Decline of Cattle Industry

• The winter of 1886 to 87 was incredibly cold and harsh, leading to a decline in the cattle industry
• At least 15 percent of all the cows on the open range starved during the winter of 1886 to 87
• The cattle that survived the harsh winter were skinny and weak, fetching lower prices at market
• The decline of the cattle industry due to the harsh winter of 1886 to 87 became known as the Great Die Up
• The Great Die Up was a play on the word roundup, where instead of rounding up cattle for sale, many were found dead on the plains
• The Civil War disrupted the Texas cattle industry in 1861
• By 1865, Texans had established trails to railhead towns
• By 1866, the Goodnight-Loving Trail had supplied Indian army forts and reservations with beef
• In 1867, Joseph McCoy established the first real cow town, Abilene, Kansas
• The 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty banned white Americans from entering Indian lands, affecting cattle drives
• Cattle drives needed to pay the Indians to use their land after the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, making them less profitable
• In 1870s, ranching on the open range began with developments shown by John Iliff in Wyoming
• In 1874, barbed wire was introduced, impacting the cattle industry
• Homestead farmers began fearing cattle diseases and started blocking cattle drives

  1862
• Ranching on the open range began with developments shown by John Iliff in Wyoming


  1870s
• Barbed wire fences closed off the open range


  1874
• Barbed wire fences closing off the open range


  Could lead to conflict with the homesteaders
• Barbed wire often damaged the cattle in their skins
• Refrigerated railroad cars were developed


  1875
• Refrigerated railroad cars being developed


  Meant that ranch beef could now be taken and sold further away
• It's far easier to slaughter a cow near to where it is, refrigerate it for safe consumption later, and transport it as pre-prepared meat on railroad cars
• The cattle industry was booming, investors rushed to back ranching, and the cattle barons seized control

  1876
• The great die-up occurred due to a harsh winter, leading to skinny and sick cattle being sold cheaply


  1886 to 1887
• The smaller ranches tended to thrive and carried on the cattle industry, although the big days of the beef bonanza were behind
• From the 1860s through to the 1870s, the cattle industry was booming
• Conflict over the use of the plains with homesteaders and Indians complicated the cattle industry significantly
• Cattle barons seized control, putting smaller ranches under pressure
• Overstocking of cattle hit prices
• Smaller ranchers that tended their cattle individually and fed them with cowboys tended to survive better than the big ones
• The cattle industry didn't die out but had declined
• The decline of the cattle industry was summarized
• The good times of big profits in the cattle industry were over
• The cattle industry had changed, but it hadn't ended