Cattle Ranching in the 1800s

By Jonathan Brandt

The History

• A ranch is a large area of land that is used to farm animals. Ranchers let the animals graze, and have space for themselves. In these open ranges they often raised cows, elks, bison, or even ostrich, emu and alpacas.

Ranches

• A ranch is a large area of land that is used to farm animals. Ranchers let the animals graze, and have space for themselves. In these open ranges they often raised cows, elks, bison, or even ostrich, emu and alpacas

Open-Range

• The western Open-Range tradition started from the early practice of animals grazing in newly gained western territories. The cattle could roam free regardless of ownership. Later these ranges were partly shut down due to farming, mining, and railroads ripping through the middle of them.

Cattle Breeds

• There are over eight hundred breeds of cattle recognized worldwide. The type in the U.S. is Bos Inducus that is found in warmer climates, other kinds of cattle are Africangus, Aleutian wild cattle, American, Milking Devon, White park, Amerifax, Barzona, Beefalo, Beefmaster, Brangus, Bue Lingo, Florida Cracker, Randall, and Texas Longhorn.

Life of a female cow

• The life of a female cow has a special purpose; they are used for milk, butter, and after that, meat. In some cases, there is veal, which is a calf that is not very strong and is used for tender meat usually only two to four weeks after birth. The average life span of a cow is around twenty years, a cow on a dairy farm is alive for often four to five years.

Meat Industry• Men slaughter animals for beef in the meat industry. Using animals like pigs, cows, bison, sheep, and other livestock. This cattle industry is mainly focused on producing meat for human consumption but it also includes a variety of other products including hides, feathers, and dried blood. These industries are also called meat packing plants. The meat industry grew with the construction of railroads made available through the transport of items to central areas for processing, and the transport of products throughout the whole nation.

Cattle and Meat transportation• In the 1800’s the main way to go somewhere was the railroad and

they also used this to ship beef from one place to another. Using the railroad would be much faster than carrying it yourself in a wagon or something similar to that. By 1848 the exportation of meat had increased almost 10%; the first shipment of meat supposedly was shipped in 1867 with twenty cars full of longhorn cattle. By 1900 the railroads dominated the meat market and the trucking industry was its rival. When the idea of the refrigerated trailer had come along, this was the main way of shipping cattle to different places. Overtime the railroads fell into disrepair, so they were used less to ship any more cattle to auctions, feeders, and processors. Shipping cattle by truck was much more economical, humane, and offered more options in routing cattle to auctions. The trucking industry helped to create an interconnected road system throughout the whole United States.

Cowpeople• A cowboy (or cowgirl), was an animal herder

who took care of animals on a ranch in North America, they normally used a horse to herd the cattle, and took care of other things on the farm as well. A different type of a cowboy is called a Wrangler, who would only take care of the animals, (specifically the horses). Cowboys would also sometimes participate in rodeos, which is a large bull wrangling competition.

The finish…or is it?????????

• Ranchers had a large effect on the U.S. in all these ways. Ranchers are a big part of the history of North America. Providing meat and other products throughout the U.S.

The “power” sources• Meat Industry• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Meat_packing_industry• Cattle Breeds• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cattle_breeds• Ranches• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranch• World Book Encyclopedia No.3 C-Ch, Cattle,

1996 Edition• United States History, Holt Rinehart and

Winston, 2007, Chapter 18 Section 1 Pg. 589