Texas State Animal: Texas Longhorn

State Animals 4 Minutes

Like all awesome stories, the history of the Texas Longhorn Cattle Breed has many twists and turns. A quick computer search will reveal tons of information. However, here are 17 astonishingly interesting facts that are fun and that stand out.

Fact 1.

Texas Longhorn Cattle did not originate in Texas
LOL!! None-the-less longhorn cattle are synonymous with the state. READ ON if this makes no sense ….

Fact 2.

Texas Longhorn Cattle have a link with Christopher Columbus.
On his second voyage to the New World (1493), Columbus brought cattle with him from the Canary Islands. A study conducted in 2013 by the University of Texas in Austin, connected the cattle genetically as progenitors of Texas Longhorn cattle. Over Centuries, Spanish settlers and missionaries drove these ancestral Longhorn cattle herds north, over Mexican lands towards what we now call Texas.

Fact 3.

There was a time when Texas Longhorn Cattle were feral.
The Spaniards believed in open range feeding. As a result, many of their cattle escaped, were left behind on their travels or just wandered off. In the days predating barbed wire fences, these cattle also intermingled with other bovine breeds brought to the continent. Cattle interbred, became wild and left to their own devices underwent a process of Natural Selection. Only the strongest survived.

Fact 4.

It is estimated that around the 1860’s, 5 to 6 million cattle roamed wild in Texas.
Wild Texas cattle were predominantly unbranded and self-sufficient.

Fact 5.

“Maverick“- originally was in reference to unbranded cattle.
The word Maverick means an independently minded person. Samuel A. Maverick (1803-1870) was a Texas land baron and cattle owner who refused to brand his cattle. In the mid 1800’s, a calf or yearling without a brand became known as a Maverick.

Fact 6.

In the early 1800’s Texas Longhorn Cattle were trailed to New Orleans and California for their hides and tallow.
During these drives, Texas Longhorn Cattle developed an immunity to Tick Fever, which they in turn passed on to other breeds of cattle they came into contact with. Many states placed restrictions against their passage and it became more difficult to get the wild Texas cattle to market. The era of the great cattle trails began in earnest after cow towns were established at rail heads outside of Texas, as a point of departure to ship cattle to markets outside of Texas.

Fact 7.

Many Civil War soldiers who returned to a war impoverished Texas State turned to Texas Longhorn Cattle to earn a living.
These war veterans rounded up unmarked cattle, branded them and claimed them as their own. The longhorn cattle drives that ensued help revive the State’s economy and became the fuel for the legendary cowboy and the trails that they pursued.

Fact 8.

Charles Goodnight was a trail blazer, literally!
Sometimes known as the ‘father of the panhandle’, Charles Goodnight was one of the best known ranchers in Texas. He created a path together with Oliver Loving along the Pecos River, to Colorado. The Goodnight/Loving trail was heavily used even though it was a long way round but it was the safest route in that direction.

Fact 9.

The Chisholm Trail was another major route for livestock out of Texas.
Between 1867-1884 (less than twenty years), over 5 million and up to 10 million longhorn cattle are estimated to have been driven to the rail heads in Abilene, Kansas, on their way East.

Fact 10.

The Texas Longhorn cattle drives spawned the cowboy culture.
Cattlemen in Texas worked closely with Vaquero’s.  They were accustomed to trailing large groups of cattle. As a result, their influence is woven into the cowboy culture regarding the techniques of handling cattle, their equipment as well as their clothing.

Fact 11.

By the 1920’s, Texas Longhorn Cattle faced extinction.
As the Cattle industry grew, so did the demand for more beefy cattle. In addition, fencing made it easier to control cattle and control a practice of interbreeding Texas Longhorn Cattle with more beefy bovine breeds. Subsequently, the number of Texas Longhorn Cattle in their pure form, began to dwindle.

Fact 12.

The Federal government commissioned the establishment of a foundation herd of Texas Longhorn cattle in order to preserve the breed.
J. Hatton and W. C. Barns, two US Forest Service employees rounded up 19 cows and a bull over a seven-year period. Consequently, this longhorn herd, known as the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge herd, became the foundation for the government maintained WR herd, as we know it today. From 1927, records of each animal were kept and since 1934 to the present day, an annual auction sale of these historic longhorn cattle is held.

