Even in my dad's time there were sheep men and there were sheep men. The former lived on the land they ranched and had some respect afforded to them by even the cow men. The latter were hired hands for big conglomerates which owned the land and those hired hands, back then, were just as likely hired guns. My granddad was involved in a big row, guns and all, with a bunch of them. Thank goodness no shots fired, but there was a big to-do with granddad writing the rancher's side up for the newspaper in which he notes the local sheep men backed the cow men, NOT the corporate sheep men. Well, there were shots at one point because my dad remembered being told to get under the bed once because of it.