02/29/08 Italian Cowboy

Not all old-time cowboys rode horses and trailed longhorn steers north to the railheads. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be right back with a little international history. My brother-in-law's dad, Leo, was a cowboy in Italy before he immigrated into Canada in 1927 and later found his way into the United States in 1950. As a teenager in Italy one of Leo's summer jobs was tending the family's cattle. I've had many great talks with him and when he found out we raised cattle, he told me about his times watching their cows. Leo's family's cattle were wintered in the lower elevations around their southern Italy home. In the summer, Leo and his cousins would watch over the cowherd after they were taken to mountain pastures. The main job in these grazing areas was watering them. There was very little running water in the mountains so the cattle were watered out of cisterns that were filled by people who lived on the mountain year round and captured snow runoff in the cisterns. Leo's family paid for the water and Leo watered the herd from the reservoirs. The herders other important job was protecting the cattle from the many wolves in the area. Leo's dogs all wore spiked collars to protect them from the wolves that went for the dog's throat when they attacked. If anyone was lucky enough to kill a wolf in that agricultural area, the wolf would be skinned and taken to town where people presented the wolf slayers gifts of money or livestock. Anyone who has lost animals to wolves today would sure like to see that part of history repeat itself. I'm Jeff Keane.