Early livestock in the Piney Woods included cattle, sheep and hogs as well as work horses and mules. While open range grazing practices reigned, settlers in the Piney Woods had little need for owning their own land. Rather, the livestock from several neighboring farms intermixed on the open range, relying on the pine forest landscape for forage. Livestock ownership was determined by the notching on sheep and cattle ears, called “earmarks.” Locals knew their own family’s notching patterns and also those of their neighbors.
The Piney Woods region developed mostly due to the work of cattle, particularly during the peak of the timber industry, when cattle were trained as oxen and used to haul large logs and heavy carts. The Shaw Homestead was also an active sheep station. Every spring the local flocks of sheep would be systematically herded into the barnyard area, sheared, marked and run through a “sheep dip.”
In 1957 a statewide stock law was passed requiring livestock owners to keep their herds behind a fence on their own property. Aside from the clear cut of the virgin longleaf pine, the passing of the stock laws stands as the event with the biggest impact on the function and culture of this rural landscape and its farmers. Today, some farmers still raise the original “heritage” breeds of livestock, and although the face of modern livestock farming in the region is quite different than in its historical heyday, modern rodeo and horse culture persists, and organizations like 4H keep farm and range life alive and strong in the Piney Woods.
Please listen to the “Sheep Dip” and “Livestock” podcasts to learn more about raising animals on the Shaw Homestead.
- Livestock Timeline
- Livestock Podcast
- Sheep Dip Podcast
- Photos of Livestock Event
- Livestock and Historic Photos from Bill Brown
- Livestock Photos from Hershal Ladner
- Livestock & the Open Range Booklet