hile the image of a solitary cowboy singing to a herd of nervous cattle is not as true at Q Creek as it used to be, today's highly technical ranching operation still depends on the cowboy, his horse, and a stock dog. For a ranch the size of the Q, housing, feeding and coordinating activities for cowboys and ranch hands becomes a big part of the routine which is coordinated at ranch headquarters.

Our main headquarters, the Q, is located in the north central portion of the 890 square miles at the base of the Shirley Mountains. The Shamrock headquarters is 23 miles southeast of the Q and is near historical Battle Mountain, so named because of an Indian encounter early in the ranch's history. The third compound, Dana Meadows, is called the North Ranch. Dana Meadows is southwest of the Q on the Medicine Bow River, 40 miles away by truck and 25 miles on horseback.

Years ago, ranch hands lived in 30 or more sheep wagons (hard-top versions of the first settlers' Conestoga wagon) scattered around the ranch. Now, unmarried cowboys live in the Q's version of the old-time bunkhouse at our main headquarters where the guest lodge and fly shop are located. Married cowboys and their families live in separate quarters on the Shamrock and Dana Meadows sections of Q Creek.

Ranching tools of today include airplanes, two-way radios and pickups with horse trailers, but the cowboys' daily life and working style has changed little in the past 100 years.

Just like a century ago, everybody is up early to meet the day. The cook is the first to awaken, often rising before five a.m. to start the coffee and to get the cowboys fed and ready for a long day of work. Organizational structure aside, everybody on the ranch depends on the cook. A good cook receives the attention and adoration often reserved for royalty; a bad cook seldom lasts long in a community as small and interdependent as a ranch.

The cowboys are rolling from the bunkhouse not long after the cook is up and about. While waiting for the breakfast call, often as early as 6 a.m., they head out to the pasture to wrangle the horses. One of the 40 horses used on the ranch might need some training. Sometimes a favorite animal has a nick that needs attention. Sometimes the cowboy needs attention and a favorite horse is a great conversationalist. In either case, much is to be done during the day and an early start is demanded.

Ranch guests are apt to see the cowboys anywhere during the workday. The horses are trailered to all parts of the backcountry, and riders on horseback can break from the timber and greet a fisherman at any time. Though startling, it's a very real part of the ranch's business, and the romantic appeal of cowboys, horses and dogs are no less real now than at the turn of the century.

In the evenings, when a bit of spare time occasionally shows up, the cowboys might head over to the Q's Roping Arena after supper. Cowboys might be sharpening their skills and training their roping horses there once or twice a week. The activities are as interesting to watch as to perform, and, despite the entertainment value, cowboys find as much use for a rope today as they did when the Old West was still very young and rambunctiously alive.

Not all the cowboys that hold the huge ranch together are to be found at headquarters in its bunkhouse comfort. The Fencing Crew spends summer months in any one of the many cabins in Q Creek's backcountry areas. Wind, animals, gravity and time itself conspire to bring down the sturdiest of fences. The amount of work required is hard to estimate when a pasture is in the 30,000-acre range, as some of the Q's are. But, suffice it to say that work demands are such that the hardworking animals sometimes tire before a day is over. Cowboys often change animals at noon, using a second horse and a second dog to finish a day's work.

The cattle are on the ranch for only a part of their life. They are brought in to graze the protein-rich mountain grass in the early spring. On average, the cattle gain about 200 pounds each while summering at Q Creek, and depart weighing in the neighborhood of 850 pounds.

When cattle are sent to market in the fall, cowboys spend almost six weeks rounding them up. The only cattle remaining on the ranch are those missed in the roundup and left in the mountain valleys and hidden canyons and draws. When found, they are fed along with the 40 ranch horses and 12 stock dogs during the winter. The cattle and horses are fed on hay from the ranch's 3,500 irrigated acres of meadow, which are irrigated by water from one of the Q's 12 major creeks.

During shipping time, it takes all the cowboys, all the cooks, 40 horses and a dozen good dogs to ship 12 million pounds of beef in just 30 days. Even in the office, shipping season means up early and late to bed. Trying to round up 250 tractor-trailor trucks and direct them to the ranch can be as much work as rounding up the cattle. But, even though the cattle business has reached this level of technology, the cowboy and his horse still hold it all together.