About the Texas Longhorn Breed
Learn more about the Texas Longhorn Breed with information found on this page.
What's New:
The area in which the DDV Ranch is located is facing an ongoing drought. The drought is the worst ever recorded in Texas history. Despite seeing rain in the area, we've seen very little at the ranch itself. Thus, we face serious issues growing grass and have two of our four ponds completely dry at this time. We hope for rain soon to refill the ponds, close the huge cracks in the land and get the grass back to its more natural green color.
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About Texas Longhorn Cattle
The Texas Longhorn Breed
The breed has several unique characteristics which make it a favorite for many ranchers. Additionally, these animals are a staple of the America we think of when looking at history books and think of cattle who were driven across plains for days on end. These animals are some of the hardiest cattle available. Not only did they survive long cattle drives, they survived where other cattle couldn't on less grass and thru outbreaks of various bovine diseases.
The cattle are likely a cross between cattle used to see the cattle population in Spanish settled ares of the no USA and other European breeds brought in by the British, French and other settlers of North America. The Longhorns date back as far as the 1400's when the breed likely began to form, not that back in that decade there came together just like we see them today.
In the day, thousands of Longhorns were driven on cattle drives that lasted several months. Thousands of animals were taken North to feed the settlers up North. The cattle owners managed to make a ton of money breeding, raising, and sending cattle North as beef products for the rest of the USA.
Traits that make this breed such a pure joy for many farmers include that they are disease resistant. They live on little water, in rocky terrain, and where little grass grows out in the wild. They may not be big and plump while living in those conditions, they do survive where other cattle die of starvation. Of course that does not indicate they should be kept in these conditions either, but when the going gets tough, the Longhorns keep on going.
Longhorns in general are also very fertile, and calves relatively easily without human assistance. Most cows will give a calf every year, and most calves survive. Longhorns also tend to have a good longevity record with many living into their teens.
In 1927 the US Government rounded up a herd of Longhorns roaming wild and put them on a refuge. This was one step that at that time helped to save and restore the breed that was in danger of disappearing. The government picked a good sample herd and started a breeding program where many years later all of the foundation animals trace directly back to the 27 animals in the original herd.
Modern Longhorn Cattle have horns generally 4-6' tip to tip and weigh in 800-1200 lbs with a good bull weighing much more. They can come in all kinds of colors, from solid single colors in a wide range to speckled (brindle) where they are so colorful as a single animal it is simply amazing. We've seen all kinds of colors on our ranch, each calf is always a new surprise. Black cows birthing white calves with few markings and white cows spitting out a mix of black and while calves even red calves.
The Texas Longhorn Breed is the leanest of the beef cattle. Meat from Longhorns is leaner in most cases than chicken, turkey, fish, and buffalo. With a growth in healthy eating in the USA, Longhorn cattle are an ideal beef cattle for breeders focusing on lean beef. Many Longhorn breeders even go a step further and focus on grass fed only lean beef, yielding a very healthy meat product.
