Introduction The cattle industry in the United States has changed from its’ early beginning to a vast powerful industry. The use of cattle as a meat protein source is not the sole purpose of their production as can be seen in the early written history of this country. Oxen drawn wagons carried early settlers across this country to plains and prairies for the establishment of farms and towns that transformed the geography from a desolate waste land into booming metropolitan cities. The need to see the past in order to proudly understand the present may give an aggressive approach to the mindless future implications that have man searching for water on Mars and testing the might of the Sun.
Cattle have contributed to man in many ways. The carcass of cattle commonly referred to as beef has a long history of being a preferred edible meat. The outer covering of cattle commonly referred to as the hide is used but not limited to the manufacturing of clothing, upholstered furniture, seats, automobile interior, and shoes. The presence of cattle or a closely related ancestor dates back to early man. Prehistoric
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Evelin Cuardra, Professor of Animal Science at Alcorn State University, stated that cattle play a vital role in science and research. He cites early experiments with cattle for a clearer understanding of nutrient metabolism. He stated that the evolution of cattle can be traced back millions of years with adaptation and migration playing a role in their survival. The true understanding of evolution is not solely based on a mutation that propels a species in a direction that spins off another new organism but an adaptation over many years that causes an anatomical and physiological change for survival in a dynamic environment. Cattle are reared as livestock but this is not their sole purpose. The existence of cattle fit firmly in the ecosystem. Grass or vegetative consumers serve as a food source for carnivores or meat eaters
Through the period of 1865-1900, America’s agriculture underwent a series of changes .Changes that were a product of influential role that technology, government policy and economic conditions played. To extend on this idea, changes included the increase on exported goods, do the availability of products as well as the improved traveling system of rail roads. In the primate stages of these developing changes, farmers were able to benefit from the product, yet as time passed by, dissatisfaction grew within them. They no longer benefited from the changes (economy went bad), and therefore they no longer supported railroads. Moreover they were discontented with the approach that the government had taken towards the situation.
There are many ways in which we can view the history of the American West. One view is the popular story of Cowboys and Indians. It is a grand story filled with adventure, excitement and gold. Another perspective is one of the Native Plains Indians and the rich histories that spanned thousands of years before white discovery and settlement. Elliot West’s book, Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers and the Rush to Colorado, offers a view into both of these worlds. West shows how the histories of both nations intertwine, relate and clash all while dealing with complex geological and environmental challenges. West argues that an understanding of the settling of the Great Plains must come from a deeper understanding, a more thorough knowledge of what came before the white settlers; “I came to believe that the dramatic, amusing, appalling, wondrous, despicable and heroic years of the mid-nineteenth century have to be seen to some degree in the context of the 120 centuries before them” .
Hämäläinen goes on to explain that his purpose is to trace and analyze the contradictions of the Plains Indians’ horse culture, rather than just condemning it as something baleful, which many historians tend to do. Hämäläinen also refutes the common eastern farmer-western nomad manner of analyzing Plains equestrianism, in which there is “a tendency to cast the villagers as cultural reactionaries who failed to embrace the liberating powers of equestrianism and, locked in space and time, were crushed by the double invasion of the aggressive nomads and the encroaching Americans,” (Hämäläinen, 2) and instead proposes that Plains horse culture is understood from a latitudinal --rather than longitudinal-- viewpoint, since horse culture spread from the south, northwards. It is also explained that the latitudinal spread of equestrianism gave rise to the creation of markedly diverse horse cultures, vary...
On March 10, 1892 the Billings Gazette reported, “The opening of spring may be more red than green for the horse thieves and cattle thieves of Johnson County” (Brash, 143). The writer of the article could little have known how truthful their premonition would prove to be. The late 1800’s were turbulent times in the West. Large tracts of publicly held range ground would be at the center of Wyoming’s very own civil war. Gil Bollinger, author and western researcher, reports that by the 1870’s and 1880’s fencing of land to enclose both crops and water sources was common (Bollinger, 81). This practice, however, was still illegal according to the federal government. In 1877, the United States Government sued Swan Land and Cattle Company, in an effort to set an example that all fences on open range must come down (Bollinger, 81). The fencing of lands was a major problem, as agricultural producers needed open access to the limited resources, especially water. Johnson County, in northern Wyoming, was an agricultural nucleus for cattle and sheep producers who knew the lush grass and good water supply would greatly benefit their operations. Since fencing was illegal, these resources were available to everyone. Cattle operators, large and small alike, ran their livestock loose and participated in large roundups once a year where all the cattle were branded. Slick calves, called mavericks, were often unrightfully claimed. Lack of fencing made any free ranging livestock available to whoever was devious enough to take them (Smith, 25).
