The Wichita Mountains Refuge (WR)
 

The foundation of this herd began in 1927 when the U. S. Government set aside $3,000.00 to put together a herd of Longhorn cattle for the public to be able to see in the future as they felt that this breed was about to become extinct. Two Forest Service employees set out over several thousand miles through Texas and Mexico to find a small group of cows and bulls to form this herd. They were very selective in trying to find animals which were pure Longhorn without any outside blood. Today, the WR herd still maintains a herd of cattle that closely resemble the original herd. Many of today’s Longhorns have WR cattle in their pedigrees and they blend well with other blood lines. The WR cattle have a wide variety of colors, maintain a smaller body type than the average Peeler or Phillips Longhorn and usually have average to long horns. Many breeders consider the WR line to be one of the purest lines of Longhorns.

The Yates bloodline

The Yates bloodline has a close tie to the WR line since these cattle originally came from parts of West Texas and Mexico as did the original WR foundation herd. Ira “Cap” Yates bred these cattle on his dry, desolate ranch near Alpine, Texas just north of the Mexican border. These cattle had to work to survive in the harsh conditions.

Cap Yates began to build his herd in the early 1950’s with Mexican cattle whose purity was unlikely to have been diluted with European breeds. Yates cattle were bred up for size and beefiness, hardiness and durability. They generally had shorter horns than some of the other lines but were known for their twists. There are very few pure Yates cattle around today but many of today’s Longhorns have Yates ancestry. Yates cattle add size to some of the smaller lines of cattle.

The Phillips bloodline

This line was bred by J.G. Jack Phillips of Brazoria County, Texas. Jack had been raised around Longhorn range cattle from an early age. He accompanied his friend Grave Peeler on a mission to purchase cattle for the state park at Mathis, Texas where he acquired some Longhorn cows and one of three dun colored bulls. The dun colored bull is where the dun strain came into Jack’s herd. During the 1930’s Jack bought up more typical old Texas Longhorn cows from area ranchers and added to his herd. Jack liked long bodied and long headed type cattle with high tail heads. He liked the twisty horned cattle.

In the late 30’s Jack bought a cow with a brindle bull calf at the Houston stockyards. This bull would go on to be the grand father of the famous bull, Texas Ranger. Texas Ranger J.P. was born in 1968 out of a typical Phillips cow, Brazos Belle. She was a long bodied, long headed, pale red and white spotted  cow. His sire was the old spotted Winslow bull, Two Tone. Texas Ranger was an outstanding  animal at an early age with a long, tall body and long, lateral horns. Darol Dickinson from Calhan Colorado went on to promote this bull and make him famous. Texas Ranger was the first bull to be accepted as an A.I. certified sire by the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association in 1972. He sired 54 offspring for Darol Dickinson during the time that he was able to use him as a sire, most of them famous. Texas Ranger died at the age of twelve with black lung disease. Even today, semen is still available on him and he crosses well with any of the Longhorn bloodlines to produce big, thick cattle with lots of horn. He can be found in many Longhorn pedigrees.

The Marks bloodline

The Marks bloodline began back in the mid 1800’s when the Marks family emigrated from Germany and settled in what is now Addicks, Texas. They rounded up wild range cattle and used them on their ranch. E.H. Marks was one of the grandsons of Godhif and Sophia Marks. When other area ranchers turned to the new European breeds, E. H. continued to breed and raise the Texas Longhorn range cattle. He looked for a cow that was fertile, long in body and hip and could travel well in the harsh range land. Very few pure Marks cattle exist now but many Texas Longhorns have Marks blood in their pedigrees.

The Butler bloodline

The Butler bloodline began with a father and son team-Milby and Henry Butler. Milby raised  and bred a large herd of Brahman cattle in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. His son, Henry acquired a herd of big horned Texas Longhorn heifers form area ranchers in East Texas. When Henry went off to serve in the military and Milby turned his attention to the Longhorn herd and began to breed and develop them for large horns. Butler cattle are prized today for their large horns and for their ability through blending with other Longhorn bloodlines to enhance horn growth. Many Longhorn breeders today still breed pure Butler bloodlines. Most of the larger horned animals seen today will have Butler blood in their pedigrees. These cattle are typically a little smaller in stature than some of the other bloodlines. Reds, linebacks, spots and white with red ears are typical Butler colorations although there are some blacks and black and white ones as well. Many breeders through the years have continued to breed the Butler line, this line seems to have a good deal of inbreeding in the early years as Milby had no other Longhorns to breed in to his herd. This may have helped set the long horn genes within this line.

The Wright bloodline

M.P. Wright began to raise Longhorn cattle in the late 1800’s. These cattle were long bodied but not especially tall. They were mostly red, duns and linebacks. This herd was started on the banks of the Nueces River near the Gulf of Mexico and was probably crossed with other Longhorn bloodlines from time to time.  Present day Wright cattle have long, well shaped horns. These cattle were bred to be hardy and calve unassisted and to forage and fend for themselves. In the early 1900’s so few Longhorns existed that the Wright family were forced to inbreed to preserve the pure Longhorn line. Later, out side blood was added as some other pure Longhorns were found to add to the herd. This line has been bred by several generations of the Wright family and is a very distinctive line.

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The Peeler bloodline

Graves Peeler began raising Texas Longhorn cattle at an early age as this was his family’s breed of choice. Peeler was a true cattleman, he also served as a Texas Ranger. He assisted in helping to assemble the WR herd founded by the federal government in 1927. Peeler went on to help found herds of Texas Longhorns for the Texas Parks and Wildlife as well. Peeler and J. Frank Dobie traveled six thousand miles in a four month period to round up thirty cows and three bulls for these herds. Ten cows and one of these bulls became Peeler’s foundation herd. Peeler bred his cattle to perform, and for their mothering ability. He liked to have a little fight in his cattle. He paid little attention to their coloring but bred for size. Today’s Peeler cattle still have size to add to any of the Longhorn bloodlines and they are excellent mothers and milkers.