Cowboys Turn Roping Strays On Interstates Into A Profession
You've seen viral videos of cowboys chasing cows, horses, and other livestock down the freeway and roping them in.
Animals can get loose when a trailer overturns or if there is a hole in the fence in the pasture they are in.
Either way, we now have a big animal on an interstate and nobody can catch it.
Sometimes these animals get loose and are out there for weeks and local officials just can't seem to corner them.
If they can local police will be called in local cowboys to come help.
But what if the animal got loose in an area that doesn't have any cowboys?
They might have to call in cowboys from out of state.
That's how wrangling loose interstate animals has become a profession.
This group of cowboys in the view below travels the nation as ropers for hire.
The highway rustlers load up their horses and drive cross country to where the beast was last seen.
Not long after we see them on the local news.
The leader of these animal chasers for hire goes by the nickname "Littlejohn."
“We help catch cows all the time and, you know, you might get a few Facebook likes or comments or stuff, and it’s turned into thousands and thousands. We’re just humble country people, you know,” he explained.
When it comes to the horses who make it all possible, Littlejohn said they are like family “Because we can’t do our jobs without them. You just can’t.”
In many cases, the local police don't even bother stopping traffic while these guys ride out after the animal. Things seem to work out fine.
They are usually called to more populated that don't have livestock.
If an animal gets loose in Wyoming, for example, there are cowboys everywhere that can handle it.
These animals can be quite clever and elusive.
So why not get paid a few bucks to drive cross country and handle what those city folks can't?
These boys are not getting rich off of this.
But it sure is fun.