Fact 13.

Six additional families are recognized for contributing to the maintenance of the Longhorn Breed.
These ranchers bred Longhorn cattle in their purest form when other farmers did not. Moreover, they perpetuated bloodlines that have influenced and provided the foundation for the Longhorn breed as we know it today.

Fact 14.

Fort Griffin State Park is the permanent home of the Official State of Texas Longhorn herd.
The herd is comprised of around 250 Texas Longhorn Cattle.  They reside mainly at Fort Griffin State Park. Furthermore, they have been there since 1948.

Fact 15.

Charlie Schreiner III established The Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America (TLBAA) in 1964 
Specifically, the mission of the TLBAA as stated on the website is “To record, promote, and protect the legacy and distinct characteristics of the Texas Longhorn while ensuring its purity and posterity.”

Fact 16.

The Cattlemen’s Texas Longhorn Registry (CTLR)
The CTLR is a small group of Breeders who believe that modern day improvements to Texas Longhorn Cattle are compromising the integrity of the Texas Longhorn cattle breed.

Fact 17.
The Texas Longhorn Cattle has changed considerably over the last 100 years. So much so, we recently wrote an article highlighting those changes.

SOURCE: GVRLONGHORNS.COM

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Published by pat frederick

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60 thoughts on “Texas State Animal: Texas Longhorn”

  1. Good Morning All!

    the temp this morning is 40*…bug difference from yesterday!

    hubby’s gonna take the mower deck off the tractor…hopefully he won’t need to mow again and we’re bringing in firewood today. the fire he built yesterday was so nice and toasty while we watched tv–we both fell asleep…lol

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Good morning! Rainy day on tap here and 56 – the thunder is rolling with lightning. Wheezer showed up not long after I turned on the patio light. My GS is supposed to be coming up today but I expect he has forgotten. We can’t do anything in the rain anyway and I can always call my plumber buddy, Jake, to stop by and help me now and then for the stuff that is too heavy for me alone.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Good Morning Filly!
        don’t try to lift something heavy!
        we’ve got mostly clear skies now, but i can see darkening clouds to the west coming our way.
        hopefully hubby gets the outside stuff done before the rain. Once the firewood is in the garage I can stack it pretty quickly.
        we’re probably going to go out for pizza for supper later–gotta drive 45 minutes to a pizza hut…lol. sigh

        Liked by 1 person

  8. Jake

    October 11, 2025 6:52 am

    Has there ever been a bigger cesspool city in the world than NY city right now?

    New York DMV workers charged with “cheating scheme” to sell trucker licenses

    https://notthebee.com/article/7-people-indicted-for-alleged-cheating-scheme-to-get-people-commercial-drivers-licenses-in-new-york

    New York has indicted seven people, three of them DMV employees, for their alleged involvement in a commercial driver’s license (CDL) cheating scheme to give unqualified drivers the credentials to drive on U.S. roads.

    Video evidence shows people in disguises going in to take the written portion of the exams for people who were unable to pass on their own. Some of those indicted actually work for the DMV.

     Among those charged include Kanaisha Middleton, a supervisor at the Garden City branch of the DMV, as well as her sister, Jamie Middleton, who is accused of taking at least 10 different permit tests for no-show drivers.

     Surveillance images show Jamie Middleton wearing different disguises, even fake facial hair as she posed as a man who would be applying for a commercial driving permit, but she forgot to take off her fake nails.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. NF: I agree 100%

    “No, Curtis Sliwa Should Not Drop Out to Help Andrew Cuomo Defeat Zohran Mamdani — The “lesser of two evils” argument rings hollow in New York City’s current predicament.”

    JD Rucker, Oct 11, 2025

    ENTIRE ARTILE: “Zohran Mamdani will do tremendous damage to New York City if he becomes mayor. In fact, the place where I used to call home may be unsalvageable before all is said and done. What’s worse is that his brand of Neo-Marxist evil could spread as a result of his victory. However, the alternative is equally evil, replacing insane Neo-Marxism with calculated corruption.

