Rope Length

Roping is a central skill for cowboys. Although there are times when herding cows into pens and then into narrow alleys and then into squeeze chutes where they can be stopped and held for inspection, doctoring and branding, the experience of most cowboys is that roping is still the best and least harmful way to capture a cow and take it to ground where it can be handled. And it’s the only way if you’re in open country.

Most cowboys in the US today use nylon or polyester ropes from 30-60 feet long depending on the type of work they are doing. Team roping competition (two cowboys try to rope a calf in the least time) usually uses a shorter rope because they are close to the calf to reduce travel time. In real ranch roping longer 50-60 foot length are common because the closer you get to a cow in the open the more likely it is to move away. But it takes a strong arm to throw 60 feet!

There are many excellent rope manufacturers but I personally like Cactus Ropes.

Beal Wire Fence Tightner

William Harvey Beal (1866-1958), my great grandfather, had tried farming but was going broke. He became a traveling bible salesman and went around with a barbed wire salesman and soon added that to his line. William came up with an idea for a tool to tighten the wire easily and with his cousin Robert McKibben staking him $500 and half the profits he got it patented in 1894. The Beal Wire Fence Tightener became well known and he traveled over the western half of the United States selling it directly and to distributors. After eight years he was able to pay off all his debts and save some. He settled down by starting a soap factory and buying a big house in the town of Wichita, Kansas making his wife Anna very happy.

I have one of the Beal Fence Tightners in my home office and several relatives have searched for others without success. Maybe it’s just because I’m a male, but I love tools and can really appreciate how things like this one made life easier for our early pioneers. I wish more had survived.

Reata Ropes

In the western United States there is a growing interest is using a leather reata rope (it’s actually La Riata in Spanish). These were the types of ropes used by the Spanish Vaqueros (cowboys) when they first brought cows into the southwest because obviously nylon hadn’t been invented! Reatas are hand woven from individual thin strips of leather that are interlaced in an overlap pattern. A 4 stand rope is typical for calf work but up to an 8 strand rope can be required to rope a strong bull. The reata is lighter than an equivalent length nylon rope so it “hangs” in the air longer allowing the cowboy to put the loop over a cow before it falls. Typically reata ropers create a very large loop (at least 20 feet in circumference) which also gives more flexibility in where/how it lands.

There are several roping competitions where only the reata rope is allowed. My favorite, and I believe the biggest, is the
Californios Ranch Roping and Stock Horse Contest in April. And recommended reata makers can be found at Back at the Ranch. My best reata was made by Jake Brown.