Where is longhorn texas

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.

In Nebraska, in , four cowboys tried to head off stampeding steers. That unfortunate crew lost two cowboys, and a score were injured. Out of their herd of 4, head, cattle were killed. One of the worst stampedes occurred in July near the Brazos River in Texas.

Almost the entire herd plunged into a gully; more than 2, head were killed or missing. When cattle stampeded they did not utter a sound, but a cacophony was raised by the clashing of horns and the crashing of hooves.

The heat that the massed herd emitted was phenomenal. On a hot night, a steer that ran 10 miles might lose up to 40 pounds. There was only one thing, agreed most cowboys, that could be done to gain control of a runaway herd. That was to ride hellbent for leather toward the head of the herd and get the leaders milling, so that the herd would circle around into itself.

The cowboys hoped the cattle would exhaust themselves during the process. The men would wave hats or slickers, beat ropes against chaps and sometimes fire pistols into the ground to try and keep the animals from running. A herd in flight could spread out over a vast area. If the herd ran for 25 miles, the cowboys might have to ride miles rounding up the strays.

Sometimes small groups of cattle would be found and started back, but finding and driving singles was more often the case. Every trail herd had its dominant steer, which by instinct strode to the front of the bunch to lead the way.

Good lead steers were particularly valuable when crossing a river because hesitant leaders would cause most of the others to stop. If a steer did the job well, it would not be sold; it would be brought home to lead the other herds north. Charles Goodnight owned such a valuable steer in Old Blue, whom he had bought from cattleman John Chisum. During eight seasons, more than 10, head followed Old Blue to Dodge City- a one-way trip for them but not for Blue.

At his death his horns were mounted in a place of honor in the Goodnight ranch office. Under favorable conditions, Longhorns put on weight while on the trail. Water was the most important necessity during a drive. A Longhorn could drink up to 30 gallons of water a day.

Without plenty of fresh water, the cattle became irritable and would stampede. Thus began overland cattle drives via famous cattle trails such as the Western, Chisholm and Goodnight-Loving to the great rail yards in Kansas, Wyoming and other northern states. By the early s, ranchers saw the longhorn as a less desirable breed of cattle. Rail access improved, barbed wire closed the open range, trail drives become memories, and ranchers no longer transported beef cattle to faraway markets.

Ranchers favored European breeds that yielded more beef per animal, and the number of longhorns fell. Western writer J. Frank Dobie recognized the Texas Longhorn decline in the early s. He felt it was important to preserve the breed that held such a significant place in Texas history.

With help from businessman Sid Richardson and rancher Graves Peeler, Dobie procured a herd of typical longhorns. They donated the animals to the Texas Parks Board in as the state herd. The search continued for more of the scarce longhorns. In , the board placed a second herd at Lake Brownwood State Park.