Why did cattle ranchers send their cattle to distant markets?

The work was so demanding that cowhands brought a number of horses so that each day a fresh one would be available. The coming of railroads gave western ranchers a way to get cattle to distant markets.

How did cattle ranchers benefit from the railroads?

The railroads had created them, and the railroads had ended them: railroad lines pushed into Texas and made the great drives obsolete. But ranching still brought profits and the Plains were better suited for grazing than for agriculture and western ranchers continued supplying beef for national markets.

Why did ranchers start the cattle drives?

The gold boom in California in the 1850s also created a demand for beef and provided people with the cash to pay for it. Even the Australians began cattle drives to ports for shipment of beef to San Francisco and, after freezing methods were developed, all the way to Britain.

Why did ranchers sell their cattle to Eastern markets after the Civil War?

In order to sell their cattle, Texan cowboys had to transport their cattle to the markets in the eastern states. This meant if cowboys tried to drive their herds up north, they were often forced to turn back round. The civil war had a huge impact on the Texan cattle industry.

What killed the cattle boom?

An increase in the number of cattle led to overgrazing and destruction of the fragile Plains grasses. The romantic era of the long drive and the cowboy came to an end when two harsh winters in 1885-1886 and 1886-1887, followed by two dry summers, killed 80 to 90 percent of the cattle on the Plains.

What brought the cowboy era to an end?

The romantic era of the long drive and the cowboy came to an end when two harsh winters in 1885-1886 and 1886-1887, followed by two dry summers, killed 80 to 90 percent of the cattle on the Plains. As a result, corporate-owned ranches replaced individually owned ranches.

Are cattle ranchers rich?

Cattle ranchers earn almost twice as much as the average American worker, but their jobs are also physically strenuous. Income and profit fluctuates from year to year due to shifting overhead costs, government subsidies and public policies regulating the beef industry.

Why did the railroads bring cattle to the west?

Railroads created the market for ranching, and because for the few years after the war that railroads connected eastern markets with important market hubs such as Chicago, but had yet to reach Texas ranchlands, ranchers began driving cattle north, out of the Lone Star state, to major railroad terminuses in Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.

How many people worked in the railroad industry in 1880?

By 1880, approximately 400,000 men—or nearly 2.5% of the nation’s entire workforce—labored in the railroad industry. Much of the work was dangerous and low-paying and companies relied heavily on immigrant labor to build tracks.

What was life like for a cowboy in the west?

But it was tough work. Cowboys received low wages, long hours, and uneven work, they faced extremes of heat, cold, and sometimes bouts of intense blowing dust, and they subsisted on limited diets with irregular supplies. Fluctuations in the cattle market made employment insecure and wages were almost always abysmally low.

How did the increase in cattle affect ranching?

This caused a huge increase in the cattle population, which, when ranchers came back from war, was difficult to control. It was then that ranchers started to erect fences to pen their cattle and monitor over grazing.

What is the history of cattle ranching in Texas?

The history of Texas cattle ranching is intertwined with the history of the state itself. Ranchers have shaped the social, economic, and political identity of Texas since the 15th century. They continue to play a vital role today. Other states are carved or born; Texas grew from hide and horn.

What kind of business do cattle ranchers do?

They are primarily a cow/calf operation, but also raise and sell replacement heifers and source product to local restaurants in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. They are part of a new generation of American farmers and agreed to open up about their life and profession for a summer series the Guardian is doing on working America.