SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER

Punching cows in the panhandle

By Julie Carter

Cowboys have their own style and it is one that has evolved through a century of working their trade. Though widely imitated by everyone from John Travolta to a Wall Street wanna-be the true essence of genuine is never quite captured.

Often the differences between imitation and genuine are so subtle only another cowboy will pick up on them. Cowboys often judge the other by the first impression. First it will be by the hat and boots on the cowboy and then the tack (saddle etc.) that the horse is wearing. After that, the real test comes when observing a man’s skill with a horse or his handling of cattle.

Unique to the occupation, cowboy style will vary every hundred miles of geography depending on weather, terrain, types of cattle work and necessities of the occupation.

The Texas panhandle is said to draw the largest concentration of cattle on feed anywhere in the world. That makes it about the best place in the world to catch the largest number of working cowboys in the same place at any one time.

Some come from ranch owning families and some from working ranch hand families. Some come from South Texas, some are buckaroos from Nevada, some have waded the Rio Grande, having cowboyed all the way from Chihuahua to El Paso.

Some come from places where towns crowded them out and some are kids working their way through college. Some have diplomas and are paying their dues at the bottom of the ladder before they go on to manage one of the mammoth feed yards.

Occasionally one will have come west from the piney woods of southeastern United States after deciding he was tired of driving cattle trucks hauling stocker cattle to the panhandle. In the winters they will drift down from Montana, the Dakotas, Kansas and anywhere the climate is not so forgiving.

The major portion of the panhandle cowboys are homegrown panhandle ranch hands coming to “town” to work the feedlots for awhile. They can always count on steady work, a steady paycheck and almost none of them have any illusions about the romance of cowboying.

The best of these work hardened cowboys will be accustomed to recognizing sick cattle, handling all cattle gently, counting accurately, riding through the long days without much complaint. All will know how to process and doctor cattle. And while most will hate that part of the job they will be more than conscientious in their care of the cattle in their charge.

This melting pot of cowboy types, unless raised at the feedlots, will be overwhelmed with the sheer numbers of confined cattle. Most will have come from places where sections of land scattered cattle far and wide. They will bring their good horses who will likewise be appalled by the dust, mud and endless multitude of gates to be opened horseback.

The Panhandle feedlot cowboys are a colorful lot and perform an absolutely critical function for the cattle industry. Owners of the cattle in the feed yards, feedlot managers and feedlot owners recognize that these men are the backbone of this labor intensive operation.

The cowboys themselves just look at it as their jobs—another part of being a cowboy. In good cowboy style, they just enjoy being punchers.

Next week, I will detail the varieties in dress, tack and attitudes that come with cowboys from different parts of the country. In spite of their geographical differences, they all have one thing in common when the work in the panhandle. They are the punchiest bunch of punchers you will ever see.

Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net

© Julie Carter 2005

I welcome submissions for this feature of The Westerner.