The Flint Hills Southwest of Olpe -- Walt Rathke is the cowboy John Wayne always wanted to be.
The 90-year-old cowboy rose at 4 a.m. last Saturday morning, fed and saddled his 4-year-old mare, Mindy, ate breakfast himself, then rode out about 6 a.m. to meet five other cowboys -- Rathke's right-hand man Mike Langley, and Jim Schuhardt, Gary Jones, Mark Stueve and Robby Dieker. Together, they set out toward the rising sun for Rathke's umpteenth roundup.
Rathke and the cowboys had brought in more than 300 cattle to ship to feedlots the weekend before, and he’d helped neighbors with their cattle during the week.
On July 19, Rathke and the others were gathering 595 cattle from the hilly pastures surrounding his home, about 20 miles southwest of Emporia. After three months or so of eating grass, the cattle were ready to be shipped to feed lots in Ingalls and Scott City, in western Kansas.
Taking care of grazing cattle — counting them regularly, doctoring them when they’re sick, making sure they’ve got access to the minerals and water they need, and rounding them up when they’ve gained enough weight — is something Rathke has been doing for more years than he can remember. For more than 35 years, he has grazed cattle for other cattlemen, with herds in the early years totaling more than 3,000 head at a time.
Rathke grew up around cattle and horses, taking his first horse ride at the age of 4. His dad farmed with work horses in those days, but young Walt preferred to ride on horseback, working cattle with his uncles.
Other than four years in the Air Force and another four years as a mechanic in Olpe, Rathke has viewed life from the back of a good horse.
He loves the freedom it brings.
“To me, getting out on a good horse, riding out across there, hearing all the birds and everything, to me, that’s living,” he said. “I enjoy that.”
The roundup on the 19th encompassed three pastures totaling more than 1,800 acres. Sometimes the cattle grazed together in convenient clumps; sometimes they clustered among groves of trees, hidden by an unexpected fog.
“It was really clear this morning when it was daylight, then the sun came up and the fog came in,” said Naomi Finney of Emporia.
Finney, a friend of Rathke, carried a cooler full of iced pop and bottled water in the back of her pickup to dispense to the cowboys, truck drivers and helpers who showed up to work.
They knew going into the roundup that they would be three head short of the number that was unloaded back in April. Three head were killed by lightning strikes, with two of them going down in one severe thunderstorm.
“They were pretty close together and lightning got them both,” Finney said.
The trees and heavy fog delayed the cowboys as they herded in cattle from the second pasture, and helpers waiting at the pens were mildly concerned. An hour passed and then another before the cattle began appearing as small dots, seeming to crawl over and down a far-off hillside.
In another 15 minutes or so, the silhouette of a horse and rider emerged in the distance. One by one, and then in groups, the cattle fell in behind two cowboys and headed down Road 40 to the loading pens about a quarter-mile away.
“This time, they went down through the trees, gave us a little problem,” Rathke explained later. “But they don’t always do like you expect them to. Really, you plan ahead, remember what they done in years before. It does wonders to help.”
The cattle herd on Saturday spread out across the road, their hooves sending out a low rumble as they ambled and occasionally trotted along the gravel. Two cowboys rode in the lead, another rode in the middle of the herd, and three more, including Rathke, brought up the rear.
They drove the animals into sets of welded-pipe fence that Rathke built years ago, and then began cutting out small groups of cattle to funnel into the chute pen.
Rathke, still lean and straight, sat in the saddle with an easy confidence. After 86 years, riding is as natural as breathing for him.
He controlled the young mare only with his legs and a hackamore — a headstall with a braided latigo nosepiece and reins — instead of a bridle and bit.
Bits can be hard on horses’ mouths, he said, whereas hackamores provide a softer connection between horse and rider.
As Rathke neckreined Mindy in and out among the cattle, the Darbyshire family from rural Hartford kicked into action. The Darbyshires own many of the cattle Rathke had been tending since spring, and had made arrangements for the 11 trucks needed to carry the herds to western Kansas. Rathke has pastured their cattle for more than 20 years, and their coordinated efforts reflected that experience.
