Mustering
Gathering cattle from open country so they can be counted, branded, treated or sold.
Also: muster, round-up
A muster is the Australian round-up, when stock are gathered from wide paddocks into yards for counting, marking, branding, vaccination, weaning or sale. On large stations it may take weeks. Mustering was once done entirely on horseback with dogs; today riders work alongside motorbikes, all-terrain vehicles and light helicopters that spot cattle and push them toward the yards. In Spanish the word rodeo first meant just this gathering of cattle, before it came to mean the sport. In the American West the same work is called a round-up, traditionally held each spring and autumn.