What is a cowboy?

Lifestyle or image.... lifestyle in my mind.
Are there real cowboys anymore?
Cherry County NE is as cowboy as it gets but they ride ATVs and wear baseball caps on the ranch, then wear cowboy hats and spurs to town as formal attire.
I see old timers that are cowboys from way back but the young generation just aren't cowboy to me.
I grew up with a kid that worked for a dairy farmer in school, married a farm girl, farmed with her Dad, then decided he was a cowboy. He started rodeoing...not riding the events but was the pickup man at the end of a ride. Well he had a horse wreck and hit his head on the ground and has been a mess ever since. He calls himself a cowboy. Wears a filthy black hat, filthy coat that's never been washed, doesn't like to shower or bathe. His wife stays with him but makes it clear he keeps his distance because he likes being dirty because he thinks that's the cowboy image. So 50 years later we're living 5 miles apart, locals avoid him for obvious reasons and he comes around. Always wants to hug my wife even though he's a dirty person. It's about to come to a head and I'm gonna tell him he's not what a cowboy is and he needs to hug on his wife, not mine.
Anyways, what do ya'll think? What makes a cowboy?

My grandson works at a ranch / feedlot. Rides a horse every day. Ropes etc. One of the benefits there they let him ride other peoples horses at work that are also paying him to train their horses. He does two at a time. Each pay to train animal, a half day. 30 day minimum. Ranch feeds them. I would call him a cowboy and say he is doing pretty good for himself his wife and their baby. He has also been buying then riding then selling horses.

You just can't see them from the road.

A cowboy (noun for canadian children)is a man with a set of skills that make him good at his job which is caring for cattle. To cowboy (verb for canadians and ppl back east) is the act of putting those skills to work. Used in a sentence "Don't ya let all that grey hair fool ya- he can still cowboy with the best of them".

If you're good with young or problem horses then you might have to endure insults like puncher or top hand!

I was told once, "You don't look like a cowboy.". I responded with "I am a Cattleman, and do 100% of the 'cowboying' it takes to handle and care for my herd..

It's what's on the inside of a man that is important, not the outside.





Charlie

I tend to prefer cattleman as back east we didn't do big hats, horses or pointy toed boots and did our cowboying on foot with a bucket of sweet feed. But dad's sixty head herd probably don't count for much by western standards.

Totally off topic but I couldn’t help it!

Tristan? Married with a kid? I remember when he was just a tyke. God I'm old, lol.

Even got a house payment

An old cowboy, dressed in cowboy shirt, hat, jeans, spurs and chaps went to a bar, sat down, and ordered a drink. As he was sipping his whiskey, a young lady sat down next to him. After she ordered her drink she turned to the cowboy and asked him, "Are you a real cowboy?"
To which he replied, "Well, I've spent my whole life on the ranch herding cows, breaking horses, and mending fences. .. so I guess I am."
After a short while, he asked her what she was. She replied, "I've never been on a ranch so I'm not a cowboy, but I am a lesbian. I spend my whole day thinking about women. As soon as I get up in the morning, I think of women. When I eat, shower, watch TV - everything seems to make me think of women."

A short while later she left and the cowboy ordered another drink. A couple sat down next to him and asked, "Are you a real cowboy?"
To which he replied, "I always thought I was, but I just found out that I'm a lesbian."

Keith

Here you go Ang. Tristan’s Mom teaching Dally how to drive

I prefer women but hey to each his own. As always we are all impressed with your level of expertise on any and all subjects.

Keith that is a good one. I've heard it before but in a format not family friendly.

I hear it's sheep yall texicans prefer.

I ride a Yamaha. It goes where I tell it to.

I would think anyone skilled with stock may be referred too as a cowboy / cow man . I was never good with horses, but practically raised between dairy and beef cattle. My significant other makes me leave my clothes at the back door I smell like the barn every night. When I go out I do not wear a cowboy hat and don’t wear one to the barn neither.

Don’t call him a cowboy until you seen him ride. Lot of fake ones out there today.

warrior you are a man with little to no class
Run your head some more to prove us all right.

