"What Was Life Like for Cowboys in the 1880s ..." Topic

…American West?

"he cowboy is an iconic symbol of the American West. In popular culture, cowboys are glamourous, mysterious and daringly heroic figures. However, the reality of being a cowboy in the 1880s was very different. Their roles required gruelling physicality, and it was often a lonely life that paid relatively little.

Cowboys herded cattle, cared for horses, made repairs to fences and buildings, worked cattle drives and sometimes lived in frontier towns. They were not always welcome as they travelled, as they had reputations of being drunk, disorderly and even violent.

In addition, the work of cowboys in states west of the Mississippi River greatly impacted the beef industry in America in the 1880s…"

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Armand

So just curious Armand, have you ever worked with cattle? I have, just not as a cowboy. They are big, sometimes mean and work in a herd mentality. Once spooked, they all take off as a group. Risking your life and l8mb to stop them? Forget it!! They will run our of control until the matriarch eventually tires or they feel safe. Cowboy life was brutal!! Risk life and limb to stop a stampede started by coyotes, thunderstorms, cattle restless, various Aboriginal threats, etc
Also sleep out in the cold, rain, sleet, hail, heat waves, snow with no tents. Receive poor pay, bad meals, hostile bosses, etc. At the end of a cattle drive, you get drunk, nurse saddle sores, lose your money to saloon girls, poker cheats, make bad choices and end up in jail or hanged, or inpoverty. What a great life!!

I worked on dairy farms, beef farms, etc. for years at minimum wage while in school, high school and university. Thank God I lived at home until university or else I couldn't afford the life style I have now. It was hard work. Dawn until dusk. Brutal summer heat blisters, tired and aching muscles, you name it. But it taught me a very valuable lesson, that those animals needed my care to survive and thrive and so I did my best with pride and humility…just like the cowboys in the 1880s.

If working with cattle as a way of life is your question… I answer no.

If having horses and some cattle on one's own land where I know and partly share the tasks of the laborers… the answer is yes…

I love the countryside and come from a country family… but I would never live there because the living conditions are very hard and routine…

The Cowboys are quite similar to our gauchos… same hard and miserable life… only diference is that in here they ended up being forced to join the Army as soldiers to fight the Indians…

Life in the Fortines (Forts) was even much harder than in the Estancias…

The fight against the Indians was even worse… since most of the soldiers did not have firearms… they fought with spears, knives and boleadoras… hand to hand… and the Indians were very good warriors…

Armand

I grew up in a small town in West Texas where farming and ranching was/is prevalent. I cowboyed until I was 22. It is a hard life today so I cannot imagine how bad it was in the 1880s. Sleeping on the ground has never been my thing.

Cowboy life was a hard life – and farming/cattle raising is hard, hard work

Thanks Tango – very interesting. I am from Calgary – farming/ranching the most difficult job there is – always has been and always will be. You never want to be in a position of being dependent on another country for your basic food supply.

Sweaty, smelly, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

The average person has no idea how difficult it is to raise cattle… at least these days… with calving, vaccinations, inspections, feed, vets(expensive), the weather, when a bull rapes another bull and kills him… etc etc etc…

Horses need even more care… beautiful beasts but very prone to accidents and illness… not to mention when the non-castrated ones are in a bad mood or after the females… they are ferocious and dangerous…

Thanks for the comments.

Armand