To honor and respect all those who cut the trail and created this magnificent breed of cattle.
The Texas Longhorn became the foundation of the American cattle industry by claiming first rights in the untamed, newly discovered Americas a little over 500 years ago. In 1493, Christopher Columbus brought Spanish cattle to Santa Domingo, and within two hundred years their descendents would be grazing the ranges of Mexico.
In 1690, the first herd of cattle, only about 200 head, were driven northward from Mexico to a mission near the Sabine River-a land that would become known as Texas. The early missions and ranchers would not survive all of the elements. But the Texas Longhorn would.
By the time of the Civil War, nearly 300 years after setting foot in America, millions of Longhorns ranged between the mesquite-dotted sandy banks of the Rio Bravo to the sand beds of the Sabine. Most of the Longhorns were unbranded, survivors of Indian raids, scattered by stampedes and weather, escaped from missions or abandoned after ranch failures.
The survivors of the Civil War returned home to Texas to find abandoned ranches, unplowed farm fields—and herds of wild cattle, which would soon become gold in their pockets. In the next quarter century, 10 million head were trailed North to fatten on lush Midwestern grasses or shipped directly by rail to the beef-hungry East.
Texas Longhorns, groomed by Mother Nature, carried the ideal characteristics of resistance-they were tremendous for long drives. They could go incredible distances without water, rustle for their own food, fend for themselves, swim rivers, survive the desert sun and winter snow.
But, at the turn of the century, sundown came for the Texas Longhorn. It took less than 40 years, fenced in land, plows and an overwhelming demand in the marketplace to drive the Longhorn closer to extinction than the buffalo.
Gradually, more breeders started raising private stock, recognizing the value of Texas Longhorns. The need grew for breed standards and a direct line of communication between the Longhorn breeders.
Men & Ranches that are Pioneers of the Texas Longhorn Breeds
Milby Butler and his Family Ranches:
A pioneer cattleman who began raising Texas Longhorns in the early 1900's. His cattle trace back to the wild cattle of east Texas and the Gulf Coast. Most of Milby's cattle were butchered after he died in 1971 but the best were saved by several selective breeders. The Butler line is known for exceptional horn growth. Perhaps the most famous Butler cattle were Bevo and Beauty. Today the Bulter Bulls and Cows blood lines are sought out for their Horns.
The WR (Wildlife Refuge) Bloodline:
The WR line of Longhorns is a selective breeding that began with the acquisition of breeding stock in 1927. Earl Drummond, Heck Schrader, Joe Bill Lee and Elmer Parker Jr. viewed thousands of the remaining Longhorns to acquire 20 cows and 3 bulls to start this breed. Then through the years more Bulls and Cows were added to strengthen this breed line and has become one of the most popular of today.
Graves Peeler and his Family Ranches:
Mr. Peeler raised longhorns, a tradition established by his father starting in 1931, extensively after losing many heads of English-bred cattle in a blizzard. One of the most well known of the Peeler cattle was YO Carmela I. The first cow registered by the TLBAA.
Emil H. Marks and his family Ranch:
Mr. Marks in 1920 noticed due to the eastern beef requirements that the Longhorns were disappearing so he decided it was important to hold back some of his best animals to enrich the Texas Longhorn Breed and Bloodlines.
M.P. Wright and the Wright Family:
Originated in South Texas where they had a ranching & slaughter business. So when Ranchers would bring in Longhorns for sale, Mr. Wright would select the best Longhorns for Breeding and this became his stock. His 1st 100 animals were acquired this way. In 1965 his herd consisted of 222 registered Texas Longhorns.
Cap Yates and the Yates Family:
With Mr. Yates interested in the Texas Longhorns and the purity of the “Old Type” Breed. While he was a Ranch Forman in 1910, bought many cattle from Mexico because they could survive on the desolate, harsh land of South Texas and knew that the Texas Longhorns were the only breed that could.
Jack Phillips and the Phillips Family:
Jack followed his father and grandfather in raising Texas Longhorn cattle. Phillips had raised Longhorns for 30 years before the TLBAA was formed in 1964. Phillips always looked for long legs, long bodies, slender heads, long bushy tails and good horns. He used the selection rules of conformation first, followed by horns and color traits. Texas Ranger JP is perhaps the best known animals from this bloodline. Known as the sire for size.
Miniature Longhorns
Miniatures are really nothing new to this magnificent breed of cattle. These animals are simply small frame longhorns that mature under 45" at the hip. Ever since the Texas Longhorn came into existence, there have been larger animals and smaller animals. Natural selection has made the smaller framed animals more suitable for some regions because they either did not sink in the mud or could survive in harsher environments where forage was limited. Sadly, the machismo that surrounds the Texas Longhorn has negatively impacted these smaller framed animals. The desire to constantly produce larger framed animals with horns that stretch out to the stratosphere has culled many of these small-framed animals from the Texas Longhorn breeding population.
Land subdivision and urbanization has fragmented the landscape once dominated by sprawling ranches into a patchwork of small ranchettes. With the ever shrinking size of American "ranches," the appeal of these small-framed longhorns has increased exponentially. Landowners are now able to run a respectable number of cows and develop a profitable cow/calf operation on as little as 5 acres.
Now that a market has been developed for the "miniature" Texas Longhorn, their small size has become their financial advantage. The supply of miniatures is still very small and the market for these animals is far from saturated. As a result, many breeders are specializing in these small-framed longhorns and are marketing them as pasture pets and lawn ornaments that provide a means to maintain agricultural exemptions on smaller acreage properties.