree; all cowboys wear that outfit some of the time and Duane does, too.

But today’s cowboys are just as likely to have on a short-billed baseball cap (it usually advertises some type of livestock feed, ropes, or perhaps fertilizer) and jeans without chaps. In winter they often wear a wool “scotch” cap with warm ear flaps, and insulated overalls for warmth.

Cowboys come in all shapes, sizes, and ages, and are both male and female (real ranch women who work with cattle often also are called cowboys). They might be 18 or 38, or in some cases they might be 8, as is Duane’s daughter, Cora. This young girl has been riding and helping her dad move cattle since she was 3. As a tot she rode Chester, a Shetland pony, and Duane used a long lead rope to guide the pony as they rode. Eventually Cora took the reins herself, and now she rides a quarter horse just like her dad. (Chester has become the mount of her little brother, Bonner, who is now 5 and like Cora began riding alone at age 3). Sometimes wife Laurie also helps move cattle. As is usually the case on ranches, Laurie and the children may do the work of cowboys, but they don’t receive a paycheck.

Though she is small, Cora is a cowboy kid who knows how to saddle and unsaddle her own horse, how to clean his feet, where to ride as they move the cattle, how to open the gate — and then how to get out of the way so the cattle can move through it. Ranch kids are strong, self-reliant, usually dependable, and hard workers because they have learned from an early age to take part in the work, Duane says.

“What keeps me in this life is the outdoors and the cattle,” Duane said. The opportunity to “get my kids horseback once in a while” is also a strong attraction because he wants to pass on cowboy traditions. Then there is the satisfaction of riding his horse across good rangeland, where the grass is abundant and nutritious, or through a swiftly flowing creek or river, knowing it provides good water for the animals.

“I don’t do the same thing every day,” Duane says. “My association with other people is very limited. Most of the time I’m not around a lot of people, and I don’t mind that. Matter of fact, I get along a lot better with animals than people.”

Candy Moulton is a rancher’s daughter and rancher’s wife, who also began cowboy work when she was 5 years old. She makes her home near Encampment, Wyoming, and is the author of a dozen books, including Steamboat: Legendary Bucking Horse and Hot Biscuits: Stories by Ranch Women and Cowboys. She writes magazine articles for American Cowboy, True West, Wild West, and Persimmon Hill.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)