Ranchers Hope to Preserve Pure Texas Longhorns

***I find it interesting that the General Manager of the TLBAA, a supposed Longhorn registry, believes that no one can know what a Longhorn is, therefore, I suppose, anything goes. This article admits that the TLBAA knows that there are mixed cattle in supposed Longhorn shows, and thinks that that is acceptable! This is the attitude that proves the need for the CTLR and why we need more folks who want to preserve Pure Texas Longhorns... The Editor***

Ranchers Hope to Preserve Pure Longhorns

By BETSY BLANEY
The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 28, 2007; 4:16 AM

(from the Washington Post)

LUBBOCK, Texas -- Rancher Debbie Davis has no beef with cattlemen who want the Texas longhorns they raise to be, well, beefier.

Her passion, though, lies with preserving the pure longhorn breed that roamed Texas and other parts of the West during the mid-1800s.

"A true Texas longhorn is endangered right now," said Davis, president of the Cattlemen's Texas Longhorn Registry, which is striving to keep the bloodline of the longhorn as pure as possible.

The longhorn isn't on any endangered lists, but the crossbred longhorns competing in livestock shows have far more heft and girth than the rangy, gaunt animal of the Wild West.

Davis and other ranchers believe crossbreeding with other cattle species is diminishing the pure longhorn's numbers.

Others are less concerned about purity of the breed.

"You're always going to have people giving you an opinion of what a longhorn looks like," said Larry Barker, general manager of the Fort Worth-based Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America. "If you asked six people, you'd get six different answers, and all six of them would be correct."

There's plenty beyond the name that ties the breed to Texas. It's the state's official large mammal and the mascot for the University of Texas. Bevo XIV, the current mascot, is a true longhorn and lives on a ranch northwest of Austin, its owner said.

Davis' registry is working on a DNA database that will define the genetic makeup of a traditional longhorn. Until then, animals are required to have a visual inspection as well as blood-typing to see if there is evidence of other breeds.

Davis and others have registered about 3,500 longhorns since 1990.

"What they're doing is real important, to retain as close as possible" the true longhorn, said Dr. Phil Sponenberg, a veterinarian and professor of pathology and genetics at Virginia Tech University.

Mixing traditional longhorns with cattle breeds such as Angus and Hereford for show purposes began about 20 years ago, Barker said. It's created bigger animals, some with longer horns, that are winning livestock show competitions across the state and the country.

Davis said she believes livestock shows are "responsible for the degradation" of the longhorn.

The decline of the pure longhorn began at the end of the 19th century when railroads replaced cattle drives. Because of their horns, fewer could fit inside a railcar. Also, breeds of English cattle, which matured more quickly, began arriving in the U.S. and were crossbred with longhorns.

Longhorns also had a natural resistance to tick fever, a cattle disease since eradicated in the U.S. but still monitored for incursion from Mexico. Ranchers outside Texas wanted nothing to do with longhorns because they carried ticks to their more vulnerable cattle.

In 1927, the federal government appropriated $3,000 to establish a protected herd. About 300 longhorns now live in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in southwest Oklahoma.

Texas also has a state herd, established in 1941. The 175-head herd lives in Fort Griffin State Park in Albany, northeast of Abilene.

John T. Baker, a central Texas rancher, is not opposed to those who breed for specific longhorn traits, such as longer horns or color.

"I've watched the breed change dynamically," said Baker, who has been in the longhorn business for more than three decades. "The good thing about longhorns is you can raise a certain flavor."

One of Mike Warner's animals is a red and white bull named Mongo, a beefier 1,700-plus pound longhorn that the Fort Worth attorney used to show but now calls his "pet."

In 2001, Mongo, then two years old, weighed 1,800 pounds and was crowned Senior Champion Bull at the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America World Show.

Warner's not interested in stepping into the longhorn purity debate. He believes, though, that those outside Texas remember the longhorn as those that "John Wayne hung around with" in Western movies.

"I love them all," he said.

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On the Net:

Cattlemen's Texas Longhorn Registry: http://www.ctlr.org

Pure Texas Longhorns: http://purelonghorns.com