I am surprised that vulgarity such as beastiality references are allowed here. Gross.

With a Jeep to match Grandpa's no less, lol.

My dad always said he was a cowman, he told the cowboys what to do. So of the men that worked for us became cowmen and some never grew up.

Someone who wears a 10 gallon hat on a 5 gallon head.LOL.

You ain't a cowboy unless you wear a scarf/ bandana round your neck.

Some ( alot) of people dress in a way for others to look at them and think they are something they are not.
Cowboys, Bikers, and the best one is, Indians (natives) that wear athletic clothing. Lol.

Some days I'm a cowboy and some days I'm a cow poke. What I usually am is broke.

It even rymed lol

It's straight up the lifestyle AND the skills with cows AND horses you have. Lot of people work with cows or own cows and can get the job done but are very lacking in the finer skills. I took wood working in Jr High and can built things with wood but I'm not a master wood worker or carpenter.


Lot of people dress like a cowboy but won't get anywhere close to a horse. To me it's radiats "fake" but maybe I'm too simple

Most people won't get it because you have to live it and see it from the inside to understand it

i wear cowboy boots only cause its a tough shoe that i can use for trapping and just walking around the woods without having to worry about them ripping

[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/glb2U6y-GdU?si=ZFscbvqPMShZXcml[/video]

Interesting facts. States with the highest cattle population:

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/us-states-with-the-most-cattle.html


List of US States With the Most Beef Cattle
Rank State Estimated Cattle Count
1 Texas 13,000,000
2 Nebraska 6,800,000
3 Kansas 6,350,000
4 Oklahoma 5,300,000
5 California 5,150,000
6 Missouri 4,250,000
7 South Dakota 4,050,000
8 Iowa 3,950,000
9 Wisconsin 3,450,000
10 Colorado 2,850,000



We come in 6th. I was surprised, some of the western states are WAY down the list.

LOTS of beef cattle in SW MO. Not nearly as many milk cows as there use to be. North of Springfield toward the center of the state there are quite a few but not down here.
Cowboys round here usually wear square toes cowboy boots and ball caps.
Drive 4 wheelers and 3/4 or 1 tom dualies.

[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/HflDc7PUT2g?si=n11oTYH54jShEMNE[/video]

I thought back in my college days Florida was in the top 5

Now it's covered with tree farms and condos.

Good friend of mine in N.M. says cowboys are born not made. I think that's true. Much like trappers. Tristan's little brother Aiden has been around cattle and horses growing up as well. Works as a maintenance guy for Hormel. Repairing whatever is broke. Real gearhead. Rides a Harley stead of a horse. Last summer Tristan got Aiden to enter a ranch rodeo by teasing him about being afraid of bucking horses. Aiden won the bareback competition and Tristan got third. I thought it was pretty funny. Haven't heard Tristan tease him about it since.

Very true!

In the east you can run a hundred head on a few hundred acres. In the west it can take a whole section (square mile) for a cow calf pair. We have lots better pasture than that here in KS but depending on the operation a man on a horse is lots more efficient. Often the cattle are not gentle. Especially out west. Don't see a human for months at a time. Most places will gather up first calf heifers and be there for first calf. After that they are turned out for the second one. If she doesn't have a calf when they are gathered again she is gone. Coyote lion bear birthing problems don't matter. Its an entirely different way of beef production. Those calves, essentially born wild often end up in TX OK KS to be finished for slaughter. Cowboys do that as well as care for those animals that pretty much are on their own in the west.

What a Gig!

In this part of the country a cattleman is as much of a grass farmer as he is a cattleman. With rotational grazing you can have pretty high stocking rates and that means almost daily handling of stock. It also means more doctoring in the form of worming.

As Danmy stated better grass helps these states run more cows but feedlots really inflate these numbers.

Is more of an attitude than a profession

I know all types. only a select few would I actually consider a cowboy. not sure what makes the cut but it don't take me long to decide. I sure don't make the cut

I heard cowboys wear ball caps now cause they don't want to be confused with truckers......

Danny it is great that each of those young men is doing something he loves even if it isn't the same thing.

