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Lecture 6 began with the genesis of the cattle kingdom story; cattle were brought with the Spaniards onto the plains during their conquests in the 16th century. The cattle they brought were of Moorish descent from northern Africa, they were acclimatized to the plains environment from their Basque handlers origins. The method for handling cattle during the cattle kingdom is a combination of Scottish/English and Spanish. After we established the genesis we moved onto the expansion of the cattle kingdom with cattle moving further north on the plains during the time of the open range in response to the growing settler population. We quickly discussed Canadian ranching with a Canadian framework and American methods where the open range was leased from the Queen. With the growing settler population in the west there was an end to the open range era in the US and a move toward a traditional ranching method where cattle were fenced into their grazing pastures. Dr. Isern believes that the open range era came to an end in part by the slack cattle markets during the 1880s, the herd laws and the transition to family ranching. After the end of the open range and the beginning of the fenced ranch, new jobs were created for cowboys on the ranch, fixing fence and making hay were the circumstances of the new fenced era. Another outcome of the fenced ranching era was better herd management with more pureblood herds being raised without the competition from the open range bulls. Next we looked at transient grazing where cattle would be finished on grass near railroad towns and after that on grazing enclaves. The decline of transient grazing led way to the feedlot empire that we are in the midst of now. The Feedlot empire came about by consumer tastes, the growth of sorghum hybrids, the invention of the center pivot irrigation system and the surplus capital available for investment into the feedlots. With the rise of the feedlot empire also came the meatpacking industry to the plains, no longer would ranchers have to send they animals to the east to be slaughtered, it could be done right on the plains close to the feedlots. The feedlot empire and meatpacking industry tends to be heaviest under the Ogillalla aquifer region of the southern plains.

I found the whole lecture fascinating being from a farm and ranch background. We used to use the same calf throwing techniques that Dr. Isern talked about. One person drags a calf out of the herd, the other person will come and grab the front leg and the flank and flop the calf on its side, while those 2 held the calf down a third would come in, brand it, cut the bulls and vaccinate it. Being the youngest of 3 brothers it was usually my job to be the one pulling the calf out of the herd sinces thats who usually received the most kicks to the shin, body or head. I also remember listening intently to the stories my father used to tell of the time that he spent in Texas near San Angelo working on a feedlot and the immense size of it, it made our 150 head of Charlois seem ridiciouly tiny.

Sutton Goodman