In Mother Nature’s fist

TRUE cowboys are a rare breed nowadays; but, judging from the smell, the bruised Stetsons and the scuffed boots, the gentlemen in Amarillo's Stockyard Café are the real thing. And they are mostly in good humour. Generous rain storms have swept in from the Rockies this spring, promising abundant feed for cattle and a happy reversal of last year's drought, which drove many south-western cattlemen to the verge of bankruptcy. That drought, and the resulting sell-off of herds, were a useful reminder that cattle remain the region's most valuable agricultural commodity, and cowboys a vital (if now woefully mythologised) part of America's labour force.