Cowboys are a vanishing breed - Victims of technology. There’s far less need for cowboys with today’s modern cattle feeding equipment, hay balers, etc. Still, there are some things that only a skilled cowboy can do.
Branding is one of those things. That can be hard work. Not easy work like separating calves from their mothers. Both require herding.
Herding cows is still usually done on horses. But even Cowboys sometimes use ATVs to get around ranches that are often 10,000 acres or more. Ranches are divided into large sections and cowboys ride long distances to mend fences and herd cattle.
There’s no need to chip a cattle on these large ranches. Cowboys know where the water and feed are and where the cows will be at given times.
Cows are generally free to roam, but cowboys do sometimes need to herd them - to brand them, separate calves from their mothers, and to load them on trucks to send to slaughter houses.
Cattle out here are grass fed. The meat of grass fed Ccows is leaner than the meat of corn fed cows. Often when cattle are shipped to Kansas City they are fattened up with corn before being slaughtered. The meat of corn fed cows is much more tender, but the meat of grass fed cows sometimes brings a premium price.
It is hard to grow much grass to feed cattle here. The summers are short and dry, and the average cow needs 40 acres. That is why the ranches here are huge. There are more cattle raised in Florida than in Montana or any other Western State.
Winters here are long and it takes a lot of hay to feed cattle during the winter.
Many of the cedar posts Used as fence posts are original equipment - over 100 years old!
For many years my new cowboy friend saved money to buy his own ranch. He had his own herd and leased land from other ranchers. Things were going well and he was very close to being able to buy a ranch when his marriage fell apart. He got divorced and his dream of owning a ranch died with his marriage.. Now he works as a hired hand for other ranch owners.
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