    The establishment media and New York political insiders are buzzing with a familiar narrative: “Curtis Sliwa should drop out to stop the socialist.” It’s the same tired lesser-of-two-evils argument that’s been used for decades to keep conservatives trapped in a losing cycle — forced to choose between open radicals on the left and the corrupt political machine that enables them. This time, the “evil” to be stopped is Mamdani, the Democrat Socialist assemblyman from Astoria. The “savior” is none other than disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo. And the target for elimination, of course, is the one man actually standing up for New Yorkers: Curtis Sliwa.

    Let’s be blunt — there is no practical difference between Mamdani’s socialist utopianism and Cuomo’s brand of establishment corruption. One dreams of turning New York into a collectivist experiment; the other already helped drive it into the ground with authoritarian policies, economic mismanagement, and personal scandal. Mamdani represents the ideological decay of the modern left, while Cuomo represents its moral rot. Trading one for the other is not a victory — it’s a lateral move within the same political swamp.

    Cuomo’s allies want conservatives to believe that replacing a socialist with a “moderate” Democrat would be some kind of moral or practical improvement. But what would really change? Taxes would still rise. Crime would still be tolerated. Bureaucrats would still crush small businesses while coddling illegal aliens. The same corrupt unions, globalist developers, and party bosses would still call the shots. The Cuomo machine and the socialist wing may hate each other personally, but ideologically they serve the same goal — permanent one-party rule.

    But I’m not here to debate who would be less awful for New York City. If I was forced to pick one or the other, I’d go with the devil we know in Cuomo over the demonic wildcard of Mamdani. But the practical differences between the two as mayor are not worth corrupting our principles to back one over the other.

    Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels and one of the few true fighters left in New York politics, refuses to play by those rules. He’s not in this race to be a spoiler or to hand the seat to anyone. He’s in it because New Yorkers deserve a real choice — not a rigged game where the outcome is always the same, no matter which Democrat wins.

    The “strategic voters” demanding that Sliwa step aside are really just protecting the system. They don’t want voters to see that a non-establishment candidate can break through the narrative. They fear that if Sliwa gains traction, it will expose how hollow both sides of the Democrat coin have become. That’s why the pressure campaign has begun: “Be realistic, Curtis. Don’t split the vote.”

    But realism is not the same as surrender.

    The right’s biggest mistake for decades in New York City has been playing defense within a rigged framework. We’re told to compromise, to vote for the lesser evil, to wait for things to get worse before we can make them better. Meanwhile, the left — both its radical and its “moderate” wings — advances relentlessly. They never drop out “for the greater good.” They never sacrifice their principles for “unity.” Yet conservatives are constantly asked to kneel at the altar of pragmatism, and in doing so, we’ve allowed the Overton window to shift so far left that even a corrupt, scandal-ridden Cuomo now looks “moderate” by comparison.

    That illusion must end. Standing for principle is not stubbornness — it’s the only way to reverse decades of cultural and political decay. Curtis Sliwa represents more than a candidacy; he represents resistance to the entire rigged system that keeps New York enslaved to one-party rule. Dropping out to help Andrew Cuomo would not just be a political mistake — it would be a moral betrayal.

    Let the Democrats fight among themselves. Let the socialists and the establishment cannibalize their own party. Meanwhile, conservatives and independents who are sick of the entire circus should rally behind someone who actually stands for law, order, accountability, and freedom. Curtis Sliwa doesn’t owe Andrew Cuomo anything — least of all his withdrawal.

    In this race, ideological purity isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity. Because when both sides of the leftist coin are evil, the only winning move is not to play their game at all.”

    Like

  10. Personally, I’m not crazy about this idea…..you cannot trust Muslims, period!

    Just The News: “The U.S. will be hosting a new Qatari air force facility in Idaho, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday. 

