“Brrr,” that was the first thought that went through my mind as I awoke on that gloomy fall day. It was the round up day and the whole family was getting geared up to help my crazy uncle drive his cattle five miles off their almost dirt pasture, to his house just north of Staples Minnesota. Though some had driven lots of cattle before at fenced in pasture, there was just something that worried me about driving the rowdy cattle right down the middle of the highway.
My family consisted of me, my father Joe, my mother Heather, and my little brother Jared.. My sister Hannah didn't come along due to the fact that she couldn't get the time off work. My father was a good horsemen and cattleman before I was even born and his skill showed when I would just sit and watch him as a kid. My mother had always had a horse growing up and she knew how to ride very well, the cattle part of things was the only rusty thing about her. My brother was scared and didn't know what he was about to do being that it was his first time ever riding a horse solo, and Mom was worried about having him learn while doing something difficult like a cattle drive on the highway. Dad insisted though that it was his time to learn.
It was ten a.m. when we pulled into the pasture to meet up with my uncle and his family, which consisted of uncle Mike, aunt Mary, and my cousin Matt with his girlfriend Tessa. My uncle was a childhood friend of my Dads and they did everything together like brothers, he was good on a horse and with cattle just like my Dad. My aunt was my moms sister and she was also good an a horse but rusty with the ways of cattle. My cousin on the other hand was excellent on horseback and could maneuver it like a pro and at the same time see and understa...
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...hat the house meant the end, and it was pushing him to work harder and faster right up till the pine wood gate closed on the cattle. Hearing the steel latch fall into place was when we knew that we had successfully done a five mile cattle drive through the heart of Minnesota and made one heck of a memory.
After I experienced and observed all the events and actions that make up a cattle drive I have an even greater respect for those who back in the day did it for a living. It is a hard life to live being away from family and friends with just you and the dusty trail making your way slowly to a destination. I would do it all over again and again to reobserve the ways everything played out and the beautiful environment that I got to see, hear, feel, smell, and touch from a natural perspective. It wasn't just out of a car window, but right out within my grasp.
...turned east onto the gravel country road and then onto the track which led back to the old house with the rusted hogwire strung around it and the stunted elm trees standing up leafless inside the rusted wire.” (125). In this line the fence represents the emotional wall that the brothers have erected to keep everyone out. Then Victoria comes and gives their house homey touches and they realize that they can’t keep everyone out forever. “Now the wind started up in the trees, high up, moving the high branches. The barn swallows came out and began to hunt leaf-bugs and lacewinged flies in the dusk. The air grew soft.” (301).
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).
Altogether, between 1866 and 1888, some six million head of cattle were driven up from Texas to winter on the high plains of Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. The cattle boom reached its height in 1885, when the range became too heavily pastured to support the long drive, and was beginning to be crisscrossed by railroads. Not far behind the rancher creaked the covered wagons of the farmers bringing their families, their draft horses, cows and pigs. Under the Homestead Act they staked their claims and fenced them with a new invention, barbed wire. Ranchers were ousted from lands they had roamed without legal title. Soon the romantic "Wild West" had ceased to be.
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.
McCoy changed cattle drives in Texas forever. McCoy “built the facilities for transporting cattle and marked a trail from the Red River to Kansas, following a path originally blazed in 1865 by an Indian trader named Jesse Chisholm.” (Campbell 295) Cattle, once used solely for the purpose of food and nutrition, slowly transformed into the “growing profitability of trailing cattle to market.” (Campbell 297) Cattle, before and after 1860, proved to be important to Texas settlers, whether for survival or marketing, which is one thing that stayed the same throughout Texas History. The one thing that cattle drives changed was the culture of Texas. Because of the cattle drives, myths about cowboys and cattles arise. Many people today still think cowboys are strong, popular, and tough men that live exciting lives, when they were really young men that received extremely low pay for dangerous work. However, because of the cattle drives, Texas has a culture of toughness and western-vibe built around
The four most prevalent parenting styles are permissive, authoritarian, authoritative, and neglecting style, and they reflect on Diana Bourmind’s proposal of the four crucial domains in parenting; nurturance, maturity demands (level of expectations) control, and communication.
