Thursday, July 22, 2010

Long Horns

I was at a museum that had a stuffed longhorn in it. He seemed really FRIENDLY.
I read somewhere that when longhorns went wild in Texas they took up the place in the ecological world that the buffalo had occupied and Texans viewed them as really dangerous and useless beasts. Rounding them up and driving them to market was groundbreaking because they were so skinny and dangerous they weren't really thought of as a food source.
But they were TOUGH.
They survived when weaker breeds of cattle didn't.

5 comments:

Regina Merrick said...

Did you ever see the movie, "The Rare Breed?" I think James Stewart and Maureen O'Hara were in it. Anyway, the whole plot was introducing Herefords into the range, and getting them to breed with longhorns to create cattle that had more meat on them! Loved that movie. What can I say? I love cattle. If I had my way, I'd be living on a farm with a herd of cattle. My husband, who grew up on said farm, can't stand 'em.

tbsomeday said...

i think he has a friendly face too :)

Dawn Ford said...

I remember when my dad worked at the Livestock Barns in Omaha and I would get to go in the summer with him to work. They always had at least one cage of the longhorns. On the fences that held the cattle were board walkways. You could walk around the maze of livestock all fenced in square "cages". I was not allowed to go anywhere near the longhorns, only the longhorns, because they were so dangerous. And I will never get over how skinny they always were. Love the picture, Mary! He looks friendlier there than the ones I remember.

Mary Connealy said...

I think being 'stuffed' for who knows how many decades...has improved his attitude.

Mocha with Linda said...

Longhorns are Texas tough!

(Hook 'em Horns!)