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
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