    The facility, which was signed off on by the Trump administration, will be for a Qatar Emiri air force contingent at the Mountain Home Air Force Base located in southwestern Idaho, and will be where their pilots will train to fly F-15s, according to The Hill. 

    “Location will be host to a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots to enhance our combined training, increase lethality, interoperability,” Hegseth said Friday. “It’s just another example of our partnership.”

    The announcement was made at the Pentagon as Hegseth sat alongside the Qatari defense minister. He said the agreement showcases the strength of the relationship between Qatar and the U.S. and credited the country’s key role in helping to secure the Gaza peace deal. 

    “You have been a core part of what has unfolded in Gaza, a historic moment. We’re grateful for the strong partnership that we have, the way you support our troops at Al Udeid, Your Excellency, the line of communication we’ve had together,” Hegseth added. Al Udeid refers to the U.S. military base in Qatar.

    President Trump accepted a $400 million plane from the Qatari government earlier this year, that will be retrofitted and then utilized as Air Force One.” 

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Just The News: “Multiple people are dead or unaccounted for after an explosion occurred on Friday morning at a Tennessee military explosives facility, according to officials. At least 19 people were unaccounted for, local TV station WTVF initially reported.

    The Hickman County Sheriff’s Office said the explosion occurred at Accurate Energetic Systems, a military explosives plant, and that emergency services are responding, CBS News reported. The plant is about 60 miles southwest of Nashville.

    Humphrey County Sheriff Chris Davis said there were several people unaccounted for and some confirmed deaths, but didn’t offer specifics. “We do have several people at this time unaccounted for. We are trying to be mindful of families and that situation,” Davis said. “We do have some that are deceased.”  He also warned there could be continued small explosions at the site. Davis called the explosion “devastating,” and said the cause was not immediately known, but the investigation could take days.

    Hickman County Advanced EMT David Stewart told the Associated Press that emergency crews were initially unable to enter the plant because of continuing detonations.

    “This is a tragedy for our community,” McEwen Mayor Brad Rachford told the AP. Video footage shows debris, burned cars, and small fires at the site. Accurate Energetic Systems develops, manufactures, handles, and stores products and explosives for military, aerospace, and commercial demolition markets.”

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Just The News: “Seventy-one percent of registered U.S. voters support President Trump’s strikes on boats smuggling drugs from South America. A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released Tuesday showed that 89% of Republicans, 67% of Independents, and 56% of Democrats are supportive of the U.S. military strikes, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

    The military has launched strikes that destroyed at least four drug-smuggling boats operated by South American cartels in international waters off the coast of Venezuela in recent weeks, killing more than 20 drug traffickers since early September, officials said.

    “A boat loaded with enough drugs to kill 25 TO 50 THOUSAND PEOPLE was stopped, early this morning off the Coast of Venezuela, from entering American Territory,” Trump said last week.

    The Trump administration told Congress last week that the U.S. is now “in a non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels, which the State Department earlier this year designated as “foreign terrorist organizations.”

    The military has carried out at least four strikes on boats that the White House said were carrying drugs, including three it said originated from Venezuela, according to the Associated Press. 

    Earlier this week, the Republican-controlled Senate voted down a Democrat-led war powers resolution that would have required Trump to seek authorization from Congress before further military strikes on the cartels, the wire service also reports.

    The poll also showed that 78% of voters support the deportation of illegal immigrants who have committed crimes, and 86% approve of “lowering prescription drug prices for Medicare recipients and low-income patients.” Three-fourths of Americans also support eliminating fraud and waste in government spending.

    The survey was conducted on Oct. 1-2, among 2,413 registered voters by The Harris Poll and HarrisX, with a margin of error of +/- 1.99 points.”

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Just The News: “The Trump administration is moving forward with a reduction in force at the Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund during the ongoing government shutdown. The program is designed to support community-based lenders that serve low-income and underserved areas. 

    The administration has reportedly sent about 4,000 layoff notices across multiple federal agencies. Russell Vought, head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), confirmed Friday on social media that layoffs across the federal government are underway.

