Texas longhorns as oxen

[KGerstner89]

By the turn of the 19th century demand for the Texas Longhorn beef began to fade. It took less than 40 years of fencing,plows and demand for the fat English breeds to drive the Texas longhorn closer to extinction than the buffalo. Six cattle families along with the United States Government are responsible for preserving the Texas Longhorn as a breed.

[jac]

This is a great web site.. press a few plastic buttons on the puter and all the info is there on the screen. Its strange how the American and indeed the British public turned away from lean meat to the Herford/Angus type with the higher fat cover and now its full circle and the demand for leaner meat again. Is there any of these cattle families with a web site ? These old breeds facinate me …
John

[Nat(wasIxy)]

Me and Rob have just been discussing this – how in ‘the old days’ when cattle walked to market they would have been at least 4yrs old and walked off any fat they had on, creating lean meat. Now we fatten them, then ferry them to market so they are like barrels on legs – even though the consumer now wants lean meat and the exterior stuff gets trimmed off, it still persists like this? Is this a contributing factor to obesity? Our meat is grassfed and very lean ideed which customers love, but our cows would be laughed out of a sale-ring? :confused::rolleyes:

[jac]

Good point Ixy,I hadnt thot of the diff between fat thats walked off and fat thats trimmed off… and of course we have the 30 month rule because of BSE now as well…and that was a government cock up as well… do our American cousins have this rubbish to put up with I wonder ???..
John

[OldKat]

@KGerstner89 19304 wrote:

By the turn of the 19th century demand for the Texas Longhorn beef began to fade. It took less than 40 years of fencing,plows and demand for the fat English breeds to drive the Texas longhorn closer to extinction than the buffalo. Six cattle families along with the United States Government are responsible for preserving the Texas Longhorn as a breed.

This is true; when they no longer had to walk cattle 1,000 miles or more to the closest rail head it was no longer necessary to use such a hardy breed & they are a super hardy breed. A couple of centuries of natural selection in the harsh environment of south & southwest Texas had eliminated the weak individuals, only the hardiest survived to breeding age. That came in handy when it came time to drive them up the trail to market.

The English breeds fattened better and were more docile on whole than were the longhorns so they were eventually pretty much bred out of existence by crossing Hereford, Angus, Shorthorn and Devon’s on them. In the late mid 60’s through the early 70’s, when my dad was still working I use to go to the packing plant with him (I come from a family of meat packers on both sides) and over the “ticket” window just inside the front door was a massive shoulder mount of a steer that I think was probably a Longhorn – Devon cross, or maybe ¾ Devon, ¼ Longhorn. He was an impressive individual for sure. I can still vividly remember what he looked like and I haven’t seen that piece of taxidermy wonder in nearly 40 years.

My dad told me that when he first started in the packing business at the old Hormel Plant in San Antonio in the mid 1930’s there were steers just like that coming through the kill floor all the time. He worked there, though not on the kill floor anymore, until he left for WWII in the early forties; returning briefly when he was discharged in 1946. He said that by that time no such steers were coming through the kill floor anymore, so your timeline is just about right.

Funny thing is I never saw a longhorn out on pasture until I was in my early 20’s. The first time I saw them was when I lived near the Panhandle in the late 70’s. I saw some in a pasture and just pulled over in sheer amazement. I even went up to the guys house and talked to him about them. I never dreamed they would make the comeback that they have.

[OldKat]

@jac 19314 wrote:

Good point Ixy,I hadnt thot of the diff between fat thats walked off and fat thats trimmed off… and of course we have the 30 month rule because of BSE now as well…and that was a government cock up as well… do our American cousins have this rubbish to put up with I wonder ???..
John

John,

We have a 30 month rule here, too. Not sure if it is the same rule that you have. Here any animal that is judged to be over 30 months of age can be slaughtered, but the brain and the spinal processes cannot be used. Of course that has an impact on the way the carcass can be cut. In real terms it is not that much of an issue, because most animals in the commercial stream that are over thirty months of age are probably going to be cutters or canners (boned out) anyway.

