How busing beef has changed through the decades.
By Bob Welch
Joseph McCoy is rightly credited with the initiation of the Texas-to-Kansas cattle drives of the post-Civil War West when he negotiated cattle shipments from Abilene, Kan., to Chicago via the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company in 1967.
McCoy’s vision created the cowboy as an undying cultural myth unique to America, established the primacy of Chicago as a meat packing center, spurred the boom of commerce to southern Kansas and resulted in the railroad as the means to make it all happen for the next century.
From trails to rails
It wasn’t long before other railroad companies jumped into the cattle-hauling game. According to J. Stephen Sandifer, who authored Santa Fe Railway Live Stock Operations, the Santa Fe Railroad built more than 9,000 wooden stock cars from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. Across the industry, there were 28,600 stock cars in 1880, and by 1910 more than 78,000.
In 1872, the majority of the rail cars owned by the Santa Fe were stock cars. Sandifer claims that of those 9,000 cars, only six remain—and two of them happen to reside at the National Ranching Heritage Center.
The cattle were flowing out of Kansas at an incredible rate. In 1884, Santa Fe shipped 800,000 head of cattle from Dodge City alone. Early cars could carry about 10 tons each. By the mid-1880s cars were hauling about 20 tons each.
But the conditions were not ideal. Trains were slow and stockyards along the way were not always available to unload the cattle. By some estimates, a 6% death loss was common and acceptable. Early methods to mitigate these problems were to pack the animals in so tightly that none could fall and be trampled. Later, representatives of the cattle’s owners would ride along to ensure their health and safety.
In 1869 Illinois passed a law that required five hours of rest for every 28 in transit. In 1906, a similar federal version of the law was passed. Along the way, stock cars with water and feed troughs were developed. As the 19th Century came to a close, the open ranges were fenced up and railroad lines reached more and more places, it was not an uncommon practice for ranchers to ride with their animals to negotiate the sales.
In the wake of World War II, several factors combined to spell the demise of the rail-car cattle transport. Even before the war, public right-of-ways were transitioning from pedestrian, horse-drawn, or driven-stock traffic to motorized vehicles. It was becoming less and less safe to drive a herd of cattle alongside speeding traffic to railheads. Engines inside vehicles that could haul large numbers of cattle were coming of age. The invention of the refrigerated car also meant cattle could be butchered locally and transported as dressed beef. Finally, construction of Dwight Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System—connecting the major U.S. cities— was underway.
The cattle truck
With some exceptions, most cattle were being hauled by truck by the 1970s.
Soon, the modern cattle truck would replace the rails for cattle transport permanently. With some exceptions, most cattle were being hauled by truck by the 1970s. Hauling by road simply offered more flexibility in routing live cattle to auctions, feeders and processors.
Today, a standard cattle truck can back up to the loading chute at your ranch, load 25 tons, and be 500 miles down the road and to a specific location in eight hours. ★
Feature image: The Cesar Pens at King Ranch were once the largest livestock loading point on the Missouri Pacific Railroad line. More cattle were loaded from these pens than anywhere in the world from 1935 to 1945. Today, a portion of these pens stand at the National Ranching Heritage Center. | Photo courtesy King Ranch Archives
This article appears in the Spring 2023 issue of the Ranch Record. Would you like to read more stories about NRHC and ranching life? When you become a member of the Ranching Heritage Association, you’ll receive the award-winning Ranch Record magazine and more while supporting the legacy and preservation of our ranching heritage. Become a member today.
