Longhorn cattle have a
long and colorful history. Most breeds
of cattle were developed for a particular trait, like for milk production or
meat quality. Not so with the Texas Longhorn,
they evolved along chance lines from a long history and what resulted is a
unique animal with some very basic instincts.
The Texas Longhorn evolved in North America from descendants of cattle
brought into the Americas by the Spanish in the late 1400s and early 1500s
However, the Longhorns did not descend directly from Iberian stock. Rather, the
first cattle to be imported to the Americas by the early Spanish explorers were
from the Canary Islands or Hispaniola. These cattle, it is said, were descended
from the auroch, an animal now extinct. So,
the closest relatives of Texas Longhorns among existing European breeds are
Portuguese cattle breeds such as the Alentejana and the Mertolenga.
These early imports of Iberian Peninsula cattle soon became feral in
northern Mexico. At the time, northern
Mexico included lands that became the
Republic of Texas in 1836, then part of the United States in 1845.
Since the early ranches in Northern Mexico were not fenced, the Longhorn
was free to roam and roam they did for the next two hundred years. From this environment, they became feral,
and from this roaming, they became Texas Longhorn Cattle.
Over a couple hundred years, these wild herds
underwent intense natural selection; the only cattle that could survive were
highly disease resistant, could live on harsh range conditions (through
droughts, floods, heat, and cold), and could defend themselves and their calves
against predators.
In the early 1800s, wild cattle, mostly Longhorns,
were found throughout much of Texas. Keep in mind that this was a time when the
human population of Texas was scant, so the first settlers to arrive and
establish ranches were curious about these wild cattle. Most settlers, especially those coming from
the eastern part of the country, probably never saw cattle with horns this
large.
During the California Gold Rush of the late 1840s
and early 1850s, there was great demand for beef in California, and cattle
began to be driven from Texas by the tens of thousands to meet the demand. This
practice was interrupted by the U.S. Civil War, as well as the end of the
California gold rush. Texans who returned to Texas after the Civil War had few
sources of income, but there were lots of wild cattle in Texas. In fact, the population of wild Texas cattle
greatly outnumbered the available cattle in the eastern USA. The Civil War
demand for meat and the lack of attention to farming at the time depleted the
eastern stock of Herefords and other domesticated breeds.
Figure 1__Drovers with their long
horned cattle
Texans saw the opportunity to make a living by rounding
up the cattle and driving them up to the rail heads in Kansas, where they were
shipped to the east coast cities to satisfy a growing demand for beef in the
northern states. Many famous cattle trails were established, such as the Chisholm Trail and the Goodnight-Loving Trail, and many millions of cattle (then called "Texas cattle") were
driven up these trails for shipment east.[1]
The harvesting of “Texas cattle” was a big
operation after the Civil War. It is estimated that nearly 4 million Texas
cattle were rounded up from the brush country and sold in northern markets.
This at first satisfied the demand for meat, but
then the critics of the Texas Longhorn began to complain about the quality and
amount of useable meat. One reporter[2] at the
stock pens wrote “the cattle were barely able to cast a shadow and would
probably not weigh anything if it weren’t for their horns, which were only
useful to keep them from crawling through the fences”.
During the late 1800s, large ranches began to be
established in Texas. Fences were built, cattle were captured and contained,
and the days of free-ranging cattle came to an end. Although these ranches
originally stocked Texas Longhorns, most soon turned to importing
"improved" European breeds of cattle. The European breeds produced
more fat than did Texas Longhorns, and tallow was the primary driving force
behind cattle prices at the time. However, several ranchers kept herds of the
original Texas cattle, either for nostalgia or because they appreciated the
abilities and native instincts of these cattle.
By the 1920s, the longhorned cattle were rare
enough that the United States government assembled a herd of Texas cattle at
the Wichita Wildlife
Refuge in southwestern Oklahoma
to preserve them from extinction. About six private herds were also maintained during
the first half of the 1900s. Most modern
Texas Longhorns can be traced back to seven
"families" of longhorns: the Wichita
Refuge, Butler, Marks, Peeler, Phillips, Wright, and Yates lines.
Figure 2.. The Longhorn herd at L. B. J. National Historical Park near Johnson
City.
The cross breeding and the harvesting nearly made
the Longhorn extinct, but not quite.
Ranchers began to see the advantages of the Longhorn in the harsh
environment of Texas. The animals could
live on scant water, poor grass and were naturally tickproof. In other words, these beasts could literally
take care of themselves.
In 1964, the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association
of America was founded, and a registration process was established. Thus, Texas
Longhorns became a registered breed. Today, Texas Longhorns are bred and valued
for many different reasons. Their naturally lean meat is now considered an
advantage, and the ability of Texas Longhorns to thrive on natural range
conditions without the use of antibiotics, added hormones, or the use of
feedlots. This makes them a favorite for lean beef, range-fed beef, and organic
beef markets. They are also widely raised for their beautiful colors and horns,
and by people who appreciate the history and qualities of the breed. Texas
Longhorn bulls are often used as service sires on other breeds of cattle,
because the crosses produce fewer birthing difficulties and calves that grow
quickly and have few health problems. Traits that stand out in Texas Longhorns
are their natural disease resistance, great longevity, high reproductive rate,
ease in birthing, ability to thrive under harsh range conditions, and an
ability to defend themselves against predators. Longhorn cows are known to
“calfsit” a bunch of calves while their mothers continue to feed. You can see this when there are several
calves lying in the grass with only one or two cows with them.
