Question

What were American cowboys on open range like

Answer 1

Hint:
Open range refers to rangeland in the Western United States and Canada where cattle can roam freely independently of land ownership. Those that wish to keep animals off their land must install a barrier to keep them away where "open range" rules exist; this often extends to public roads.

Land established as part of a "herd district" in open range reverses liability, forcing an animal's owner to fence it in or otherwise hold it on their own land. Most eastern states and provinces in Canada require livestock owners to encircle or herd their animals.

Complete answer:
The Open Range was where cattle ranchers held vast swaths of open land (some of which may have been fenced with wood), allowing cowboys to look after the land and check for problems.
There were also laws known as "open range laws," which enabled cattle ranchers to keep their cattle healthy by enlisting the help of cowboys.

Furthermore, cowboys would sometimes slaughter cattle on ranches if they were sick or there were too many, either to prevent the disease from spreading or to free up land to use the cattle for equipment and food.

Cattle were then pushed to the market by cowboy/cowboys, with some staying behind to look after the other cattle so not all could be taken as cattle ranches overstocked for cattle, putting an end to the open ranges' popularity. Cattle were also stored on smaller, quieter ranches known as fenced ranches after the introduction of barbed wire.

Overall, the cowboys' main duty was to inspect the ranches where the cattle were kept and see if they were in good condition, but they still had other responsibilities on the plains, such as shooting cattle if possible and taking them up to markets if any were open at the moment. Before the advent of barbed wire, they were very savage and took their work very seriously.

Note:
- Unbranded cattle became known as "mavericks," and anyone who could catch and tag the unmarked animal became the owner.
- Overgrazing strained the open range, resulting in a lack of winter forage for the cattle and malnutrition, particularly during the brutal winter of 1886–1887, when hundreds of thousands of cattle died across the Northwest, causing the cattle industry to crash.