790 



TEXAS. 



and to get plenty of good water, and rail-timber 

 near enough for fencing. But stock-growing 

 connected with farmingnever attains the dimen- 

 sions nor yields the profit that it does in the 

 purely stock country where no farming is car- 

 ried on. To make the most of cattle-raising, 

 the settler should go west of the Colorado, and 

 from there to the Rio Grande he can hardly go 

 amiss, if ho avoid districts closely settled and 

 seek open country, securing good water, with 

 rail-timber enough for pens, and wood enough 

 to burn. If he can put his cabin and pens on 

 the south side of a piece of timber, it will be all 

 the better, since this affords a natural shelter 

 against the cold north winds of winter. It is 

 better, also, to have broad, open prairies on one 

 side for summer range, and wooded hills or 

 river bottom on the other side for winter. If 

 so situated, the stock will take to the open 

 prairies in good weather, and to the shelter of 

 the hills and bottom lands in storms, and will 

 scatter much less than in an entirely open coun- 

 try like the great coast prairies. 



The settler having built his pens and cabin, 

 buys his cattle, to be delivered to him in the 

 pen on a given day. If he takes " stock cattle," 

 he gets cows, calves, and one and two-year- 

 olds in equal numbers, and pays about seven 

 dollars a head. Thus for four hundred cattle 

 of which one hundred are cows, one hundred 

 calves, one hundred one-year-olds, and one hun- 

 dred two-year-olds he pays $2,700. If he 

 buys cows and calves, he gets the same number, 

 that is, two hundred cows and their two hun- 

 dred calves for the same money. He then fixes 

 upon a brand for the hip or shoulder, and a mark 

 for the ear, and has them recorded in the county 

 records. It is always best to buy the tract 

 where the cattle are to run, as it saves the ex- 

 pense of driving to a new range and herding. 

 In the spring, for about two months, the stock- 

 raiser knows no rest. Early and late he is 

 riding the country, gathering up his stock and 

 branding his calves. Then he rests till the fall, 

 when he once more gathers, to sell his beeves. 

 The whole country is open throughout the great 

 stock region, and no fences set their stakes 

 against the wandering of the cattle. They are 

 not herded, and of course their range is a wide 

 one. 



If a stranger go to Texas with the determi- 

 nation to make sheep-raising his business, he 

 should go directly to Austin, and then crossing 

 the Colorado, and keeping west of the San An- 

 tonio road, begin to look for his ranch, for all 

 that region is sheep country, and the best in the 

 State. For hundreds of miles along the road, 

 west of Austin and lying immediately northwest 

 of the road for a very great distance, is a pecu- 

 liar hilly and broken country, having plenty of 

 short, sweet, winter grass for pasturage, and 

 good running water; dry and gravelly hills 

 enough to secure good health to the flock, un- 

 less scab get in ; and gorges and cedar-brakes 

 enough for shelter against the storms and cold 

 winds. The settler must be careful to secure 



good water, with wood enough to burn, and 

 rail-timber enough for his sheep-pens. He must 

 also make calculations for pasturage, when his 

 flocks shall have increased largely. If he locate 

 upon a stream having a very large tract of an- 

 watered country behind it, he may buy a few 

 acres along its banks near a cedar-brake, and 

 trust to the great open country for pasturage. 

 If he settle in a country watered on all hands, 

 he will have to buy a large amount of land for 

 the future grazing of his flocks. Whoever can- 

 not monopolize the water around him will soon 

 have many neighbors and too many flocks near 

 him, unless he own large tracts himself. By a 

 law of the State, all herded flocks must be kept 

 from trespassing. But large tracts of country 

 are open to all, and for sheep-raising are valua- 

 ble only to those who control the watering- 

 places. Cattle and horses roam over them at 

 large, going long distances for water. The land 

 being selected and bought at from fifty cents 

 to ten dollars an acre rail pens are made close 

 and high enough to keep out the wolves, and in 

 a position sheltered from the northers, either 

 on the south side of a bluff, a close cedar-brake, 

 or a close stone fence. Along the north side a 

 shelter-shed is put up, made of crotched posts 

 and rails, with a roof covered with hay, straw, 

 earth, or boards, to turn off the rains and keep 

 the lambs dry, and then the sheep-yards are 

 ready. A log house, pole camp, or cloth tent 

 is then put up, a Scotch or German shepherd 

 engaged, the flock bought, and business begun. 

 The owner's house is put up afterwards. 



It is better usually to purchase the flock in 

 the country, as the sheep are then acclimated, 

 and not worn down by long driving. Pure 

 merinos are the most profitable; but being 

 also most expensive, Mexican and mixed breeds 

 are usually first purchased and then bred up by 

 crossing with merino bucks. In 1860 merino 

 ewes were worth by the flock about ten dollars 

 a head ; good Missouri or mixed, five dollars ; 

 and Mexican three dollars. A couple of gen- 

 erations' breeding up by pure bucks brings out 

 a good flock from either kind. It is, however, 

 more profitable to buy at first a better grade. 

 A flock of five hundred good grade sheep with 

 a pure merino buck may be bought for about 

 three thousand dollars. One shepherd with a 

 good dog can take care of five hundred sheep the 

 year through, or of a thousand, except in the 

 combing season. Few flocks are fed above 

 what they get on the prairies ; but it is well to 

 give them a little corn or oats, or cotton-seed, 

 or cultivated hay, through the months of Jan- 

 uary and February. If a flock is kept healthy 

 it is the most profitable stock-raising in the 

 world. The increase of a sheep begins at one 

 year old, and in ten years, without loss, amounts 

 to over a hundred-fold. The increase of a flock 

 of five hundred sheep would therefore be worth 

 in ten years, without drawbacks, not less than 

 $300,000, a business sufficiently profitable to 

 allow a large margin for accidents and ill luck, 

 and still leave the results very satisfactory. To 