    American Banker reported on internal documents showing that Treasury has initiated steps to abolish the CDFI Fund, citing a determination that its operations do not align with President Trump’s policy priorities and agenda. The layoffs will reportedly take effect in mid-December.

    Critics have described the fund as corporate welfare. “The [Reduction in Force] is necessary to implement the abolishment of the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI),” the notices read. The plan to eliminate the fund builds on an executive order that was issued earlier this year that sought to dismantle the fund “to the extent statutorily allowed.” 

    Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushed back, noting that all CDFI programs are mandated by law and cannot be abolished unilaterally through executive action alone, according to a memo to OMB reviewed by American Banker.  

    Vought has argued for using so-called “pocket recessions,” which is a budgetary tactic where the administration proposes cuts to programs late enough in the fiscal year that Congress lacks the 45 session days required to intervene and respond. 

    Last month, Treasury released a supplemental application process for institutions to access previously appropriated funds, which came with some changes, including removal of climate-related initiatives from eligibility, and references to race or ethnicity no longer considered criteria for receiving funds. Applications for the funding under the revised guidelines are due October 27 but the government shutdown could have an impact on that deadline.” 

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Liked by 1 person

  17. “Homesteading: Harnessing Horse Power — We do what we do.”

    Robert W Malone MD, MS, Oct 11, 2025

    Twenty years ago, on our farm in Maryland – plowing with KatieSue and Anne

    EXCERPT: “For decades, Jill and I have homesteaded our farm. We grow much of our own food, preserve food, and have chickens for eggs and meat. Some years we do more, some less. This year, our vegetable garden has been successful, with an abundance of produce and fruit frozen for future use. However, an early frost caused decreased fruit tree pollination, and subsequent heavy rain, combined with ant damage, ruined our peach crop before it had a chance to ripen. The bees are thriving, though, and we have high hopes for next year’s fruit crop.

    We tried growing wheat this year, but day after day of rain this spring and early summer caused a black fungus on the grain heads, and we didn’t feel comfortable harvesting the wheat for food. So, even though the crop wasn’t a failure, we left it for the deer to eat. The plot of land worked for wheat and we plan to try it again, only this time planting winter wheat, instead of spring wheat, with planting to commence in November. So, I will till the soil- as the weeds are thick – plant the wheat, rake it, and then roll. This isn’t no till – but around here, once the weeds take over, the choices are to weed whip or till. Much of this will be done using the tractor, but upon reflection, I recall that we used horses for a significant portion of this work. In fact, we used to breed and train draft horses to drive, as well as offer clinics to others to learn to drive. We no longer farm with horses, but rely mostly on our own backs and the tractor.

    But there was a time… We worked draft horses to farm, and we learned to plow from the Amish and old farmers decades ago.

    What many don’t realize is that Jill was once an agricultural major at UC Davis and can talk the talk and walk the walk on the science behind homesteading, eating right, and why much of what she learned in college is BS. We often write about our adventures on our Substack. We just do it. Hard work keeps us young at heart.

    The next book

    We are in the process of writing a book about our homesteading adventures, combined with a emphasis on healthy living. Jill has been finding old photos and converting them into a usable format.

    I thought we might share some of them with y’all today

    This photo was taken while driving a team into the small town of Jefferson, Maryland, to pick up a Christmas tree, circa 2005.

    Jill and our youngest son are driving Percherons, KatieSue and Ann. They are fluffing the hay to dry using a tedder. Once the hay is dry, it has to be raked into a long pile (next photo).

    Jill and our youngest son are driving Percherons, KatieSue, and Ann. They are creating roll of hay using a hay rake for the baler to follow after.

    For baling, we used to use an old tractor to make “square bales.”

    “Anti-fragile competencies”

    The comment below was in response to a post I made on X about working big horses, and it really resonated with me, as this was the primary reason why Jill and I started homesteading way back when.

    Our working the land and homesteading is about building and preserving skills handed down to us by our forefathers. Skills that have developed over thousands of years. This is our heritage that has kept people surviving and will continue to keep people thriving long after we are gone. A great forgetting is happening fast, and we must all fight to keep these traditions alive….”

    https://www.malone.news/p/homesteading-harnessing-horse-power

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Just The News: “An explosion that ripped through a military munitions manufacturing facility in rural Tennessee on Friday morning has left at least 18 people missing and an investigation into the cause is underway.

