Ethnographic Views on The Working Classes

[Canadian]

Hi all,

I just read a post in TGO where I was corrected in that there are no cowboys in Australia, there are cattlemen. Well, as an Albertan I note that cattlemen usually refer to men who own land and significant amounts of cattle bred for industrial slaughter (ie not free range, rather fed in feedlots).

This got me thinking, what kind of terms do we use to display different affectations for members of working classes. For example, the term cowboy, ranch hand, rancher and cattleman all mean different things. My BIL is a cowboy (lives on and owns a small hobby farm up north, owns about 4 horses, chickens and occasionally the odd goat. No cows). He is as entitled to wear his Stetsons just as any cowboy down south who might work with actual cows. In fact, to suggest any term other than cowboy to describe him, might be derogatory. His primary occupation is with the oilfields as a consultant.

Ranch hand is something totally different from cowboy. That implies you're working on a real ranch with horses. It says nothing about if you own or work with cows, but then again, the term cowboy means nothing about if you own or work with cows. It implies you live on the ranch, in quarters or a trailer/tent or something. It also implies you are on professional standing with other ranch hands (like car mechanics, you are seen as having skills, but they may be specific to your location or makeup of your employer.). Just like a car mechanic, some ranch hands are like BMW mechanics and others are lawnmower repairmen. But a ranch hand is seen as having special skills native to his job and location.

Ranchers and cattlemen are something altogether different. A ranch is basically a spread of property in a rural area. Ranches are not grain-producing farms. They produce either free range or feedlot animals for slaughter for the general market. A cattleman is the same way, although a cattleman may merely own cattle and pay to have them fed and slaughtered and resold. The title rancher or cattleman implies a standing in the upper classes. The two are virtually synonymous but there are regional variants. Around my parts, there are more intensive livestock operations (feedlots) owned by cattle companies (corporate cattlemen), while an hour away in the desert, we have ranches.

Just some thoughts. Feel free to debate.

 

[Viola]

I think the closest for "cowboy" australia has is "drovers" but that might be closer to ranch-hand.

And don't forget the sheep to cow ratio.

I don't know, I'm a city girl.

 

[Puzzicato]

I think the closest for "cowboy" australia has is "drovers" but that might be closer to ranch-hand.

And don't forget the sheep to cow ratio.

I don't know, I'm a city girl.

Aren't jackeroos ranch-hands?

 

[Richard Warren]

In my parts I know some cattlemen, who raise cattle on farms (no ranches around here).

We also have dairy farmers, known as diary farmers.

We also have people who raise horses. They are referred to as people who raise horses.

The people who do all the work are known as employees.

 

[Fletch]

My BIL is a cowboy (lives on and owns a small hobby farm up north, owns about 4 horses, chickens and occasionally the odd goat. No cows). He is as entitled to wear his Stetsons just as any cowboy down south who might work with actual cows. In fact, to suggest any term other than cowboy to describe him, might be derogatory.

It's a term of sporting usage rather than working, but what about horseman?

 

[Puzzicato]

Hi all,

I just read a post in TGO where I was corrected in that there are no cowboys in Australia, there are cattlemen. Well, as an Albertan I note that cattlemen usually refer to men who own land and significant amounts of cattle bred for industrial slaughter (ie not free range, rather fed in feedlots).

I was a day pupil at a school with a lot of boarders from the country and I am trying to remember how they described their parents. I think they just called themselves "Farmers", regardless of whether they raised cotton, meat, wool or grain or said they were "On the land".

But yeah, cattlemen are the people who do the work of raising the cattle.

 

[Canadian]

I've noticed that too. Farmers produce a product (cattle, stock or grain) but cattlemen are definitely those who work with cattle, usually intensively. Maybe it's a local definition, but I used to work for a man who owned a few thousand head. As he was a politician, I was specifically instructed not to refer to him as a cowboy, rancher, cattleman. I was instructed to not use "howdy" or "how do you do" or even "y'all" in informal speeches. It's not like it was a deragatory thing to be called a cattleman, but a politician who wants to appeal to a huge variety of people needs to be clear that he's one of the people, not a rich man, or a major landowner.

As for horseman, I rarely hear that one. My BIL, who owns no stock other than chickens and horses still considers himself a cowboy.

I'm interested, what did your parents and grandparents call themselves on the family farm/ranch/holdings. Do you think modern sociocultural standards are an overspecialization?

For example, my grandfather owned cattle. He worked on the family farm, but joined the navy in WWII and when the war ended, there wasn't enough food on the family farm for him to live there. So he became a printer by trade, eventually owning a multi-million dollar printing plant, publishing house, newspaper and also holding the rank of Lt.Colonel in the infantry. He called himself a printer. My dad did pretty much as his dad did (I work for him now) and my family owns a printing plant. My dad calls himself a salesman, even though he is familiar with complex printing machines (but doesn't know how to run other vital components).

And me, well, I'm not a printer. I'm a salesman, or as of the last corporate shuffle, a CSR for the family business.

Thomas

 

[Fletch]

Yes, horseman is avocational and maybe even a bit la-di-da. If you were a breeder, trainer, etc., you'd call yourself those things.

 

[MikeBravo]

In Australia a "drover" is someone who "drives" cattle to market for sale

Usually through arid or "outback" regions in Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales. Out back of what I'm not sure

We don't have ranches though we have farms and cattle or sheep "stations". Someone who works on a farm is a farmer and someone on a station is a station hand.

A farmer is also called a "cocky" which is short for "cockatoo", originally a disparaging name as they were considered inferior farmers as they scratched the land and then left, as does a cockatoo (a bird).

Now it's just another word for farmer

 

[MikeBravo]

The difference between a farm and a station?

On a farm you can drive into town. On a station you fly your plane into town and use a helicopter to herd the livestock