Translations for Stockmen’s Gear, Rodeos & Horse Sports in Other Languages

Most of the words added to these lists will have equivalent words in other languages however some will not as the gear is unique to a specific country, such as the ‘boleadoras’ of South America and ‘Bedourie oven’ of Australia.

Stock catching equipment:

• ‘catching rope’ — Australia (used in broncoing or bronco branding. Otherwise, Australian cattle are not caught by roping)
• ‘lariat’; derived from ‘la reata’ (which means ‘throw rope’ in ‘Spanish)
• ‘lasso’ (‘lazo’ means ‘rope’ or ‘snare’ in Spanish) (America)
• ‘boleadoras’ (Argentina). Also known as 'Las tres Marias' (The Three Marias). Can be 2 weights but usually 3 (rocks or lumps of wood) tied to leather straps. Gauchos would throw the boleadoras at the beast's legs to tangle them up and stop them running away.

Whips:

• ‘làtigos’ (Argentina) — short whip, more like a riding crop. Often with a fancy design.
• ‘stockwhip’ (Australia) — a leather plaited whip that is usually at least 6 foot long, which is flicked through the air sharply so that the ‘cracker’ on the tip breaks the sound barrier and makes a loud noise. A stockwhip isn’t used for hitting anything (except maybe giving the odd doughy calf a gentle flick around the legs). Instead the noise is used to hurry stock up or block them up. American ‘bullwhips’ and ‘cow whips’ are somewhat similar. The Australian Whipmakers Association has an excellent website written by the late Ron Edwards. Well worth a visit — great information and a good laugh.
• 'cracker' (Australia and parts of the U.S.) The end piece on a stockwhip that whips through the air and makes the cracking sound. Crackers wear out quickly so are frequently replaced — usually with baling string — 'popper' (parts of the U.S.). Answers has some information on the differences between whips used in other countries — there is a heap of them.

Domestic-related words:

• ‘swag’ (Australia) — ‘bedroll’ (America, Canada)
• ‘camp oven’ (Australia) — ‘dutch oven’ (America)
• ‘Bedourie oven’ (Australia) — large cooking container with a tight fitting lid, used in a similar way to the cast-iron camp oven, but more suited to carting about on packhorses as a Bedourie is lighter and won’t crack when dropped.

Cooking in the open, over a fire:

• 'camp cooking' or 'camp fire cooking' (Australia) — cooking over an open fire, on a cattle station (i.e. it's a work-related term). Social occasion cooking out in the open is called 'barbecuing' in Australia, and it's done on a steel hotplate or a grill (above the heat source). Originally the meat was barbecued over a wood fire, but now most people barbecue meat on a gas or heat bead barbecue, because barbeques are now relatively cheap, well designed and they come in all shapes and sizes. And most large towns & cities no longer allow wood fires in the open. BBQ and 'barbie' are shortened versions of barbecue, and it is also spelt 'barbeque'. (Indoor cooking on a grill is called 'grilling', not barbecuing — Australians do not barbecue indoors.)
• 'braai' & 'braais' (plural) — an Afrikaaner term that is now used by South Africans of all backgrounds
• 'asado' — Argentina (also probably Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay)
• 'churrasco' — Brazil; a Portuguese term that means 'grilled meat', but which is commonly used (in popular culture) to refer to a Brazilian steakhouse, these days.

Other gear:

• ‘facón’ (Argentina) — large knife carried by gauchos (traditional/historial term)

Ute (2 or, more recently, a 4 door 'twin cab' vehicle with an open back for carting anything from dognuts and a few shovels to small ponies):

• ‘ute’(short for ‘utility’) — Australia
• ‘pickup’ (truck) — America & Canada
• ‘camioneta’ — Argentina
• ‘chata’(slang) — Argentina
• 'pickup' — Brazil
• 'camioneta' — Mexico
• 'troca' — northern Mexico

Please note: the text on these translation pages is protected by copyright laws, like the rest of the website.

Many hours of work have been spent compiling these pages of translations, cross checking as much as possible, to ensure accuracy. But because I am not a linguistics expert all words and meanings translated here should be cross checked with other sources before being quoted, because I am not able to guarantee there are no errors.

"Life as an Australian Horseman", "Biggest Mobs - Longest Shadows" & "A Million Acre Masterpiece" contain hundreds of photos of Australian stockmen and stockwomen at work on the world's largest cattle stations (ranches).  These books include subjects ranging from saddles, horses, stockcamps and mustering to rodeos and bush racing.  "Life as an Australian Horseman" contains a special chapter of unique bronco branding photos, plus extra photos of stockwhips and cattle dogs at work.