Dennis Darbyshire oversaw the work on the ground. He controlled the gate and trapped the cattle in the loading pen, aided by sons Kevin and Mike, who urged the cattle through the chute or straddled panels inside the possum-bellied semi-tractor trailers to guide them into upper and lower compartments until the trailer was filled.
Daughters-in-law Emily and Tammy used cattle prods to encourage the bawling animals on toward the chute and Dennis’ wife, Connie, counted each satiny-black rump as it went into the trailer.
Three people tallied as the cattle went in, to ensure an accurate count on which payment would be based.
Even the Darbyshire grandchildren — Emily’s and Kevin’s daughters Bailey, 6, and Regan, 4, and Tammy’s and Mike’s twin sons, Brett and Tyler, 11 — worked outside the pens.
The day had not been easy for anyone, with the fog and, later, the relentless sun. The weight gains were good, though, despite the overabundance of rain this year.
“They gained a little over 200 pounds,” Rathke said. “That’s a nice gain.
“When you get so much rain in the spring, grass gets too washy, you know, too watery. They don’t do quite as good as they do when it’s a little drier.”
The cattle came in weighing an average of just under 600 pounds; when they loaded last week, they averaged slightly more than 800 pounds.
When the roundup team finished its work shortly before noon, they were only one steer short and no one seemed concerned. They knew that Rathke would ride his and the neighbors’ pastures until he found it.
“That steer, I remember him,” Rathke said. “He kept wanting to turn around and go back.”
Somewhere in the trees and the fog, the small steer managed to do just that and found his way into another pasture. Rathke spotted him the next day, tucked comfortably into a neighbor’s cow-and-calf herd.
The steer has been returned to the Darbyshires for a little extra feeding before they take it to a livestock auction.
With the responsibility of the pastured cattle gone until the new herds ship in next spring, Rathke said that he would spend the fall and winter months fixing fence, doing odds and ends, and attending auctions.
“And I help other people, stuff like that,” he said.
He won’t be shoeing any horses, though, because he’s begun to take life a little easier in recent years.
“When I was 85, I said I was going to quit ropin’ and shoein’ horses,” he said, “and so far, I’ve made it stick.”
create (anonymous) says...
What a great story of Americana. A real cowboy. 86!!! Impressive to say the least.
August 2, 2008 at 12:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
smith_ron (anonymous) says...
There are some great photographs that really tell this story published in the print version of the Gazette. I can't find them online. Where are they?
August 2, 2008 at 10:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bmlynar (Bobbi Mlynar) says...
In addition to the photos displayed with the story here, some of Jordan Haiduk's other photographs from the roundup are displayed in the photo gallery section.
Go to The Gazette's home page and scroll down until you see "Photos" on the left-hand side. Click on that link; it will take you to them.
August 3, 2008 at 2:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
glarson (anonymous) says...
Dear smith_ron,
My apologies. The person who uploaded the photos did not link them to the story. That's been fixed now.
Gwen Larson
August 3, 2008 at 2:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
esu42 (anonymous) says...
I have to agree- these photographs are quite lovely!
August 3, 2008 at 3:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kaylees_nana (anonymous) says...
Walt just celebrated his 90th birthday. I am very lucky to call him my step dad. He is exactly what the story says he is. He still works harder every day than most people I know. He knows the Flint Hills better than he knows most people. He can sit for hours and tell the most amazing stories. He is also a devoted family man. My son is 25 and has cerebral palsy. Walt taught him to walk when he was little. He spent many hours with my kids letting them climb on him and brush his hair, reading books, feeding the horses and cattle, playing with baby kittens in the barn, and making peanut butter and apple butter sandwiches. My kids have amazing memories of weekends at grandma and grandpa's. He is a man who is never afraid of new adventure. I had the pleasure of taking him to Mardi Gras in New Orleans about 7 years ago. I am so glad that my kids, my granddaughter and I can call him our family.
August 4, 2008 at 6:31 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
canchaser_412 (anonymous) says...
What a wonderful story, I grew up helping my dad at the feedlot all the time . I sure do miss being horseback all day long.
August 4, 2008 at 1:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )