Texas Longhorns

 Growing up in the Midwest I have seen many cows.  I know the common types of dairy and beef cows like, Holstein, Jersey, Guernsey, Angus, Beef Master, and Herefordshire. They were boring cows in many shades of brown and black. As a kid we would drive by fields and I would hardly give then a glance. Then I went to Texas and saw a Longhorn for the first time.

It is a jaw dropping moment when you are driving along a Texas road and you come across a field full of Longhorn cows. They defy reason. They make absolutely no sense. There stands a normal looking cow with the most outrageous horns that can extend to over 8 feet from end to end. You stand there and look at them just trying to figure out what life with those horns is like. How do they keep from wounding each other as they walk by? Do they have an awareness of the width and naturally compensate for them? Is it hard to keep your balance when you move your head around? Is it hard to laydown and get up? So many questions.

The longhorn came from the Iberian Peninsula by Spanish conquistadores during the voyages of Christopher Columbus to Hispaniola. The cattle was used for food for the colonists. The cattle was taken to Mexico and over time they wondered North. They arrived in what is now Texas in the 17th century. The cows became feral and were mated with cows from Europe. The end result was the longhorn. The longhorns could live in the heat of the South and the cold of Montana. They would eat weeds, brush and cactus and could go days without water. Longhorn meat is very lean and back in the early days animal fat was more desired, so the Longhorn population slowly dwindled and was headed towards extinction.

There were Longhorn enthusiasts like a man named J. Frank Dobie who started gathering small herds that they kept in Texas State Parks. This was after someone in the United States Forest Service put steers in a refuge in Oklahoma. Because the Longhorn is so hardy, and can breed for many years the longhorn became more desirable. Nowadays their lean meat that is lower in cholesterol and calories is also more desirable.

At the stockyards in Fort Worth they have a cattle drive with Longhorns twice a day about 363 days a year. We took a trip to the stockyards a few weeks ago with family that were here for a visit. The cattle drive runs down the main street in the Stockyard District, and in between the drives the cattle are put in a corral near by. When you walk up to the corral to see the Longhorns, there goes the jaw drop! They all look different. I think the tour guide said no two are alike and their horns are all different too. Some horns curl up, curl down, twist or just go straight out forever. They are just so amazing to look at. Nothing says Texas like a Longhorn.