Roundup, approx. 1885, photo by Baker and Johnston

For discussion of Baker and Johnston, see Fort Washakie.

As previously suggested the essential purpose of the general goundup in the days of open range were to separate the cattle belonging to the different brands into separate herds and to allocate and brand unbranded calves. "Cutting out" was the skill required for accomplishing these two goals.

Cutting out, photo by A. L. Huffman, approx. 1895."

Cutting out requires horsemanship and the skills demonstrated in a rodeo in the calf roping events.

Cutting out a steer, approx. 1910. Postcard by Charles E. Morris

Morris from Chinook, Montana, documented through postcards Montana, Wyoming and parts of South Dakota in the early 1900's. His color postcards, some of which are displayed elsewhere on this website were printed in Germany prior to World War I.

Roping and Cutting Out, near Cheyenne, 1888, Photo by C. D. Kirkland.

Cutting out was explained by Joseph G. McCoy in his 1874 Historic Sketches of the Cattle Trade of the West and Southwest:

To accomplish the greatest amount of labor with the least effort and the least amount of hard riding, two cow-boys work together. When a beef is selected to be "cut out," he is adroitly and quietly maneuvered to the outskirts of the round-up, and when the opportune moment occurs, the cow-boys dash at him, and, before he is aware of it, is on the outside of, and separated from the herd; but no sooner does he discover the situation, than he makes a desperate effort to regain his comrades, and just here is where the skill of the cow-boy is put in requisition. Whilst one rides beside the steer, the other rides just behind him, to prevent or check any sudden change of direction that the frantically excited bovine may chose to make in his efforts to get back with the herd, which he tries desperately to do, and persists in trying so long as there is a shadow of a chance to outrun his pursuers.

Cutting Out, Frederic Remington, Century Magazine, 1888.

The cowpony was important in the process of cutting out. Jacob Bennett (1858-1943), who became a cowboy at age 14, explained:

We were furnished hosses that, in lots of cases, knowed more about cow work that some of the fellows in the saddle. That sounds sort of stretched, but all we had to do was to show a cutting hoss a certain critter we wanted cut out of the herd, and that hoss would get after that critter like it was some sort of a game and stay with the critter till the hoss run it plum out of the herd. The way we showed the hoss what we wanted was by hitting it with a rope, our lasso.

"Not only cut the critter out of the herd, but when you make your cast with your lasso, that hoss knowed just the right second when to sit down to keep the critter from dragging the hoss, and, if the hoss sat down too soon, there'd be so much slack in the rope the critter'd have leverage to pull with. Then, if the hoss sat down a little late, it'd be just in the [illegible] of going down and'd have the least resistance it'd have at any time. You see, that's the reason the cowpunchers loved their hosses so much when the had one that was a good one. When he had a good hoss, his work was so much easier that it just made all the difference in the world.

Once the animal was separated, it was driven to another herd several hundred yards away consisting only of that brand, a process sometimes referred to as "bunching". Calves would follow their mother. Calves would then be cut out from the herd or bunch and branded with the brand of its mother.

Throwing the calf for branding, 1888, photo by C. D. Kirkland

Branding on the Plains, near Cheyenne, 1888, photo by C. D. Kirkland

Branding, Painting by John Innes, approx. 1910.

John Innes was a Canadian artist who documented the cattle industry on the Plains of Alberta.

Music this Page:

Tumbling Tumble Weeds

I'm a roaming cowboy, riding all day long Tumbleweeds around me sing their lonely song. Nights underneath a prairie moon, I ride alone and sing a tune. See them tumbling down, Pledging their love to the ground, Lonely but free I'll be found Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds. Cares of the past are behind, Nowhere to go but I'll find Just where the trail will wind, Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds. I know when night has gone that a new world's born at dawn, I'll keep rolling along, Deep in my heart is a song, Here on the range I belong, Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds. See them tumbling down, Pledging their love to the ground, Lonely but free I'll be found Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds. Cares of the past are behind, Nowhere to go but I'll find Just where the trail will wind, Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds. I know when night has gone that a new world's born at dawn, I'll keep rolling along, Deep in my heart is a song, Here on the range I belong, Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.

Next Page, Roundups continued.