On one of my parents’ first dates together, my father described cattle they drove past as “amazing creatures” telling my mother someday he would like to have land and livestock of his own. That wish to transition from the big city to the country led him to buy a house in the middle of nowhere Indiana, soon raising his own amazing livestock. Growing up, I often complained about the amount of work living on a farm entailed, from cleaning pens to taking care of my 4-H animals. But my dad never complained because such duties were his reward for starting an idea from scratch. Following his footsteps in pursuit of a dream of my own, I chose to attend a large university where I studied abroad to contrast and challenge my rural perspective. Through that transition, I began to respect the difficulties my father experienced following his goal. And while the responsibilities he undertakes are stressful and uncertain, I now
Throughout the United States, more than one-third of children don't live with their biological fathers, and about 17 million of those children don't live with any father at all. Of those, roughly 40 percent haven't seen their fathers in the last year. The over 500 Father's Rights organizations are trying in a variety of ways to change these statistics because they believe that fathers are necessary to the intellectual, psychological and emotional well- being of all children. "Family values" groups encourage long lasting stable, marriages and tough divorce laws to increase the number of two- parent households. Some organizations focus on reasonable child support and visitation, as well as creative joint custody arrangements to combat fatherless ness after divorce. Still other sects within the movement encourage responsible fatherhood through counseling for "Deadbeat" or "Dead-broke" Dads, job training and placement to increase the likelihood of child support payments and educational seminars to teach men how to be emotionally supportive fathers. The unique coalition of conservative pro-marriage groups, white middle-class divorcées and low- income fathers is an unusual alliance. But regardless of philosophical and tactical differences, the essential mission is the same- to improve the relationship between our nation's fathers and their children.
After stumbling upstairs I go to the computer and turn on Da Yoopers’ “Da turdy Point Buck”, the song our family must listen to before we head out the door and into the woods. With the song blaring through the house, I walk into my brother’s room, turn the lights on, rip the covers from his bed, and narrowly escape a swift kick from his leg. After a breakfast of pancakes my brother and I jump into his truck and head for the hills. We own 120 acres three miles from the house, so we must drive to our destination. Any other morning there would be no vehicles on the road, but this particular morning we pass about ten other trucks all taking their passengers to their particular hunting spots.
Parenting is the practice of supporting and encouraging the physical, emotional, social and academic development of a child from birth to adult. Society says children should be raised in a two-parent family. Although, in most cases raising a child or children in a two-parent family is best, there are situations where children are better off living and being raised by one parent.
One of the hardest issues to survive in, as a single parent, is an overwhelming emotion that you should complete the role of both mother and father. This feeling evolves and will be more intense if the other single parent is not portraying a role that is active with the children.
Even though the Census Bureau shown that single parent families are increase every year I did not want to be a static of not providing for my family but just another public assist person.
It was the morning of November 22nd, 1998 and as I sat at the table eating the eggs my mother had made for me I was sure today was the day I was going to get my first Vermont buck. I had packed my bag the night before with all the essentials: 2 quartz of water, sausages, snickers bars, extra gloves, extra socks, extra compass, knife, matches and extra bullets. I was excited and yet tired at the same time. The three-week deer season had taken its toll on me and it was the last week so I knew how importan...
Many people nowadays are considered disenfranchised: the mentally ill, homeless, elders and many more. One major group that is often discriminated against are single parents. In recent years there has been a rise of single moms in the United Stated. With the increase of single parent households comes the rise of discrimination towards them. Single moms are often considered unhealthy for society and manipulative. Single mothers are discriminated against in the workforce and at social gatherings, and are often judged by society in general.
As I finished eating, I heard the horn of my uncle’s car outside of my house, they seemed happy and ready to go. We all left at the same time, heading to my grandparent’s ranch. Once we get there, my cousins and I rushed to my grandfather’s fruit trees. He had apple trees, orange trees, lime trees, among others delicious fruits. As the time passed, lunch time came and everybody was called to eat. One of my uncles knows how to cook, and since he was in charge of the meat, he knew what to do to make it better. I remember the taste of that meat, it was delicious and everyone love