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Lecture 6 mostly discussed the cattle industry and how settlers maintained and controlled cattle herds. Cattle herds travel from south to north of the country while railroads and highways travel east to west. This is due to cattle ranchers discovering that the great plains were habitable during the winter. Before the Herd Law of 1870, cattle were free to migrate the open range but eventually they started eating the crops of neighboring farmers. This catalyzed the production of barb wire fences and eliminated the "Cattle Kingdom." The Herd Law allowed settlers to raise any crop that they could harvest, and were reimbursed if any ungated cattle or animals decide to damage the crops. Cattle quarentines, overstocking, and barb wire fences became huge commodities in ranching communities because the law required that cattle are not in an open range but instead herded.

The most interesting part of the lecture was when we talked about how all the cowboys actually herd large groups of cattle. I can only imagine how difficult rounding up hundreds of cattle would be with a couple dogs, 10 men on horseback, the seperation of branded cattle when they reached their destination. The other interesting topic was when we discussed famous cowboys. I remember not being able to name a real cowboy who didn't play in a movie or isn't a folk legend like Wyatt Earp who once "lassoed" a tornado (shown in picture).

Adam Wolfe