However, it does impact those of us that are feeding grass finished steers or heifers. Using the standard large frame commercial cattle it is hard to get them to finish in less than 30 months unless you live in an area where grass can be counted on to be fairly lush year round or nearly year round. That is NOT my situation. Where I live we say “It no longer rains around here; we have continuous drought interrupted by occasional flooding!” Makes finishing beeves on grass a challenge. That is why I am trying to breed down in frame size to an older style phenotype, but it sure is hard to find animals that have that type of pedigree.

[Nat(wasIxy)]

That’s part of the reason Rob went for dexters. Some of them are simply too small, but the ones that are a sensible size are very good at what they do – live on fresh air and produce a good calf. I’m using jerseyXbelgian blues as the basis of my sucklers as they are small and hardy, with plenty of milk, easy calving and a decent shape from the belgian.

[citternman]

My Mom had a pair of longhorn/ jersey cross steers that did well enough for her. I think she only had them for one 4-H season. They were red/orange lineback with black noses and had some black hair around their face like jerseys. Woe of woes, they had jersey horns. I think the jersey took the fight out of them, because they were not nearly as feisty as either of my brother’s Dexter pairs or the other brother’s Scottish highland pair.

There was a guy who had a long horn off ox that I remember pulling at the Cheshire Fair (New Hampshire). The longhorn had maybe a 5 or 6 foot span, but had the nigh one cut off so it didn’t hit his teammate in the face with it. The other horn was brass capped. He had the red/orange lineback type markings and was really skinny.

That night the was pulling was one of the best I’ve ever seen: I don’t remember how much weigh they got up to, but the stoneboat was stacked six or seven high all the way across, so maybe 10,000 or 12,000 pounds. Three-way race between the longhorn and holstein team, I think two chianina/holstien teams. The longhorn and holstein were outsized by at least a few hundred pounds and a lot of height, against the long legged chianinas.

In the final round, one of the chianina teams pulled first, all the way on the third try. The other only moved it a foot or two.

The longhorn and partner pulled a foot or so in the last round on the first try and got a false start and only moved it a few inches on the second. The longhorn kept shaking his head and giving the driver attitude, making himself pretty popular with the audience. It was so dramatic with his big horns and being the smallest ox left.

The third try they launched and as soon as they were going all the power in the arena went out, there was a general outcry but within ten seconds the power was back on. They looked like they’d made it six feet so people started cheering. The tape came out and it was 5’10”. The crowd moaned again and then started cheering as the chain came off and they circled back around toward the stands.

I caught up to the driver, whom I’d befriended earlier that day (I was 11 or 12 years old and fascinated by his team) and asked about that last pull. He said, “It was dark and they’d gone far enough.”

[OldKat]

@citternman 19731 wrote:

My Mom had a pair of longhorn/ jersey cross steers that did well enough for her. I think she only had them for one 4-H season. They were red/orange lineback with black noses and had some black hair around their face like jerseys. Woe of woes, they had jersey horns. I think the jersey took the fight out of them, because they were not nearly as feisty as either of my brother’s Dexter pairs or the other brother’s Scottish highland pair.

There was a guy who had a long horn off ox that I remember pulling at the Cheshire Fair (New Hampshire). The longhorn had maybe a 5 or 6 foot span, but had the nigh one cut off so it didn’t hit his teammate in the face with it. The other horn was brass capped. He had the red/orange lineback type markings and was really skinny.

That night the was pulling was one of the best I’ve ever seen: I don’t remember how much weigh they got up to, but the stoneboat was stacked six or seven high all the way across, so maybe 10,000 or 12,000 pounds. Three-way race between the longhorn and holstein team, I think two chianina/holstien teams. The longhorn and holstein were outsized by at least a few hundred pounds and a lot of height, against the long legged chianinas.

In the final round, one of the chianina teams pulled first, all the way on the third try. The other only moved it a foot or two.

