cattle industry

• over ranching on the plains in the 1870's
• over ranching - price of cattle going down - ranchers stopped selling their cattle until the prices dropped
• ranchers stopped selling cattle - still too many cattle on the plains - not enough grass (hooves damage it)
• not enough grass - cows got skinny - winter of 1886 - not fat enough to survive in the unusual cold weather
• unusual cold weather - temperatures fell to -55'C the already weakened cattle couldn't dig through the snow for the grass - 15% of the cattle died and the rest were thin and worthless - The Great Die Up
• The Great Die Up - led to large cattle ranchers going bankrupt and forced them to leave - end of the beef bonanza
• end of the beef bonanza - remaining cattle ranchers decided to stop farming on open ranch - they kept cattle close to them in fields that were surrounded by barbed wire - easier to look after in the winter - end of the open range
• end of the open range - life for the cowboy also changed, they now 'rode the line' - follow the barb wired to check if it was broken (contrasts their exciting open range life)
• changes for cowboys

  • 1865 - herd cattle on the long trails from Texas
  • 1867 - cowboys herd cattle to cow towns
  • 1870's - open range
  • 1886 - riding the line on small ranches

  the numbers decreased as the number of ranches closing increased - life was less exciting (dehorning, looking after horses and calves), lived in bunkhouses, rode the line, joined up for yearly round up = searching for stray cattles