The Cattle Kingdom

Between the Red and the Rockies
Copyright 1952 University of Toronto Press
300 pages,

It was reported that the spring found many of the range horses completely without hair in either mane or tail, for it had been eaten off by other horses during the period of semistarvation. Kelly, in The Range Men, said:

... the rabbits died, the lynx left, the herds of antelopes starved in hundreds, the poor brutes wandering into the very settlements, where they were often killed in the streets.

To many of the ranchers it was a crippling blow and some of the large leases were cancelled. The experience impressed upon men of the range the utter necessity of having a reserve of feed for winter me. Commissioner L. H. Herchmer of the North West Mounted Police noted this change of sentiment in his report for 1888:

All ranchers, no matter what class of stock is their specialty, now cut large quantities of hay, and nearly all have shelter of some description for weak stock. Some of the more advanced cow-men are now yarding up their calves in the fall and feeding all winter. It will be found most beneficial to both calves and cows, and the calves of the following season will also be stronger.

Another result of the bad winter was a new interest in raising horses, because these animals had survived the cold and snow better than the cattle. A new settler at Medicine Hat had particular reason for enthusiasm about the adaptability of horses. Not only did his horses come through the winter but they brought his cattle through also. Winter caught this settler with no feed in store for his livestock, which consisted of some horses, a pair of oxen, and a few cows. When the newcomer noted how apt his horses were at pawing through the snow to get the grass, he tied an ox or a cow to the halter ring of each horse and turned them all out. The horses pawed the snow and the cattle shared the grass and all survived.

Open range had its drawbacks. Control of grazing was impossible and control of breeding was likewise impossible. Once a bull was released on the open range, he could be regarded as common property. He had no more sentiment for the cows wearing his rightful owner's brand than he had for those wearing the neighbours'. There was no incentive to import good bulls for herd improvement when it was obvious that they must share the range with numerous scrub bulls. Some cattlemen owned no bulls and depended upon those released by other ranchers.

Such lack of control resulted in low breeding efficiency and about 1890 some of the ranchers decided upon a policy of importing young cattle of the stock order, called "dogies" or "barnyard cattle." The Quam Ranch started it and others repeated. But the eastern-bred "dogies" were disappointing. They lacked the hardiness of the native cattle and they were slow to settle down to ranch life. Their instinct was to travel and bawl. o Some strayed so far in their zeal to return to a hundred-acre farm in Ontario, that they were lost to their owners.

Following the "dogie" experiment of the nineties, some thought was given to augmenting range herds with young cattle imported from Mexico. These were small and poor in conformation; but hardiness was inherent and ranchers were hopeful. Ten thousand head were shipped to the Canadian range in 1902, of which the Bar U Ranch got the largest number. But this policy did not last long and the conviction grew that only by controlled breeding and good management would Canadian ranchers achieve the quality and numbers most desired in their herds.

The nineties produced a series of new trials for the cattlemen. A death-dealing blizzard occurred in April 1891. In the next year the growing cattle trade with England received a serious setback; ostensibly because of disease, the British placed an embargo on Canadian cattle, making it necessary that all cattle from Canada be slaughtered at the point of landing. This meant heavy shrinkage, bigger losses from bruising, and poorer selling opportunities, but it bothered the Canadian cattleman's pride even more than his purse. The western ranchers knew that they had the healthiest cattle in the world and if pleuro-pneumonia had been detected in animals imported to England, it certainly didn't come from the Canadian West.

In 1899, the ranchers received their introduction to the dipping vats, and the range cattle their first baptism in hot sulphur solutions. Douglas Hardwick, who witnessed the prolonged efforts to eradicate mange, believed that infected cattle were on the Alberta ranges for several years before the skin disease was correctly diagnosed. Animals with an advanced skin disorder were shot when encountered on the range, but the parasitic disease increased. The first public dipping vats were constructed around Medicine Hat in 1899.

The ranchers co-operated; the countryside was combed by the roundup riders and the cattle were assembled at the "vat." The long, narrow vat was constructed below ground level, and corrals, chutes leading to the vat, a supply of water, and some means of heating the dipping solution, were provided.

The cattlemen co-operated willingly, but not the cattle. They disliked corrals and chutes under any circumstances and had no desire to make the plunge into the unpleasantly warm liquid. But the chute leading to the vat was too narrow to allow an animal to turn and so, one by one, the cattle leaped into the uninviting fluid, went under and then swam to the place where they could walk out on the inclined floor at the opposite side.

It was a humiliating experience for the untamed critters and it didn't improve their relations with the human family. The Longhorned, Southern cattle presented special problems; some of them could outrun a horse and the first problem was to get them inside a holding corral. Douglas Hardwick and his friends recalled a seven- or eight-year-old Mexican steer, about 17 hands high, which had escaped the dipping roundup for several years. But ultimately he was caught in the roundup net and when prodded along the chute, his first inclination was to jump across the 30-odd feet of vat before him. Falling short in his furious attempt, he landed with a splash in the solution and bellowed as he swam, "hitting the other side, he lit right out for Mexico at a speed that would surprise a Thoroughbred."

Dipping was conducted with reasonable vigour in the years 1900 and 1901 and mange seemed to be under control. But it broke out afresh in 1904 and dipping was resumed. When the Western Stock Growers' Association met at Medicine Hat in May, 1905, the convention learned that 196 dipping vats were then available and Dr. J. G. Rutherford, Canada's Veterinary General, reported that 411,061 cattle in that section had been dipped once and 176,685 head had been dipped a second time. Under the able direction of Dr. Rutherford, the ranges were ultimately declared free of the troublesome mange mite.

Much ranch business was consolidated in the nineties. Leases and deeded properties were being fenced and ranchers were becoming reconciled to having farmers for neighbours. Beef prices were low but costs were low also. Cowboys were paid $30 to $45 per month with board, and a female servant received $12 to $15 per month, with a very good prospect of getting a cowboy husband. Under the circumstances, there was no shortage of servants and most of those under sixty managed to become mistresses in their own ranch homes.

While ranchers were fighting mange and resisting the encroachment of homesteaders, sides were being drawn for another range-land battle, the Battle of the Breeds. Spanish character and long horns were conspicuous in the first cattle brought to the plains, but gradually British breeds appeared. Each of at least half a dozen had its advocates, but after Shorthorns, Herefords, Aberdeen Angus, Galloways, West High- lands, Devons, and even some of the dairy breeds were tried, the Hereford emerged the favourite. The premium was on hardiness and while the Hereford possessed no more of this than the Galloway and West Highland, it had the advantage of growing bigger and growing faster. Not only did cattle ranchers like the Hereford but the white-faced breed liked the Canadian grass country and became part of it. It wasn't long until Western Canada could share with the western United States the honour of producing the world's best Hereford cattle, not excluding the native land. Calgary's coat of arms should be the head of a Hereford bull. After babies in that part learn to say "mamma" and "papa," they learn to say "Hereford" and then "Bull Sale" or "Stampede:'

The cattle kingdom has seen setbacks in the twentieth century, while the wheat empire has been pushed somewhat beyond its logical confines, but scientific planning can readjust this, and thoughtful agriculturists will continue to recognize the importance of the western beef cattle industry to Canada and to the world.