One version I have heard Alan Lomax sing [not sure on what record ~ I came across it years ago on a compilation tape that a friend had made for me] had the final verse above at #3, followed by [from memory]

And now we're out upon the plain where the dust and billows fly,
Forty miles from water and the ground is parching dry;
The boss gets mad and rainy[?] as we all may plainly see
And I wish that I could quit the trail and an honest farmer be.

Then followed the 'bedded down' and 'quieted down' stanzas, and the final line [surely a better climax] was "yearling by the tail".

~Michael~