The Death March of the American Cowboy

And the tech that culls them

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Electronic ID for cattle and bison is the death of the American Cowboy

There is, perhaps, nothing quite as iconically “American” as the American cowboy and cowgirl, riding their horse behind a herd of cattle in the vast prairies and plains of America.

As a horseback rider myself, I embrace the nostalgia.

For the older generations, it is sharpshooter Annie Oakley, Black American rodeo athlete Bill Picket, or the John Wayne movies and stories of the solitary, hard-working cowboy roughing the elements to feed Americans.

For most of us over the age of about 40, the images are etched in our minds from the likes of Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns to Wade Leslie’s 1991 world record 100 point bull ride.

It goes without mentioning the plethora of Marlboro Man billboards, magazine and TV ads glamorizing and romanticizing the American cowboy lifestyle.

In the 1990s and 2000s the cowboy and cowgirl were portrayed in movies from “The Cowboy Way” starring Woody Harrelson and “Toy Story” starring Woody the cowboy doll. And many will know about world champion barrel racer Charmayne James who started “Cowgirling” at the age of 3.

The quintessential cowboy/girl life is filled with animals, solitary roads, grit, and the fierceness of man or woman against the elements.

Cowboying was born of food security.

These legends and stories are as ingrained in the American psyche as an important part of our cultural heritage.

After the deliberate annihilation of the North American Bison in the 1860s, cattle took over the American landscape.

So the cowboy was needed to protect and move huge herds of grazing cattle from remote areas in the west to more populous locations further east.

Cattle drives weren’t mere entertainment then, nor are they today for the few carrying on the tradition. They were, and still are the sustenance of life–food for Americans–and the cowboys did and still do a vital job in that food system.

But today, the story of the American cowboy’s predominant livelihood is almost as obsolete as a 10 year-old computer. These stories look like a tangled mess of discarded tech tools trapped in a gnarly bramble of barbed wire.

From legendary cattle hands and ranchers to contemporary cowboys and cowgirls, it won’t be long before the original “Cowboy” way of life becomes a figment of dreams, the ghost of America past–a land where hardy, hard working men and women fought for freedom.

The American cowboy's original “way of life” is dying.

For years now, the centralization of our food system has been choking out rugged farmers and ranchers. It’s not battling wild animals or the harsh elements that’s causing the demise of this way of life.

It’s the slow creep and unavoidable lure and capture of technology.

From “Devil’s Rope,” to Digital ID.

In 1862, Abe Lincoln’s Homestead act gave American citizens the right to claim 160 acres for themselves. If they could.¹

But to claim it meant that they had to settle and farm their 160 acres for five years. Which meant they had to protect it. Wooden fences were resource intensive and difficult to build, while simple wire fences–available at the time–were ineffective against roaming cattle and bison.

Barbed wire symbolized a high tech “solution” that some landowners embraced starting in 1867.

But barbed wire was the beginning of the end for many cowboys. As landowners began to fence in their “homesteads,” grazing lands disappeared. Long cattle drives dwindled as those vast, open fields of the 1800s closed up.

Barbed wire made the destruction of the bison easy.

Once measuring an estimated 65 million, the population of bison dwindled to fewer than 1000 by the end of the 19th century.²

While certainly not the only factor, or even the primary factor, the wide adoption of barbed wire fencing became part of the demise of the American bison, and thus the Native Americans.

For sure, cowboys were and still are needed to care for cattle. But their place in the American landscape and legend is changing as quickly as industrialization changed the American landscape.

Electronic ID for cattle and bison is the last nail in the coffin of the American Cowboy.

Like cowboys of yesteryear, so are the small independent ranchers and farmers of today.

Is the USDA in bed with the tech industry to fully annihilate the last of the American Cowboys?

I try to believe it isn't so.

American cattle and bison will now be required to have expensive electronic ear tags to track and trace their every movement. 

Ostensibly, the USDA–and the industry behind the regs–are doing this so that if there is an “animal disease outbreak,” they can quickly identify it and notify the right people.

There are so many flaws in their plan it’s like a cowboy without his horse.

But it doesn’t matter how sensible the plan is or how many holes it has, perhaps the death of the American Cowboy and further centralization of our food is the goal.

Our small farmers and ranchers don’t want this new digital ID. It’s being forced upon them by the big packers and an ideology completely captured by the false temptations that it will somehow make us “happier,” “healthier,” and more connected.

The USDA first tried to mandate the electronic ear tags for cattle back in 2011-2013.

The initial plan also called for microchipping and tracking every pig, goat, sheep, and chicken.

While we defeated it back then, of course it came back and the propaganda machines used all the information they collected from those “listening sessions” to better understand small farmers' opposition to it so they could bring it up in a different way.

Now, Electronic ID (EID) is back as a cripplingly expensive program for small-scale cattle and bison producers.

The USDA implemented the new rule at the end of April.

They fractured the small farm opposition and it was an easy win.

But there is an ideological capture behind the rule that the monopolistic meat packers and centralized control system must cement in order to have the full throttle support of the American psyche behind this new rule.

Otherwise, how will they get the public behind the enforcement of this?

And what better way to get “the public” on board with an unnecessary, burdensome and exorbitantly expensive program than to create enormous alarmism over an animal disease outbreak?

….Right on the heels of the economically devastating, culture-shifting pandemic.

Does this perfectly explain the prominence of avian influenza in the news right now?

The fear mongering is ramping up. The concerns are escalating. The “experts” are weighing in.

It’s not just chickens and wild birds this time.

It’s our cattle.

Your beef and dairy.

Their greatest need is the propaganda to convince Americans that we must usher in yet another way to centralize our food systems and outsource our food security.

Your food security is shrinking–first choked by the “devil’s rope,” and now on the cliff’s edge of Electronic Animal ID that is ready to overtake the freedoms we once took for granted.

And the American Cowboy is dying.

No doubt, the “meat monopoly” is manufacturing this “avian influenza” panic and propping it up as a prime example of why we “need” this horribly invasive, burdensome digital ID.

It’s our job to keep it at bay for as long as possible.

We’ve already got an incredible food system to rebuild before it’s too late. It’s time for us to help save the American Cowboy and Cowgirl’s way of life, OUR way of life—by saving small farms and ranches!

We do that by focusing our energy and effort on the simple, yet effective ways we can change our food system RIGHT NOW. And, buying American beef as close to our homes as possible.

Congresswoman Harriet Hageman covers the dangers of the EID for cattle and bison in our recent interview. Listen here:

And for goodness sake, it’s time to start a garden!

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About Raw Milk Mama: I believe that we can reclaim our food systems through direct action. But it takes your participation whether you’re growing food, processing, or willing to support those who are. And sometimes, it takes taking direct action or calling on your state or federal elected officials.

I’m dedicated to helping people understand our food system and how we each fit into it..

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1. The Thorny History of Barbed Wire

2. Devil’s Rope — History of barbed wire