    The blast struck the Accurate Energetic Systems (AES) site near Bucksnort — about 60 miles west of Nashville — at around 7:45 a.m. Central Time, according to CBS News.

    One of the plant’s buildings was completely obliterated, leaving only charred wreckage, twisted metal, and debris scattered across a wide radius, Reuters reported. Officials said there have been multiple casualties. 

    The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sent an elite team to respond to the incident.

    “ATF’s National Response Team is an elite team comprised of highly trained investigative experts, with state-of-the-art equipment, specializing in explosives, fire and bombing investigations,” the agency said in a statement. “The team, which can deploy anywhere in the United States within 24 hours of notification, is made up of special agents, certified explosives specialists, bomb technicians, explosives enforcement officers, fire protection engineers, certified fire investigators, chemists, and other specialists.”

    Liked by 1 person

  22. this is interesting…

    Psalm4610

    October 11, 2025 1:07 pm

    This Jack Smith pulling of phone records (in 2023) (IMHO) is more than being talked about.

    TN’s two US senators were in line to question and challenge the 2020 vote on January 6, 2021.

    After the so-called insurrection began, they reconvened to their vote and Blackburn and Hagerty changed their minds and voted to accept as was the Biden win of electoral votes.

    It would be very interesting to know if all eight senators whose phone records were pulled during January 4-7, 2021 were also senators who changed their minds not to challenge the electoral count(s) and instead vote to confirm the outcome of the state’s electoral numbers when they reconvened the night of January 6, 2021.

    I personally watched that evening (when the senate reconvened) Blackburn and Hagerty and the looks on their faces were like whipped dogs.

    At the time, my thought was McConnell had something on them and let them know it or/and they had been threatened.

    Idk, just thinking out loud.

    Liked by 1 person

  28. Just The News: “President Trump said on Saturday that he has directed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to pay the troops during the government shutdown.

    “Chuck Schumer recently said, ‘Every day gets better’ during their Radical Left Shutdown. I DISAGREE! If nothing is done, because of ‘Leader’ Chuck Schumer and the Democrats, our Brave Troops will miss the paychecks they are rightfully due on October 15th,” he wrote on Truth Social.

    “That is why I am using my authority, as Commander in Chief, to direct our Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th. We have identified funds to do this, and Secretary Hegseth will use them to PAY OUR TROOPS,” he added.

    Trump called on Democrats to vote for the House-passed bill to continue government funding through late November.

    “I will not allow the Democrats to hold our Military, and the entire Security of our Nation, HOSTAGE, with their dangerous Government Shutdown,” he wrote. “The Radical Left Democrats should OPEN THE GOVERNMENT, and then we can work together to address Healthcare, and many other things that they want to destroy.”

    Liked by 1 person

  31. Just The News: “U.S. actress Diane Keaton, best known for her roles in “Father of the Bride” and “First Wives Club,” has passed away at the age of 79, a family spokesperson said. Further details such as the cause of death are not available at this time.

    Keaton is survived by her two children, daughter Dexter and son Duke. The news was first reported by People Magazine.” 

    Liked by 1 person

  32. Just The News: “In a significant development in the legal battle between Illinois and the Trump administration, a federal appeals court ruled Saturday that National Guard troops stationed in the state will remain federalized but cannot be deployed during the ongoing appeal process.

    The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruling temporarily overrides part of a lower court’s earlier ruling, which had blocked troop deployments for a two-week period. 

    Chicago leaders have accused President Donald Trump of overstepping his authority by sending National Guard units to monitor protests outside of Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in the Democratic-led city.

    According to the court’s brief order, “members of the National Guard do not need to return to their home states unless further ordered by a court to do so.” 

    As of Wednesday, US Northern Command said there were 300 members of the Illinois National Guard and 200 members of the Texas National Guard activated under Title 10 in the Chicago area.”

    Liked by 1 person

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