The Texas Longhorns are by far the most unique breed of cattle out there.

Although they are not originally from Texas, Texas quickly adopted them as our state mammal. The hardiness of the animals make them a great fit for the harsh climate of the wild Texas plains.

But before we go deeper into the breed and where they come from, let’s start with some simple, yet informative facts about cattle. 

What is the difference between a bull, steer, cow, heifer and a longhorn?

Most people have the stereotyped idea of what a bull is. You imagine the big slobbery bucking bulls in the rodeo who have horns and seem intense and crazy. Well most of them are bulls but they are usually the specific breed, Brahmans. There are many different breeds of cattle, such as Longhorns, Brahmans and many others. A bull, steer, cow and heifer are all gender related terms. A bull refers to an intact male while a steer is a male no longer able to breed (not intact). A cow refers a female and a heifer is a female who has not yet had a calf (a baby).

The Longhorn

Longhorn is a breed of cattle, since you have to have both in order to produce more, there are male and female longhorns.

Longhorns are highly extraordinary. Unlike other cattle such as, black angus (all black), Holstein (black and white), Herefords (red and white), Brahmans (a variety of a small handful of colors), Longhorns have the variety, similar to the human race, they come in different heights solid colors, painted, spotted, brindle, and of all varieties and patterns of colors.

The Horns

Longhorn’s horns vary in different twists or not twists all dependent on the genetics (not man influenced) for instance equating more of a variety of hair; curly, wavy, and straight. Unlike antlers, the horns do not fall off , they keep them for life. There is blood running through them sensing the slightest touch. The horns also help regulate body temperature. The horns are make-up is very similar to the human nails. Longhorns know exactly where the ends of their horns are and can maneuver them to fit through tight spaces and or use the end to scratch those hard-to-reach places. Their horns are also used for protection. Similar to how some breeds of dogs are instinctually bred to guard and protect it can be said the same for longhorn cattle. Cattle don’t typically need to and some don’t want to be greeted like a horse and smell your hand. The safest area and way to approach one of these guys is their shoulder behind the head and neck and horns area so that it’s not mistaken as a threat, or so you don’t accidentally get caught in the horn swing zone if they decide to look to the side. Our guys do like scratches but sometimes they can randomly decide they just don’t like someone for various of reasons. That’s why we usually just avoid all of this and say its best to pet their side. If as they are growing have some type of accident; like hitting the base or frost bite (which usually wouldn’t be the case here in Texas) it can cause one of the horns to grow in a different direction. But normally there are only slight differences kind of like eyebrows. If you look closely your eyebrows are exactly the same.

Unique Make-up of Cattle

Now let’s talk about cattle. Cattle are ruminant animals which are a group of herbivorous mammals that have a unique digestive system that allows them to get nutrients from plant-based food. They have a specialized stomach that ferments food before digestion, mainly through microbial actions. This means that they don't have to completely chew the vegetation to gain the benefits and nutrition. Other animals that are ruminants include cattle, sheep, and goats.

Have you heard of the phrase, “chewing cud”?  This refers to something cattle does well as other ruminant animals.

Cattle have four stomachs and no top front teeth. In order for them to process their food they pull up grass with their very coarse sand paper-like tongues and swallow it whole. You wont catch cattle lying on their side, because of the way their stomach system is set up they have to stay in “cow position” which is sitting up with their legs folded underneath them. If they are on their side too long gases build up and they become bloated and will die.

Cattle are very slobbery animals. This is because they need a lot of saliva in order to process their food. When they are relaxed they will regurgitate slightly processed food and chew on it again. “Chewing his cud”- look out when they do this.. you may not want to try and give any kisses because it stinks pretty bad! I mean— it’s just a few steps closer to being poo.

Similar to dogs, cattle do not sweat. Maybe you have noticed that their noses are typically moist similarly that of a dog’s. Since they do not sweat, cattle salivate or perspire through their mouths. The bits we put in their mouths, like horse bits, can cause the saliva to turn to foam. No, they are not thirsty when they drool. It is just part of being a cow. In fact longhorns will consume water kind of like a camel they will come in and drink gallons at a time and not go back for water for hours and hours because they had consumed enough to hold them over.

Last little tid-bit about cattle in general, they do not learn like horses. They are very smart despite the popular belief. They are creatures of habit and they love routine. An intelligent woman by the name of Temple Grandin said, cattle and people with autism are very similar. In fact this woman is autistic herself and goes on to explain the vast similarities. So if that explains a bit more that cattle are in fact smart, they just learn differently.

Do we or will we eat our longhorns?