Texas Longhorns are gentle cattle and are among the easiest of
breeds to handle and control. Their gentle disposition and striking looks make
them favorites as riding steers, and their general health and adaptability make
them ideal for small ranches.
Figure 3__Longhorn steers in 4th
of July parade
Texas Longhorns that interact regularly with people are easy to
handle; as with any breed, however, cattle that rarely see humans can grow wild
and wary.
Of course, caution is required among Texas Longhorns because of
the long horns. These cattle never attack or harm a human on purpose, they can
and do use their horns to manipulate objects and to scratch their bodies, so
reasonable care should be exercised around the cattle to avoid accidental
contact with the horns. Texas Longhorns will also defend their calves against
dogs or any predators.
Naturally, the
horns of the Longhorns attract a lot of attention, the same way that deer
hunters look for the record rack.There are at least two
common ways to measure horns. The tip-to-tip measurement is the easiest to
reproduce: it is simply the straight-line measure from one horn tip to the
other. The "total horn" method attempts to measure the horns along
their curve, to get a measure of the total length of the horns. This
measurement is much harder to replicate accurately, but it is the best method
of the total horn length. The tip-to-tip measurement assigns longer values to
straight, lateral horns than to upwardly curving horns of the same total
length.
Every year, the Horn Showcase competition is conducted by the
Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America. This competition obviously does
not include all the living Texas Longhorns, but owners of prized animals enter
their longest horned cattle in the competition and so the winners are at least
among the longest-horned Texas Longhorns.
Here are some typical measurements from the 2006 competition:
The Texas Longhorn cow with the widest horns (tip-to-tip measurement)
was Day's Feisty Fannie, at 82 inches.
The Texas Longhorn cow with horns of most length (total horn
measurement) was Sunrise
Hope, at 97 3/8 inches.
Steers tend to have longer horns at maturity, and at the 2006
Competition the Texas Longhorn steer with the longest horns (total horn
measurement) was Gibraltar at 126 1/2".
Heck that’s only ten feet.
In Bridlewood, the Millers and the Shallenbergers
manage a herd of Longhorns which grows to about 100 head. Then, at roundup time
the herd is reduced so that they can start the process all over again. They
provide an update on the herd at our meetings so that we can stay informed
about the calves and the status of the herd.
·
Longhorn calves can be any color, not necessarily
the color of their parents, but the dominant colors are russet and white.
·
Calves can be a bit erratic and frisky, so when
they are near the road, drive carefully, because they can behave like the
proverbial chicken that runs across the road at the last minute.
·
Cattle are experts at finding holes in fences, so
walking the fence line is a good thing to do, especially in the winter.
Following are some photos that we pulled from our
files. Many are our favorites and even get special
names, even though their owners have their own names for the same animal.
Figure 4___Cow and
yearling—current time
Figure 5___Peaches—file photo
This is Peaches with a 9 foot horn spread.
We don’t have a photo of Fudge, but Fudge was an
elderly cow, nigh onto 23 years of age and died this spring. She was getting feeble and could not move
with the herd.
This last year the older bull disappeared and no
one knows where he might be. He could have
died in some remote spot on the ranch; or he might have escaped through the
fence, but that is unlikely as the fence was patrolled after his disappearance
and no fence hole was found. Supposedly we might have sophisticated rustlers
who would cut the fence, drive him out and then mend the fence. Nevertheless when walking your own land, keep
an eye peeled for some white bones.
------SIGHTINGS-----
Figure 6__Leaves and flowers
of Wafer Ash
The
flowers of this Wafer Ash, Ptelea
trifoliata are almost impossible to see in the photo, but if you zoom in on
the photo the wafers become apparent. We
discovered this not-so-rare tree growing on the side of Cedar Road in Kyle
(look at this road as the extension of Limekiln Road which is on this side of
the Blanco River). This fall, we will
collect some seeds to see if we can grow this tree. The seed pod is a flat wafer about the size
of a half dollar with one seed in the center.
It
is really dry now from the lack of rain, but there is one shrubby tree that
really likes dry weather. It’s the Prairie Flame-leaf Sumac, Rhus lanceolata that you find scattered
throughout the ranch. Some of the more
mature plants are blooming right now.
The yellow jackets like the flowers and the quail like the seeds that
the flowers produce. This photo was
taken in front of our place along the front fence line.
Figure 7__Flower head of the Prairie
Flame-leaf Sumac
The black part of the image is the yellow jacket having lunch.
Since all flowers are made up of a lot of water, they become scarce during droughty times. Although common, this plant is quite unusual.
R & D
Tusch
[1]
There is an excellent Chisholm Trail Museum in Cuero.
[2]The
Passing of the Longhorn by Havins,
The Southwestern Historical Quarterly July 1952.
