Lindsay
My name is Lindsay Martin, and I am an
independent cowgirl on the prairie in the 1880’s. Ma and Pa own the M Cattle Ranch. Charley and Layne, my
brothers, work on the ranch after school. They got to go on the annual spring
round-up when they were ten-years-old. Now that I am ten, I want to go along,
too. I want Pa to teach me everything there is to know about ranching.
I’ll tell you more next time about my
adventures on the ranch.
“Round ‘em up,
Move ‘em out”
By Judy
Like Lindsay, I helped my
family with our cattle. Most of the time our beef cattle were in pastures on
the south side of the highway. Several times a year the cattle were moved to
the pasture on the north side of the highway. I use the term highway, but actually
it was just a narrow, blacktopped road. At most it was traveled by only one or
two cars an hour. Still, moving the cows to the north pasture required my
assistance plus help from my grandpa, dad, two brothers, my dog, Red, and
sometimes even my mother.
The process began by placing
a couple of bales of hay in the back of our old WWII army jeep which had been
painted red. The cows followed the jeep with the hay in it to the gate of the
pasture. Directly across the road was a gate to the destination pasture. My
brothers, grandpa and I were stationed on the highway to stop cars and to
prevent any livestock from taking a “road trip.” When the gates were opened, Grandpa drove the
jeep through the first gate, across the highway and through the second gate
with the cattle following. My dad and Red were behind the cattle to push any
laggards on their way.
My family moving cattle in
Kansas in the 1950’s was much easier than the round-up Lindsay experienced in
the 1880’s. One thing that hasn’t changed in Kansas, however, is that on a
family farm all the family works. The weather has not changed either. The sun
is still as hot in the summer, and the winters can be as cold as they were in
Lindsay’s time.
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