As far as I know, Florida is one of the biggest calf exporting states. The citrus orchard guys can run a cow calf operation in mature trees, but do not finish them there. They ship them to the feedlot belt. It is cheaper to ship light calves to the feed than to ship the feed to the cattle.

As to the original question I'd wonder if you notice the same thing I am noticing Gary which is the farther you get from the cattle states, the more the definition of cowboy varies.

Is Cowboy an acceptable politically correct term?

I know a young lady that is 24 that runs a cattle ranch by herself so I guess that makes her a cowgirl and she does wear a cowboy hat and usually has a beer in her hand.

Would "bovine person" offend you less?

Cowboy someone who works with cattle and horses while his wife has a good job in town to pay the bills.

Way of life and comes in all sorts of clothes and from all parts of the country, now start talking about how handy a guy is ant that's a different ball game all together.

It is better than “cow poker”…..

https://www.facebook.com/reel/955492309421889?mibextid=0VwfS7&s=yWDuG2&fs=e

Around here, a cowboy hat and a hemorrhoid have a lot in common…………

Sooner or later every butt hole has one.

Gary Jepson is a cowman

I asked the cow foreman about why the kromer cap one winter day and not the hat .He said them guys with the big hats don't stay around here long in the winter .

I went to a shooting event once, it was a family affair with lots of friends invited. Once there I was talking to one of the uncles, he was from French Glen Oregon. He had a big hat, scarf around his neck, big handlebar mustache. They were just on there way home from the first vacation they had taken it was an Alaskan cruise, he said he didn’t feel they really fit in. I chuckled to myself, not many places these folks might fit in. Later my son went over to there place to help brand cattle, dehorn, castrate ext. The southeast part of Oregon still has cowboys, I see a few every time I go there. But never been around any that don’t take care of themselves.

wws

Met some darn good hands up there WWS. I remember staying with Mike Corey at Moses Lake and Chad Hutsell and Sonny Riley come the days we had to gather pastures or work cattle. Good men. Not sure how far away they were but the Katich family was good to have around too when you could get them.

The Katich bulls didnt graduate charm school but they handled a lot easier than anything else at the Flying 5 or Big Bend ever had. Both their horses and their bulls were as rank to handle as they were to ride. Zero manners and more than a few head hunters in those strings.

What is wrong with a cowboy wearing a cap?

True cowboys are defined by their skill set and work ethic. 98% of the so called cowboys walking around in the last 20 years couldnt make it a day if they actually had to do the work. I have a son-in-law and even a young son that have this die hard belief that they are cowboys, by God they dress the part. My wife once tried to convince me that real cowboys starch their fancy embroidered jeans for a night on the town .... I politely told her that there isn't a REAL cowboy alive that would be caught in jeans that looked like that!

Thinking a little chunky for the "Coldsping Kid"......maybe Lefty????

Yep.......
Found the skinnyspings kid.....

But on a sad note,,,,, Smoke went to the coyote feeding ground in the sky yesterday....
I guess I need to buy a new Lawn mower.....

Very interesting

I thought Florida was still one of the top producers of cattle in the country. I don’t know how long it will last , the young folks don’t want to look up from they’re phones, don’t want to talk to the cows anymore. Craziest thing I ever saw , moving cows in silence.

hard to compare. some of those counties are bigger than a state

I happen to love working cow calf operations but that particular list only compare momma cow herds inside of a geographical boundary and like FHF points out counties vary in land mass greatly. Looking at that list I see a few counties where you'd likely never see a man on a horse but lots of feed bucket operators.
There is nothing wrong with that, but it's a far cry from cowboyin.

Think a guy would have to get to 8 on that list before you get out of the ranch/range type of operation.

Grandson often ropes the head then gets rope slack behind them and trips them to dr by his self. Lots of cow calf guys that dont do that stuff here. He does what he calls day work on the weekends. They will hire him to catch one. If its an animal that needs stretched out his wife heels them. My daughter baby sits. Sometimes he splits the money with one of his buddies.

One of my favorite kid rock songs provides a much different definition of a cowboy.
Jim