STOCK RAISING.
In the eastern part of our country the farms are small. Each farmer raises a few horses, cattle, and perhaps sheep.
In the west the farms or ranches are often very large. They reach for miles and miles across the plains and over the mountains. Upon these large ranches they often raise nothing but stock.
The farmer in the east keeps his cattle in a little field called a pasture. He may drive them to the barnyard every night.
The land over which the cattle wander upon the great stock ranches is called the range. The men who look after the cattle are called cow-boys or vaqueros. Few people live upon these large ranches and the cattle become almost as wild as deer.
Once a year the cattle are rounded up. The cow-boys ride over the ranch on horseback and gather all the cattle in a great bunch. It often takes them many days to do this.
The steers that are full grown are separated in order to be driven away to market. The little calves are marked with a hot iron so that it may be known to whom they belong. This is called branding. What a bellowing the calves and their mothers make. The cattle are afraid of men on horseback, but it is not safe to go among them on foot.
In some parts of the west there are bands of wild horses. They have escaped from ranches and after many years become very wild.
How full of life they appear as they dash across the plains. These horses are often called mustangs. They are so wild that it is difficult to break them to ride.
Sheep and goats Are not allowed to wander alone as the cattle do. They would be destroyed by the coyotes and mountain lions.
The sheep are divided up so that there are one thousand to three thousand in each band. A man called a herder has charge of each band. With his shepherd dogs, who are very intelligent and trained to do whatever is needed, the herder keeps the sheep together. At night they are driven into a coral where they will be safe from the wild animals.
Wherever you find a band of sheep in the mountains of the west you are sure to see a herder watching them. There he goes as the sheep feed along. He has a canteen upon his shoulder for carrying water, and a donkey by his side. The don key carries his food and blankets.
In this way the man follows the sheep from place to place through the summer. The life of a sheep herder is a very lonely one.
Once or twice a year the sheep are washed and sheared. The wool is packed in bales and shipped to market.