To hold a herd of cattle on a new range till they felt at home was called "locatin'" 'em.
To keep 'em scattered somewhat and yet herd 'em was called "loose herdin'".
To hold 'em in a compact mass was "close herdin'".
Cattle were inclined to remain in a territory with which they were acquainted.
That became their "home range".
Yet there were always some that moved farther and farther out, seekin' grass and water.
These became "strays", the term bein' restricted to cattle, however, as hosses, under like circumstances, were spoken of as "stray hosses", not merely "strays".

Cattle would drift day and night in a blizzard till it was over.
You couldn't stop 'em;
you had to go with 'em or wait till the storm was over, and follow.
Such marchin' in wholesale numbers was called a "drift", or "winter drift", and if the storm was prolonged it usually resulted in one of the tragedies of the range.
The cowboy made a technical distinction in reference to the number of them animals.
The single animal or a small bunch were referred to as "strays";
but when a large number were "bunched up" or "banded up", and marched away from their home range, as long as they stayed together the group was said to be a "drift".
Drifts usually occurred in winter in an effort to escape the severe cold winds, but it could also occur in summer as the result of lack of water or grass because of a drought, or as an aftermath of a stampede.
Drifts usually happened only with cattle, for hosses had 'nough sense to avoid 'em, and to find shelter for 'emselves.

The wholesale death of cattle as a result of blizzards, and sometimes droughts, over a wide range of territory was called a "die-up".
Followin' such an event there was usually a harvest of "fallen hides", and the ranchers needed skinnin' knives instead of brandin' irons.
Cattle were said to be "potted" when "blizzard choked", that is, caught in a corner or a draw, or against a "drift fence" durin' a storm.
Cattle which died from them winter storms were referred to as the "winter kill".
When cattle in winter stopped and humped their backs up they were said to "bow up".
This term was also used by the cowboy in the sense of a human showin' fight, as one cowhand was heard to say, "He arches his back like a mule in a hailstorm".
Cattle drove to the northern ranges and held for two winters to mature 'em into prime beef were said to be "double wintered".

Cattle brought into a range from a distance were called "immigrants".
Them new to the country were referred to as "pilgrims".
This word was first applied to the imported hot-blooded cattle, but later was more commonly used as reference to a human tenderfoot.
Hereford cattle were often called "white faces", or "open-face cattle", and the old-time cowman gave the name of "hothouse stock" to them newly introduced cattle.
Because Holstein cattle weren't a beef breed, they were rarely seen on a ranch, though one might be found now and then for the milk supply.
The cowboy called this breed of cattle "magpies".
A "cattaloe" was a hybrid offspring of buffalo and cattle.
"Dry stock" denoted, regardless of age or sex, such bovines as were givin' no milk.
A "wet herd" was a herd of cattle made up entirely of cows, while "wet stuff" referred to cows givin' milk.
The cowboy's humorous name for a cow givin' milk was a "milk pitcher".
Cows givin' no milk were knowed as "strippers".
The terminology of the range, in speakin' of "dry stock" and "wet stock", was confusin' to the tenderfoot.
The most common reference to "wet stock" was with the meanin' that such animals had been smuggled across the Rio Grande after bein' stolen from their rightful owners.
The term soon became used and applied to all stolen animals.
"Mixed herd" meant a herd of mixed sexes, while a "straight steer herd" was one composed entirely of steers, and when the cowman spoke of "mixed cattle", he meant cattle of various grades, ages, and sexes.

In the spring when penned cattle were turned out to grass, this was spoken of as "turn-out time", or "put to grass".
"Shootin' 'em out" was gettin' cattle out of a corral onto the range.
When a cow came out of a corral in a crouchin' run she was said to "come out a-stoopin'".
To stir cattle up and get 'em heated and excited was to "mustard the cattle", and the act was called "ginnin' 'em 'round", or "chousin' 'em".
After a roundup the pushin' of stray cattle of outside brands toward their home range was called "throwin' over".

A cow rose from the ground rear end first.
By the time her hindquarters were in a standin' position, her knees were on the ground in a prayin' attitude.
It was when she was in this position that the name "prayin' cow" was suggested to the cowboy.
They were said to be "on their heads" when grazin'.
"On the hoof" was a reference to live cattle and was also used in referrin' to cattle travelin' by trail under their own power as against goin' by rail.
Shippin' cattle by train was called a "stock run".
A general classification given grass-fed cattle was "grassers".

When a cowboy spoke of "dustin'" a cow, he meant that he throwed dust into her eyes.
The cow, unlike a bull or steer, kept her eyes open and her mind on her business when chargin', and a cow "on the prod" or "on the peck" was feared by the cowhand more than any of his other charges.

The Injun's name for beef was "wohaw", and many of the old frontiersmen adopted it from their association with the Injun on the trails.
The first cattle the Injuns saw under the white man's control were the ox teams of the early freighters.
Listenin' with wonder at the strange words of the bullwhackers as they shouted "Whoa", "Haw", and "Gee", they thought them words the names of the animals, and began callin' cattle "wohaws".
Rarely did a trail herd pass through the Injun country on its march north that it wasn't stopped to receive demand for "wohaw".

