Seagoing Cowboys | About the Seagoing Cowboys

Dan West had no inkling that an idea implanted in his mind in 1938 would lead to the "trip of a
lifetime" for over 7,000 men and boys. West was an Indiana farmer and church worker who lived
under the conviction that he should do as much for peace as a soldier does for war. He went to Spain
during the Spanish Civil War to help provide relief for the war's victims through a cooperative
program of the three Historic Peace Churches: the Quakers, the Mennonites, and the Church of the
Brethren. The futility of doling out limited supplies of powdered milk for infants brought West to the
vision of sending cows to Spain; then the people could feed themselves and regain some dignity.
West's vision became a reality when the Service Committee of his church, the Church of the
Brethren, adopted the Heifer Project plan in January 1943. By then, however, World War II was
raging and heifers couldn't be shipped abroad. So the first shipment in 1944 was made to Puerto
Rico. Click here for a report on this trip (reproduced with permission of Messenger).

When World War II ended, the Brethren Service Committee had a dilemma: the Heifer Project had
over 1,000 heifers ready to ship, but no ships. The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
Administration* (UNRRA), created by 44 nations in November 1943 to provide postwar relief,
also had a dilemma. They had ships, but no cattle tenders for the 200,000 head of livestock they
planned to ship to devastated countries. UNRRA knew about the Brethren shipment to Puerto Rico
and the interest of the Brethren in sending heifers to Europe, and a partnership was born. The
Brethren Service Committee would recruit the livestock attendants for UNRRA's shipments, and
UNRRA would ship the Brethren heifers free of charge.

Between June 24, 1945 and mid-1947, over 7,000 men and boys from all across the United States
and Canada volunteered to serve as "seagoing cowboys." Click here for more specifics about this
program. UNRRA disbanded at the close of 1946, with some livestock shipments carrying into 1947.
This created a problem for the Heifer Project. Click here to read on.

*Not to be confused with the current United Nations.