No and no. Longhorns unlike typical cattle, are very lean. Ours may be an exception… They are well fed. After the age of two or three the meat it will be too tough to eat. Though we are not vegetarians, our longhorns are our pets not food.

About our longhorns

Our longhorns live’s are very blessed, privileged if you will. These resilient beasts are capable of withstanding a lot and like many of us, we want to have a purpose. These guys get to be fat models. Working at the most two hours once in a blue moon (as they all take turns), the most one may work is 4 times a month, totalling 4 hours. While they aren’t working they are free to wander their pasture, graze, lay down, chew their cud and just be until we retire them and they live the rest of their lives doing these same things.

Majority of our longhorns we have purchased from kids who showed them in FFA. We do not personally breed them, all of our’s are steers and if we had a bull or a female they would fight. So we stick to getting new steers when necessary and training them. We typically don’t get them too young because one, we have to pay for a lot of feed as we wait for them to grow and two we just don’t know if they will get big enough.

Lifespan & Herd mentality

If they are healthy, longhorns can live until mid-twenties or so, just depending on the individual health of the animal. If they reach the point where they aren’t eating and dropping weight and if they are suffering, we make the hard but humane decision to have them put down so that they may be at peace. One of the craziest things to witness is that while they are domesticated and trained, they still have wild instincts. If one in the herd becomes sick or ill to a certain degree, possibly are already dying, they all start trying to kick that longhorn out of the group even to the point of killing it. That’s when we have to intervene. Out in the wild, if one were contract an illness that leads to death it becomes a threat to the heard, so their instinct is to protect the whole herd by getting rid of one that would not only slow them down but draw in predators to attack the herd. Another thing we witness that is neat is the ranking take place in our herd. For example when we get a new guy we have to keep him separated for some time as everyone gets hyped up getting ready to meet him and show him who’s boss. Once out, the lead of the herd goes in first for a quick match. It’s very rare that one would actually be intensely challenging the head longhorn, it’s more like showing the ranks and one by one he has to wrestle with each one. The first day or so he is automatically at the bottom. But depending on age size and personality he can start gaining confidence and re-challenge if he feels he can move up the rank and he will keep challenging until everyone settles. If he was young and is big, most likely as he grows he will re-challenge.

The saddest thing to watch is when a head longhorn who is also older gets challenged or re-challenged and falls, revealing he is loosing life. Usually the herd will maintain respect for the older guys and usually this doesn’t happen unless we introduce a new big guy to the herd while a head guy is old and that’s when it gets revealed he actually is weak. Sometimes pride will kill them. They will be depressed as reality sets in. Sometimes he won’t take it as truth and tries to re-challenge the new young strong longhorn and hurts himself. But as sad as it is to witness it’s the circle of life.

History of the longhorns.

Did you know longhorns were originally from Spain? During the Columbus era, they were brought up through the Mexico Texas border. Along the way they become mixed with other breeds and and some fell behind being left to fend for themselves in the harsh Texas plains. One of the most interesting facts to me is that for 200 years the longhorns where a wild breed. They where game animals and even hunted just like you would deer, wild pigs, elk or bears. They developed natural antibodies and where known as the most resiliant of all cattle. They could run like gazelles, leap like deer, charge through thorns and thicket like there was nothing to it. They where as wild as the buffalo, tough as the bear and had grit like the mustang.

Later when they were driven to and from Texas in the historic cattle drives along the chisholm trail, goodnight trial, and others they where the ones who could go hundreds of miles without needing water, could survive the harshest of climates, fight off disease and insects without human intervention, protect their own from predators with their horns and fierce abilities, and were known for giving the most live births because of their wider hips.

Today, we don’t really have much of a market for the longhorns. Kids and breeders may show them in 4-H or FFA. You don’t tend to eat them since they are a leaner meat, their horns aren’t hunted like ivory is with elephants nor their hides something they would be killed for. Longhorns aren’t in rodeos and it is not common to train them as we have. Longhorns today are more of yard ornaments. Our longhorns are our pride and joy. They are not drugged but trained. It takes many years, blood, sweat and tears to get them to the point of having them at your events. We start by relationship, getting to know each individual as no two longhorns can be trained the same, we build trust between us and the animal. Then we desensitize them, teach them paitence again through the built relationship of trust they then desire to have a job. Because they are a herd animal they have to trust us enough that when we separate them from their herd and bring them out into a new area nothing bad will happen.  they like to learn and the extra bit of attention. Some are still in training even as they come to events they are still learning. Some it just takes time to mature. Some we train to ride and some can’t even have a saddle on because of how round they are. All in all, we absolutely love them and love getting to share them with you. We can’t wait for you to enjoy them at your event.