The longhorn and partner pulled a foot or so in the last round on the first try and got a false start and only moved it a few inches on the second. The longhorn kept shaking his head and giving the driver attitude, making himself pretty popular with the audience. It was so dramatic with his big horns and being the smallest ox left.

The third try they launched and as soon as they were going all the power in the arena went out, there was a general outcry but within ten seconds the power was back on. They looked like they’d made it six feet so people started cheering. The tape came out and it was 5’10”. The crowd moaned again and then started cheering as the chain came off and they circled back around toward the stands.

I caught up to the driver, whom I’d befriended earlier that day (I was 11 or 12 years old and fascinated by his team) and asked about that last pull. He said, “It was dark and they’d gone far enough.”

Cool story. I almost felt like I was there with you, watching the contest.

[OldKat]

@mother katherine 19299 wrote:

Joshua,
Love the name “Sharpee” out of “Magic Marker”. Sounds like some of the gags I pull with sheep names.
Back to topic. Oldkat, were you thinking of “The Longhorns” by J Frank Dobie? I LOVE that book. When it was pulled from the local library shelves I hounded the librarian for it. Went the night before the book sale to “help” carry, unload and display books until I found it. Told the girl, “I’ll pay anything you want for it!” She thought I was nuts; but I now have my own copy: plastic wrapped and with the original dustjacket.
Kgerstner: if you can get a copy of that book, do it. I think it’s out of print, but Amazon or one of those used book sites may be able to find you one. Of course, as the guy was a Texan, the book may be right on some local library’s shelves. Try an interlibrary loan.
oxnun

mother katherine: Here is the address of the online book I was talking about; http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/texasclassics/traildrivers/

Let me forewarn you, if you enjoy reading stories from that era you may find yourself reading this stuff for hours. Also, keep in mind this was written in the early 1900’s by people that were elderly then; so they may use language and terminology that may not be acceptable to some modern ears. i.e they are NOT politically correct.

[bivol]

@jac 19306 wrote:

This is a great web site.. press a few plastic buttons on the puter and all the info is there on the screen. Its strange how the American and indeed the British public turned away from lean meat to the Herford/Angus type with the higher fat cover and now its full circle and the demand for leaner meat again. Is there any of these cattle families with a web site ? These old breeds facinate me …
John

it’s because meat with more fat in and between the muscles tastes better to people;)
in the past, lean meat was all that was possible to buy, and if slaughtered in cold and left for a few days to cur, it can be very nice too, strong tasting, although fat meat is nice, too.

i guess demand for lean meat is partly because of “cholesterol craze” (cholesterol IS necessary in not too big amounts), and partly because of city lifestyle where people don’t move much and all the fat transforms into body fat. from this point lean is ok, but don’t fall for cholesterol craze.

and while we’re at it, i red somewhere that grass-fed beef contains six times more omega 6 fatty acids than oh-so-popular fish.

this is extra, non related, i just kept going…. 😮

in the past podolians were walked over from scorched plains in Hungary to the markets in Vienna and Venice.
it was a booming bussiness, and nobility filled its coffins by taxing, or raising and selling the herds podolian steers for the markets.
podolian steers (for oxen and beef in cities) were a valuable income in croatia and bosnia too.
these steers were prized for their ability to travel on scorched grass and corn straw in the fields without losing much weight. i guess the fat accumulated was sort of traveling fuel to reach the market in realonable condition.

and in former A-H, in croatia at least, working podolian oxen were almost never sold at the market – the demand was so high that the buyers came to the farm!

[mother katherine]

Oldkat
Thanks for the link. Oh, yes, I do spend long periods of time (re)reading the few books we have and watching the two videos we have of working cattle. Sometimes I just get a breed book out of the library and look at the pictures. There’s a smallherd of Simmental crosses a short way from us: I stop repeatedly and talk to them from the vehicle – bull’s in with them. After a bit, the calves recognise me and come forward.
oxnun

[mother katherine]

Oldkat PS I am from the mountains of Maine, raised amongst farmers and French Canadian millworkers, probably won’t be much removed from what I’ve heard before.
I like to think PC stands for politically CONVENIENT.
oxnun

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