Technology in this time period allowed for more crops to be produced. The use of new farm equipment was one of the things that generated more production. Document D shows a combine, a piece of farm equipment that harvests grain, being pulled by many horses. The use of the combine to trigger an increase in agricultural production as shown in Document A. Also with the invention of the grain elevator more farmers had the ability to store grain in bulk. Another technological advancement that developed during this time would be the railroad system. The railroads linked the farms to the big cities as shown in Document B. “Cowboys”, usually in Texas, herded cattle hundreds of miles along cattle trails, such as the Chisholm Trail, and the western trail, to cow towns along railroads. A drawback to the railroads, though, would be the “Robber Barons”, such as C. Vanderbilt, who had monopolistic power over the railroads. Things like cattle would be taken to factories more likely in Chicago as depicted in Document F. The packaged meat would then go into a railroad car that was possibly refrig...
Taylor, Robert E., and Thomas G. Fields. Scientific Farm Animal Production in Introduction to Animal Science. 8th Ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 200
Popper DE, Popper FJ. "The Reemergence of the American Frontier" Studies in History and Contemporary Culture. Forthcoming: 11 pages.
Although feeding corn to cattle speeds up the process until they reach slaughter time, evidence shows that feeding corn to cattle that are genetically wired to eat grass produces unhealthy beef which then plays a role in healthy people, minimizing the longevity in Americans. Furthermore, the logic of nature relies on complex mutual relationship where each animal contributes to the sustainability of their environment in a cyclic manner as stated in the chapter “All Flesh is Grass”:
Many people may ask, “What the heck is the Cattleman’s Association?” Normally, the first thoughts that fill people’s minds when they hear “Cattleman’s Association” are: farmers, cows, farms, rednecks, dairy, beef, steaks, hamburger, milk, and so on. Many of these “stereotypes” prove true and many not so much. My experience with the KCA (Kentucky Cattleman’s Association) may be limited, but its roots run deep in my hometown and my family. Although a great number of my family members are in the KCA, I couldn’t tell you the first thing about them, which inspired me to “get to know” them.
History provides the opportunity to explore the origins of a topic or problem. The information from Agriculture and rural society after the Black Death provides an overview of agricultural and rural society’s agrarian issues; during the Middle-Ages these issues were centered around depopulation and social conflict (Dodds & Britnell, 2008, pp.3-50). Problems in the economics of society in the medieval fourteenth century involved the decline of social status and labor services (Dodds & Britnell, 2008, pp.73-132). Other examples are seen in change and growth describe of that in 1870, the Great Plains only had 127,000 people; six decades later in 1930, there were 6.8 million people; 74 percent of the population lived in non-metropolitan areas; from 1930 to 1940, there was a loss of 200,000 people; 75 percent of these counties lost populations from the Great Depression and severe drought, which had caused the abandonment of farms (Kandel & Brown, 2006, p.431). To understand these past experiences, the door to hindering issues must be opened to determine how agricultural sustainability forges change.
The drought and drop in the market price of beef caused most of the cattle ranchers to leave Arizona. During the height of the Cattle Boom, ranchers stocked one cow per five acres. However, ranchers in Arizona today stock one cow per 65 acres (Guido 2). Modern day ranchers now are keeping “a keen eye toward future climate challenges, and are tuning their ranch operations to the environment” (Guido 1).
The agriculture, cattle, and sheep markets made many people large profits and, as with the stones and metals, relied on the railroad to bring the goods to the consumers. With the aid of the railroads there was an abundance of agricultural goods in the United States, “American commercial farmers, constantly opening new lands, produced much mor...
In addition, cattle people didn’t have a real great way to contain their livestock. During this time, it was known as an “open range” because the cattle could go wherever they wanted to. However, in 1874, barbed wire became available. The fencing of this rangeland quickly put an end to the open range grazing era (A Condensed History of American Agriculture 1776–1999).
1) Introduction: This paper will explain how America’s agriculture was developed and what roles were played to establish settlement.
Leading up to the end of the 1800’s, agricultural was losing its place as the largest economy in the United States. Farmers felt that they were under-appreciated and taken advantage of, even though they produced food to be distributed nationwide. Although agriculture was imperative to the survival of the nation, farmers faced devastating natural causes, outrageously high rates on land and transportation, and unsuccessful tries in politics.