Big Horsepower The combine harvester (upper right) is a huge labor saver, combining all the functions needed to produce clean wheat. Some enterprising farmers give up actual farming, investing instead in a combine to service all the farmers in the region. They visit each farm in turn, bringing the equipment, and leaving the farmer with a clean field and a full barn.

	Money on the Hoof Farmers raise livestock for many reasons. Horses are needed for labor, and sold for good money. Sheep are easy to tend, and can be shorn of their wool twice a year. Dairy cows support a substantial business in milk, butter and cheese. Cattle and pigs are raised in approximately equal numbers, and shipped off to Chicago for slaughtering. Hay is a key ingredient for livestock farmers, as grazing opportunities are limited in the winter. Dried corn, oats and alfalfa are also important winter feed.
	Brief Moment of Glory Texas cattlemen perform an important function for the meat-packing industry, until barbed wire divides up most of the free-range Texas grasslands, ending the big drives around 1900. Cattle are typically turned loose in open country, to fend for themselves until roundup time, when cowboys gather them together again. The drive to northern rail connections is 1,000 miles long, and takes two months. A dozen cowboys can drive 3,000 head of cattle, with three horses for each cowboy.