From Vequero to Cowboy

Cowboy. Cowpuncher. Drover. Waddie. Herder. Buckaroo. Cowpoke. Cowhand. Wangler. Herdsman.

What’s the difference between Vequero and Cowboy?

Cattle handlers were called many names through the decades, beginning with enslaved worker, a boy, who took care of the cows; cow boy. The great cattle driving era created a new kind of cowboy. Paid $30 per month, this skilled worker had a total disregard for danger and spent days in the saddle. A man who lived by an unwritten code, who ate and slept on the ground next to the chuck wagon. 

Cow Walkers

A historian referred to Texas Longhorn drovers as ‘glorified cow walkers.” Obviously he had never tried to make a cow go in a direction that she was intent on never going.  Never mind the fact that cowboys had to drive half-wild Texas Longhorns on horseback. Their skill set was learned by doing the impossible, not just by walking cows a thousand miles.

In the book WE POINTED THEM NORTH, “Teddy Blue” Abbott points out that most of the trail driving hands were Texans because that is where the cattle were and where they first learned their skills. Most of the labor force were barely in their teens, hired from Texas communities and farms to spend the next three to six months going “up the trail” driving the valuable beef to railheads in Kansas for shipment to eastern packing houses. Some of that labor pool were the second sons of European families whose first born sibling had inherited the family estate. They came to America with big dreams looking for adventure.

Texas cattle were being driven to the coast in Texas and Louisiana, and all over the U.S. long before the greatest controlled movement of livestock as we know began.  On the sixth day of June in 1866 Texas pioneer and cattleman Charles Goodnight drove a herd of 2,000 head hiring an outfit of eighteen men. Their destination was Fort Sumner and then on to Colorado thus establishing the Goodnight-Loving Trail. 

Texas Longhorns headed north to market and ranch owners needed skilled handlers to drive them to the railhead. Railroads had not reached Texas yet until much later in Fort Worth, where cattle cost $5 a head for transport. It was cheaper for the ranch owner, to pay cowhands, and a trail boss, outfit a chuck wagon with provisions, and hire a cook.

The Mexican vaquero, meaning cowhand, were the original experts who knew how to make a cow do what you wanted, contributing much to the tools and practices of the profession today. They were the lowest laborers in Mexico, subservant to the Spanish land holders when Spain claimed Mexico. But in Texas they were viewed differently.

To be called a vaquero in South Texas, no matter your heritage, was the highest honor.  It was the vaquero who trained the Americans in the handling and cattle raising business. Historian J. Frank Dobie records that south Texas cowhand John Young preferred the term vaquero because of the reputation of being so good at what their job.

The worth of a good cowhand was based on a proficiency of riding and roping. In the old west, the color of your skin made no difference.

Cowpuncher referred to the men who loaded the cattle by using a cow prod to motivate the steers on or off the railroad livestock cars. Although in some first hand accounts, many who wrote about the days used the term as well; “punched cows on the trail.”

Texas Longhorns are loaded on a train car. Photo courtesy of Pinterest.

Today, the term cowboy is much broader and refers to the girls and guys who work at all levels of livestock industry from feedlots to ranching, and even in the competitive field of rodeo. They are highly skilled professionals  and athletes who are proficient in roping, riding, and managing livestock.

Cowboy stands for work ethic, loyalty to the ranch brand, integrity, and faith.

And even these 160 years later, they still hold the fascination of the world.

Sanford Ranch Spring branding. A cowboy ropes a calf while a flanker stands ready. Photo by N. Bright.

From 1868 to 1895 it is estimated that fully 35,000 men went up the trail with herds, if the number of men computed by the number of cattle driven is correct. Of this number of men about one-third were negroes and Mexicans, another third made more than one trip.”

George W. Saunders, Trail Driver and Founder, Trail Drivers of Texas

Natalie Cline Bright is the author of books for kids and adults, a blogger, speaker, and cattle ranch owner.