Cattle Transportation------Then and Now

Back in the old West, cattle drives were all they knew Thousands of rough miles, a lot of cattle and a few cowboys Outlaws, bad weather, stampedes and that is went things went right Riding herd 24 hours a day or anything else they had to do It took a long time to get there and a lot of tired cowboys Then progress came riding in, coast to coast railroad The cowboys thought that they were out of a job, cattle in wooden rail cars They were off to market, on iron rails they set sail Steam locomotive smoke, instead of trail dust on this new road Cowboys could take an easy chair, no more sleeping under the stars All beef now was going by rail Until the 1960's at the ranch we always shipped our cattle by rail To Mid-California from New Mexico, we thought it was fast It took a week, every 24 hours they would stop for water and feed They thought it was the best, it was the modern cattle trail Progress came riding in again, the rail road did not last Came a newer and faster outlaw breed Cattle trucks, burning up the asphalt trail Double deck trailers, two driver running as a team Could make the same run in twenty four hours, that used to take 7 day Progress always seems to find a faster trail Like most things, just part of a dream The cowboys just had to change their ways