Why do people raise texas longhorns

Horns can have a slight upward turn at their tips or even triple twist. Texas Longhorns are known for their extreme diversified coloring. A Texas longhorn cow, the first cattle to set foot in North America and the only breed of cattle to evolve without human management, the Texas Longhorn can thrive in country where no other breed can live; subsist on weeds, cactus and brush; range days away from water; and stay fit and fertile whether its living in the scorching, parasite-infested tropics or in the arid, subzero winters of Montana.

The leaner longhorn beef was not as attractive in an era where tallow was highly prized, and the longhorn's ability to survive on often-poor vegetation of the open range was no longer as much of an issue.

Other breeds demonstrated traits more highly valued by the modern rancher, such as the ability to put on weight quickly.

The Texas longhorn stock slowly dwindled, until in the breed was saved from almost certain extinction by enthusiasts from the United States Forest Service, who collected a small herd of stock to breed on a refuge in Oklahoma. A few years later, J. Frank Dobie and others gathered small herds to keep in Texas state parks.

Native Indians did not hunt the wild cattle; they preferred the meat of the tamer and easier to kill buffalo. The Indians also found more uses for buffalo hides and bones than they did for Longhorn leather. Wolves that followed the migrating buffalo herds remained shy and wary of the mean and often deadly Longhorn cattle.

With the waning of the buffalo herds, the prairie grasses from Mexico to Canada became fodder for this new, more marketable animal. Most non-Indian Americans never developed a taste for buffalo, and more and more people were taking a liking to beef. A single Longhorn cow needed 10 acres of good plains grass a year for feed, 15 if the ground was dry and scrubby, and there were millions of acres available.

Living on the rich Texas plains, a cow would normally have 12 calves in her lifetime, ensuring a steady supply for the new market. During the Civil War, the unattended Longhorns proliferated. By , about 5 to 6 million Longhorns resided in Texas, and most were unbranded.

Many Confederate Army veterans returning from the war built up herds by claiming unmarked cattle and branding them. The problem was getting the steers to market. In , Abilene, Kan. For the next two decades, Longhorns hit the trails on long but generally profitable drives. There had actually been long drives earlier-such as to New Orleans in the s and to California during the gold rush-but the era of the great trail drives did not begin until after the Civil War.

After the spring roundup, the cattle herd was driven north. A drive often covered 1, miles and took four to six months. The hours were long, the conditions brutal and the dangers very real. The outdoor work, mostly in the saddle, appealed to a certain breed of men-the American cowboy.

In an instant, a calm herd could become a solid wave of nearly unstoppable alarm and panic. Normally a Longhorn steer would not target a man on horseback, but neither man nor horse was safe during a stampede. The steers themselves usually were at great risk. In Idaho, an stampede led to the deaths of one cowboy and Longhorns.

We are in close proximity to Stephenville, Fort Worth and Dallas. In this blog we share our experience and our ideas. We gain hours of pleasure ranching with our Texas longhorn cattle and although we offer an agricultural service SEE our Salebarn page we love hearing from our Texas longhorn cattle fans and fellow Texas longhorn cattle owners Thanks a ton ,. How quickly do the horns of Texas Longhorns grow? How do they grow? They continue to grow, but usually slow down considerably with age.

These are just averages, of course, and there is a great deal of variation depending on the shape of the horns. The horns of steers continue to grow at a reasonable rate throughout life, because the low levels of testosterone in steers allow the growth plate of the inner bony core to remain unossified. Horns grow from the base, not the tips, and "growth rings" can be seen near the base of the horns of older cows.

Cows produce a new ring in association with each calf they produce, although these growth rings can get quite close together on older animals. Horns consist of a bony core, surrounded by flesh and blood, and then an outer layer of keratin. On many animals especially animals with light-colored, rapidly growing horns one can see the reddish color from the blood supply beneath the keratin layer, particularly near the growing base.

What are the widest horns of Texas Longhorn cows, bulls, and steers on record? This is a hard question to answer, because many claims have been made over the years that are difficult to verify. In addition, 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" or poll measurement 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 a better reflection 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.

Given the difficulties of comparing measurements made by different people, the best answer I can give to this question is to point to the annual Horn Showcase competition conducted by the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America. This competition obviously does not include all the living Texas Longhorns, but owners of the longest-horned animals tend to be very proud of their cattle, and so the winners are at least among the longest-horned Texas Longhorns. Although there are some anecdotes of even longer-horned steers in the distant past, recent selection for very long horns means that the Texas Longhorns that are alive today are probably among the longest-horned animals that have ever been a part of the breed.

At the Horn Showcase: 1. The Texas Longhorn cow with the widest horns tip-to-tip measurement was Day's Feisty Fannie, at 82" 2. The Texas Longhorn bull with the widest horns tip-to-tip measurement was Superbowl, at 76" 4.

The Texas Longhorn steer with the widest horns tip-to-tip measurement was Watson , at " 6. Click here to download the complete Horn Showcase results. What are the branding requirements for registered Texas Longhorns? Registered Texas Longhorns must be branded with a holding brand the brand of the individual ranch or owner as well as by a unique private herd number.

Branding can be done with either fire brands or freeze brands. Brand designs should be registered with both the breed association and your state, county, or province of residence according to local brand registration regulations.

In Texas, cattle brands must be registered in each county where a ranch has operations.