Cowgirl Roundup
"The Cattle Drive Begins" - Transcript
[Laurie Richards]
Here we are folks at McGrew, Nebraska. I can’t think of a better place to start the All-Female Cattle Drive than at the Pink Palace with Judy and all of her friends. Let’s go meet ‘em. Come on.
When Judy dreamed up the cattle drive she had two objectives. First, she needed to market her new line of longhorn beer. Second, she needed to move her cattle from one pasture to another.
Word of the cattle round-up spread like wildfire in a drought. It attracted women from all over the country. I worked the crowd to find out why so many women wanted to ride.
[Sue Chaulk]
It seems to be that everybody wants to be a cowboy.
[Bill Newborn]
Oh probably just the freedom, the independence, the ability to be treated fairly.
[Sue Chaulk]
And I think some of it maybe has to do with the old Hollywood romance of it.
[Laurie Richards]
But that’s the myth. What’s the reality?
[Sue Chaulk]
In the real world of ranching or agriculture there isn’t much romance. It’s tough. Especially this year with the drought.
[Laurie Richards]
Sue is a rancher and a cowgirl poet.
[Sue Chaulk]
People say we should give this land back to the Indians. Some days I would pull the back the covers and leave a meal on the table for them. If we returned it, I wouldn’t have to pay taxes, cook, pull calves, or put up hay. I would change my gender and move in with them. I’d keep my roan cowhorse, chase a few buffalo, clean my gun, and whistle at the women. When they asked me what I did in a previous life, I would say, “Ah, I was just some old ranch woman.” And they would nod their heads and let me join the war party – experience counts.
Thank you.
[Sue Chaulk]
We’re glad to have this and I think it’s great. And we’re always talking about economic development and this is economic development, bringing people in. So it’s fun to be here.
[Laurie Richards]
Whatever our reasons for coming to Judy’s event, we ended the evening with a simple question.
What do you think about this cattle drive? Winnie, are you going to ride tomorrow?
[Winnie]
Of course. Of course.
[Laurie Richards]
Do you think we’re going to be a little sore, Winnie?
The Roundup Begins
Is this the one I’m riding? [Yeah, this guy right here.]
Is this the one who’s going to schnocker all over me?
This is the horse I’ve just met in the last couple of minutes and he’s going to be my ride today. His name is Brat.
You don’t have a cup of coffee on you do you? A cup of coffee would be good right now.
I’m looking forward to this morning. With enough ibuprofen and pain patches it should just work out fine.
We gathered on Judy’s land in the Wildcat Hills of Nebraska. Sixty-six women from eleven states.
Some very nice folks on the buckboard back there lent me some of their coffee and I won’t give it back. This is mine.
[Judy Durnal]
Hey man, this is an event. We’ll just see. I think everybody’s just about ready.
Okay then. Open that gate up there at the top.
[Laurie Richards]
The All-Female Cattle Drive begins. It’s purpose, to move Judy’s longhorns from the spring pasture to the summer pasture.
The riders range in age from six years old to not-telling and span three generations.
There are semi-truck drivers, lawyers, waitresses, teachers, artists, a TV host and a real cowgirl or two.
[Judy Durnal]
I never thought of it as being unusual. It was everybody else that thought it was you Know. I just thought, well, I’ll get some old girls and my sisters and we’ll go move those and we’ll have a good time. And the guys said, you going to leave us out? My little neighbor boy said, Judy, don’t you like us any more?
My friend Bob said, I think you girls will need a little help. Maybe I could bring a wagon so the rest of the girls that can’t ride can go. Okay, so then another one, he said, this is just too much fun for Bob to have on his own you know. And it just caught fire. I... man, I wish I could make a living like that.
[Laurie Richards]
How can you tell a longhorn?
[Judy Durnal]
In this pasture...
[Laurie Richards]
Step one, move non-longhorns out of the way.
Step two, gather longhorns together.
Step three, move from here up here to over there... a journey of about four miles.
The plan is to stay in the saddle and then get up around Billy Goat Ridge up here...
[Judy Durnal]
You know we were over in Billy Goat and there were sixty-six women over there and most of them were on a ridge and that’s probably the most awesome sight I ever saw in my life. It was kind of like... Wow, you know, here we are and...from all walks of life. I mean, from one end to the other. And we’re all here for one purpose. To enjoy the tradition... the longhorns... each other.
[Laurie Richards]
We’re up here on the backside of Chimney Rock, which is the south side that you don’t see from the highway down below. I think we cut through another couple of passes here and then down a bit further. So we’re all having a great time and I’ve got a good horse and we’re all doing great. So we’ll talk to you in a minute.
“Cowgirl”
Okay you guys, we’re taking the longhorns over the Ridge! Over the Ridge!
[MUSIC: Yodeling]
[Laurie Richards]
Four hours later the job is done. The longhorns are in their summer pasture.
“Cowgirl”
How was the ride? [Wonderful. We’re waiting for the mimosas when we get to the...]
[Laurie Richards]
Waiting for us was a well-deserved meal of longhorn beef. It was prepared by... well, a man.
How is it? [Tasty!]
[Judy Durnal]
I guess gender to me means nothing. There isn’t one. It’s just getting it done. I wouldn’t mind having a man, but you know, if that’s not going to work I still have to fix my own fence.
[Laurie Richards]
Five hours later I had more than memories of the All-Female Cattle Drive.
I suppose I should take my boots off. I don’t think I can get ‘em off.
I enjoyed my day as a cowgirl. And I learned a lot too. But I was curious. Who were the first cowboys?
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