vache

www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/pietown.html?c... Great article with the history of Pie Town inspired by these photographs.

Placing a tag of vaquero or vaqueros on this photo is not historically accurate. The photo is in New Mexico, ( I live in New Mexico), and those are cowboys. But, vaqueros pre-date the cowboy. Vaqueros date to early 1600's. Cowboys were an product of the Americans 1850 arrival in the Southwest and adopting, then changing, the vaquero culture that existed. The vaquero culture used specific equipment, lassos of 120 feet intead of the cowboys 60 foot lassos. The vaquero were on open ranges while cowboys fenced the ranches. I can assure you the photo was on a fenced ranch. And those are not vaqueros. There are some that are trying to keep the vaquero culture alive, but they are rare.

Just look at the clarity of this ! Lee Russell was some photographer ! (and could keep his nerve when faced with more than a dozen bovines being driven towards him ...)

Pretty young - a yearling or first calf heifer

This also reminds me of being at home. Where I am from there are a lot of cows. People raise cows. What is interesting about this picture is that by just looking at it you don't know this picture was taken in the 1940's like the other pictures do. If you weren't told then you probably wouldn't know.

Beef cattle are fleshed out better - this breed is a milk cow, which tend to look thinner and boney. The pasture looks to be under continuous grazing, not uncommon for the 1940's - you can tell by how cropped most of the pasture looks, with a clump of weeds they won't touch is much higher. Guernsey are known for being very docile and easy to raise.