CATTLE HERDING. 895 



enough to hold the largest bull when mad from the pain of the 

 branding iron. Let the exit be so arranged that the animal 

 may be returned to the corral or let out to pasture, as may be 

 required. There must be a platform made perfectly safe to 

 stand on while branding, and the posts must be but two feet 

 apart where the animal is to stand while the hot iron is applied, 

 for some of them squirm around so as to make things lively. 

 You must have a number of stout two by four pieces of scant- 

 ling to slip in behind the animal across the chute to hold it still 

 while branding. Another necessity for having posts but two feet 

 apart is, that you may hold your animal just where you wish. 

 Your corral, for several important reasons, should be made 

 round, with good strong posts firmly set but four feet apart, 

 with the boards nailed on the inside, the bottom board within 

 twenty inches of the ground, followed by at least five more, 

 and about where a large animal's shoulders will strike; the 

 fence should have two boards directly together, and when com- 

 plete, have your fence full six feet high. These directions are 

 for a corral to hold wild cattle, and experience will prove it 

 none too strong, for when first corraled your cattle will be very 

 timid, and a cat or dog or wolf will set them all in a turmoil, 

 and the strongest possible pen will be broken if made square, 

 for they will crowd into a corner, and the strength of hundreds 

 of frightened steers will crush any fence like an egg-shell, and 

 you will probably have a dozen or more killed before it gives 

 way, or in the mad rush to escape which follows. But if your 

 corral is made as directed, without the least obstruction on the 

 inside for them to strike against, they will start off with a whirl 

 and mill (as I have described), until they get over their fright. 

 If, in the night, you hear your cattle running, repair at once to 

 your corral, and sing as loud as you can, and your stock will 

 quiet down much sooner. I have seen a herd of eight hundred 

 cattle run in a round corral until exhausted, without breaking a 

 board or hurting an animal, while a square one will be broken 

 every time by a frightened herd of wild cattle, and the stronger 

 you build it the worse for you, for if a common fence is built 

 they will go through it with little damage, but if very strong 



