Our house has been blessed with the Flu bug this week, so in turn I have watched many many movies and basically maxed out my patience for dirty dishes in the sink and clutter everywhere. Along with Mr. Poppers Penguins (my choice) we watched The Cowboys with John Wayne (not my choice). I was surprised how quickly I got involved with The Cowboys, first it had John Wayne ( felt the cliché of his westerns was to much for me.) and Second it was hard to fathom traveling 400 miles on horse to get cattle to market. I know it was my intrigue in the drive that pulled me in. While on my internship I got to experience the joy of a cattle drive, we moved 300 cows 4 miles up the road to their winter pasture. Those 4 miles took all day and it was on a dirt road making it pretty easy. I remember the chaos that followed with the trip and the frustration on the face of the wife of the ranch owner. It was a learning experience both in horsemanship and patience. I have moved cattle using a truck, four-wheeler, horses and on foot. If I got into the conversation about which is better, there would be a large argument made for each option and how it benefits the cow/cowman better than the other. That being said, we move cattle on foot at home (apparently I am a glutten for punishment).
Back to the movie though.. We sell our cattle private treaty so the buyers come to our farm and that works out great leaving a few stragglers for us to take to market in the Winter. Our Market location is less than 20 miles away and with tuck and trailer the journey takes less than 20 minutes one way, giving us enough time to get all the other chores of the day done. Somedays it is hard to get enough time to manage even that trip! In The Cowboys, Mr. Anderson(Wayne) takes a group of young boys under 15 on this journey ending in a lot of heartache but the children all gain confidence in themselves and valuable cattle experience. I couldn’t stop watching the movie and thinking about how luck I am to not have to endure such hardships to make a sale. The scenery was lovely and I truly enjoyed it and would recommend the movie to anyone.
Below is a picture of how a drive is handled:
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