Did you know Longhorns were almost Extinct?

This is our FIRST adventure with cattle. God has directed us on this amazing path and the most WONDERFUL people have come out of the woodwork willing to help. We have very little knowledge of these animals so my girls and I take time to read and research. Just wanted to share some fun facts with y’all.

Longhorns were bred almost out of existence; by the 1920s only a few small herds remained.

In 1927 the Texas longhorn was saved from probable extinction by Will C. Barnes and other Forest Service men, when they collected a small herd of breeding stock in South Texas for the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. A few years later J. Frank Dobie, with the help of former range inspector Graves Peeler and financial support from oilman Sid W. Richardson, gathered small herds for Texas state parks. After the wildlife-refuge herd had increased to several hundred, the Forest Service held annual sales of surplus animals. Cowmen at first purchased them as curiosities, then rediscovered the longhorn’s longevity, resistance to disease, fertility, ease of calving, and ability to thrive on marginal pastures. Its growing popularity in beef herds was spurred by a diet-conscious population’s desire for lean beef.

In 1964 Charles Schreiner III of the YO Ranch took the lead in organizing the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America, which maintains a registry in order to perpetuate the breed in a pure state. Since then the number of longhorns and their use in cross-breeding have steadily increased, and their future appears secure. Since 1948 the official state Texas longhorn herd has been kept at Fort Griffin State Historic Site which is now part of the Texas Historical Commission. Smaller longhorn herds have been located at various times at Possum Kingdom State Recreation Area, Palo Duro Canyon State Scenic Park, Abilene State Park, Dinosaur Valley State Park, and Copper Breaks State Park. Texas State Historical Association (TSHA).

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