Name
Date
Lesson 2: The Texas Cattle Kingdom
Lesson 2 Summary
Use with pages 266–269.
Vocabulary
open range the grassy plains
brand a design burned into the hide of a cow; brands helped ranchers find lost cattle
line rider people who rode up and down the borders of a ranch to watch the cattle
roundup an event in which cowhands from different ranches gathered all the cattle they
found into one area; the cattle would be separated by brand
Ranching and Roundups
In the 1500s Spanish explorers brought a
thin type of cattle to Mexico. Texas’s first
ranchers, the Tejanos, had herds of these
cattle. Vaqueros worked on the ranches. In
the 1800s Anglo American settlers brought
another kind of cattle to Texas. This type of
cattle was heavier than the Spanish cattle. The
two kinds of cattle mixed together to form the
Texas longhorn. Longhorn cattle are large and
strong. They need little water. Early Texas
ranchers did not build fences. The cattle
grazed on the open range, or grassy plains.
Part of the open range belonged to ranchers.
Other parts belonged to the state of Texas.
After the Civil War, many ranchers brought
herds of cattle to Texas. Some bought land
from the state or from people. Others let their
cattle graze on the open range. Cattle moved
freely on the open range. There were problems
with letting cattle graze on the open range.
One problem was that it was hard to tell which
cattle belonged to which rancher. This caused
ranchers to begin branding their cattle. A
brand is a design burned into the hide of a
cow. All cattle with the same brand belonged
to one rancher. Cowhands branded and took
care of cattle. Line riders rode up and down
the ranch borders and watched the cattle.
Cowhands spent a lot of time alone outdoors.
But some cattle still got lost. Ranchers held
roundups to find their cattle. In a roundup,
cowhands from different ranches drove all the
cattle they found into one area. The animals
were separated by brands. Calves born on the
range were then branded.
© Scott Foresman 4 TX
The Open Range
52
Unit 4, Chapter 9, Lesson 2 Summary
Quick Study
Name
Date
Lesson 2: Review
1.
Lesson 2 Review
Use with pages 266–269.
Sequence Fill in the missing steps of a roundup.
First, cowhands gathered together all the cattle they found on the range.
Next, _________________________________________________________________.
Finally, _________________________________________________________________.
2. What makes the longhorn a valuable breed of cattle?
3. Who owned the first ranches in Texas? What were the cowhands called?
© Scott Foresman 4 TX
4. What was the open range and how did ranchers use it?
5. Critical Thinking: Draw Conclusions What kind of person might have chosen to become
a cowhand?
Quick Study
Unit 4, Chapter 9, Lesson 2 Review
53