"Tailin'" was the throwin' of an animal by the tail in lieu of a rope.
Any animal could when travelin' fast, be sent heels over head by the simple process of overtakin' the brute, seizin' its tail, and givin' the latter a pull to one side.
This throwed the animal off balance, and over it'd crash onto its head and shoulders.
Though the slightest yank was frequently capable of producin' results, many men assured success through a turn of the tail 'bout the saddle horn, supplemented sometimes, in the case of cattle, by a downward heave of the rider's leg upon the strainin' tail.
Such tactics were resorted to frequently with the unmanageable longhorns, and a thorough "tailin'" usually knocked the breath out of a steer, and so dazed 'im that he'd behave for the rest of the day.
It required both a quick and swift hoss and a darin' rider.
When cattle became more valuable, ranch owners frowned upon this practice and it was discontinued, at least when the boss was 'round.
When the cowboy used the word "tailin's", he meant stragglers.

"Bull tailin'" was a game once pop'lar with the Mexican cowboys of Texas.
From a pen of wild bulls one would be released, and with much yellin' a cowhand'd take after 'im.
Seizin' the bull by the tail, he rushed his hoss forward and a little to one side, throwin' the bull off balance, and "bustin'" 'im with terrific force.
Rammin' one horn of a downed steer into the ground to hold 'im down was called "peggin'".

Colors of cattle came in for their special names.
An animal covered with splotches or spots of different colors was called a "brindle" or "brockle".
A "lineback" was an animal with a stripe of different color from the rest of its body runnin' down its back, while a "lobo stripe" was the white, yeller, or brown stripe runnin' down the back, from neck to tail, a characteristic of many Spanish cattle.
A "mealynose" was a cow or steer of the longhorn type, with lines and dots of a color lighter'n the rest of its body 'round the eyes, face, and nose.
Such an animal was said to be "mealynosed".
"Sabinas" was a Spanish word used to describe cattle of red and white peppered and splotched colorin'.
The northern cowboy called all the red Mexican cattle which went up the trail "Sonora reds", while they called all cattle drove up from Mexico "yaks", because they came from the Yaqui Injun country, or gave 'em the name of "Mexican buckskins".
Near the southern border, cattle of the early longhorn breed whose coloration was black with a lineback, with white speckles frequently appearin' on the sides and belly, were called "zorrillas".
This word was from the Spanish, meanin' "polecat".
"Yeller bellies" were cattle of Mexican breed splotched on flank and belly with yellerish color.
An animal with distinct coloration, or other marks easily distinguished and remembered by the owner and his riders, was sometimes used as a "marker".
Such an animal has frequently been the downfall of the rustler.

Countin' each grazin' bunch of cattle where it was found on the range and driftin' it back so that it didn't mix with the uncounted cattle was called a "range count".
The countin' of cattle in a pasture without throwin' 'em together for the purpose was called a "pasture count".
The counters rode through the pasture countin' each bunch of grazin' cattle, and drifted it back so that it didn't get mixed with the uncounted cattle ahead.
This method of countin' was usually done at the request, and in the presence, of a representative of the bank that held the papers against the herd.
Them notes and mortgages were spoken of as "cattle paper".

A "book count" was the sellin' of cattle by the books, commonly resorted to in the early days, sometimes much to the profit of the seller.
This led to the famous sayin' in the Northwest of the "books won't freeze".
This became a common byword durin' the boom days when Eastern and foreign capital were so eager to buy cattle interests.
The origin of this sayin' was credited to a saloonkeeper by the name of Luke Murrin.
His saloon was a meetin' place for influential Wyoming cattlemen, and one year durin' a severe blizzard, when his herd-owner customers were wearin' long faces, he said, "Cheer up, boys, whatever happens, the books won't freeze".
In this carefree sentence he summed up the essence of the prevailin' custom of buyin' by book count, and created a sayin' which has survived through the years.
"Range delivery" meant that the buyer, after examinin' the seller's ranch records and considerin' his rep'tation for truthfulness, paid for what the seller claimed to own, then rode out and tried to find it.

When a cowhand said that a man had "good cow sense", he meant to pay 'im a high compliment.
No matter by what name cattle were called, there was no denyin' that they not only saved Texas from financial ruin, but went far toward redeemin' from a wilderness vast territories of the Northwest.

21 swingin' a wide loop

the first use of the word "rustler" was as a synonym for "hustler", becomin' an established term for any person who was active, pushin', and bustlin' in any enterprise.
Again it was used as the title for the hoss wrangler, and when the order was given to go out and "rustle the hosses", it meant for 'im to go out and herd 'em in.
Eventually herdin' the hosses was spoken of as "hoss rustlin'", and the wrangler was called the "hoss rustler".
Later, the word became almost exclusively applied to a cow thief, startin' from the days of the maverick when cowhands were paid by their employers to "get out and rustle a few mavericks".