The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 32, July 1928 - April, 1929 Page: 56
361 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
fall of the year when the calves are larger and in the latter part
of the spring work.
The branding work itself consists of putting the stamp JA
on the calf, marking, vaccinating and dehorning the steer calves.
The heifers are not dehorned. There are two boys to each roper
called bull-doggers or calf-wrestlers. They throw the calf and
hold it. Then there is one man who runs the vaccinating needle,
vaccinating for both ropers. One man runs the iron and one man
runs the knife. They each mark and brand after both ropers.
Also one man runs the dehorners and occasionally one man runs
a dope pot. This dope contains creosote dip, tar and fish oil
which is put on the calves to keep the flies away. There is also
one other man needed to run the forge and keep the irons hot. If
there are enough extra men they will take it time about relieving
the boys who wrestle the calves.14
After the day's branding is completed the calves with their
mothers are taken back to the round-up grounds and they are left
set for an hour or so until they have become settled, that is the
calves have found their mothers, etc. Then they are started off
the round-up grounds in the direction from which they were
rounded that morning. Occasionally, there will be quite a num-
ber of cows with very young calves cut out while the herd is
settling and turned back to the direction from which they were
rounded that morning.'
There are five pastures known as the canyon pastures. They
are Cherokee, Barrel, Tule, Number One and Pleasant. The
canyon work begins at the lower end of the canyon in Cherokee
pasture and they work up -the canyon and wind up with the work-
ing of Pleasant pasture on the upper Palo Duro Canyon. As has
been stated before, the canyon work is different in some respects
from the flat work. Breakfast is served about three-thirty in the
morning and sometimes as early as three o'clock. Then there is a
"The ranch is dehorning calves this year for the first time in its history.
Vaccinating was begun nine years ago. Some vaccinating was done even
before this time when the fever broke out among the cattle. A government
man was hired to do it, but nine years ago the cowboys began to vaccinate
every calf when it was branded.
'"This is the usual way a round-up is worked on the J A Ranch today;
however, no set rule can be given which will cover all round-ups. There
are many variations. Each wagon boss of an outfit determines how the
round-up will be worked and every wagon boss has his own way of work-
ing a round-up.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 32, July 1928 - April, 1929, periodical, 1929; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101089/m1/60/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.