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The Seven Longhorn "Families"
Over the decades seven "families" of Longhorns evolved as the result of selective breeding by various "famous" Longhorn breeders. The longhorns today, however, are generally blends of the 7 families, with a few exceptions. The seven families are:
* Butler * Marks * Peeler * Phillips *Yates * Wright
* Wichita Refuge (WR)
Some Brief History...
Texas Longhorns originated when Christopher Columbus brought Spanish cattle to Santo Domingo over 500 years ago. In later years, their descendants grazed the vast open areas of Mexico until around 1690 when the first 200 head were driven across the Rio Grande River separating Mexico from which later became "Texas". The Longhorn breed became a symbol of the "Old West."
By the mid-1800s, millions of Longhorns roamed across the West, most of them unbranded survivors of Indian raids or those which strayed from the missions and abandoned ranches. A few years later, it is said that some 10 million head were rounded up and driven northward to the midwestern grasslands, while others were being shipped eastward.
Noted for their endurance, survival instincts, foraging ability, able to travel long distances to water, along with their evolved resistance to many diseases, they were "Survivors" with a great genetic ability to deal with what ever Nature dished out to them.
By the turn of the 19th century, demand for Longhorns faded. In less than 40 years, the importation of English and other continental breeds along with fenced-in range land, nearly drove them to extinction along with the Buffalo.
In 1927, Congress appropriated $3,000 and appointed two forest rangers to collect a herd and ensure preservation of the breed at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in southern Oklahoma.
Since then, today's Longhorns can be traced, for the most part, to seven herds or "Seven Families" which were propagated prior to the 1930s.
The Butler Family
Butler cattle trace a planned breeding program back to the early 1920's. Milby Butler and his son began this operation at League City, TX. Only about 1% of the registered cattle could trace to any Butler blood prior to 1975. Today, they are one of the most sought after families for people who love the huge and interesting horns of this Longhorn family.
Butler bulls of fame include Classic, Superior, Unlimited, Blue Horns, Tabasco, Dixie Rebel, Bold Ruler, and others. The Butler cattle are known for their record lateral horn. Most of the largest horned bulls of the breed are Butler blood. Butler cattle are different by body type and blood type. Pure Butler and Butler blend bloodlines still top most sales.
This family produces cffspring of various colors, but they tend to fall to a white color, often with dark ears, nose, eyes and ankles. Butler cattle are the primary source of the old corkscrew horn twist.
The Marks Family
The late Emil Marks ran his herd on sprawling land West of Houston, TX. The pure Marks bloodline is nearly extinct todaya.
Marks cattle were noted for twisty horned, brindle cattle, with strong red, dun and brown colorations. Most of the pure Marks bloodline was lost in the late 1960's due to Brucellosis (Bangs) disease. The old pure Marks were often of a V-shaped horn similar to Brahman. These cattle were usually very quiet and easy to train for riding or pulling wagons; some say they might have had some Oxen blood. The Marks bloodline is the smallest in existence of any of the Seven Families.
The Peeler Family
Graves Peeler, a retired Texas Ranger in Atascosa County, Texas, started his bloodline in the late 1920's and early 1930's. The Peeler Longhorns were truly range cattle: He wanted his cows to have a calf every year that was fat and could survive. They lived in sem-desert country with lots of Mesquite trees, diamond back rattlesnakes, and timber wolves. Mr. Peeler wanted FIGHT in his cattle under these adverse ranch conditions.
The herd that he established tended to be big cattle and larger boned than most Longhorns are today. They were excellent milkers and raised big fat calves, suitable for the stockyards slaughter market. Only a few of the Peeler cattle had long horns, which looked more like the Brahman and/or V-shaped horn. Peeler is reported to have been a little careless by allowing non-Longhorn blood to infiltrate into his herds, but no one seemed to care back then.
The Phillips Family
This is one of the oldest Longhorn families, bred and promoted by the late J.G. "Jack" Phillips, Jr. of Brazoria County, Texas. Phillips cattle are longer and taller than the other families. During the 1950's a Butler bull was also used by Phillips.
These cattle have a lot of solid color as well as other color combinations. More large horned and beefy bulls were used in the Phillips herd. The Phillips cattle are unique in that none of the other Longhorn breed families look exactly like them. With long legs, homely heads and narrow faces, they are different.
Texas Ranger was raised by Phillips; and this sire was an all-time leading sire, with such progeny as Texas Ranger, JP. Many of the World or International All Age Champion Bulls traces to Texas Ranger lineage. As such, this bloodline is found in major winning show exhibitors. When properly mated, will produce bulls in the 1,800 to 2,100 lbs range with horns exceeding 55" tip to tip.
The Yates Family
Cap Yates, who died in the late 1960's, had a herd of about 1,500 Texas Longhorns in the Big Bend country of West Texas, near Alpine. Following his death, his family liquidated most of the herd. In the harsh and sparse desert climate of the Big Bend region, Yates cattle were indeed survivors, being structurally sound and excellent mothers.
Many of the Yates cattle were unremarkable; that is, many had small horns and of solid colors. Some of these cattle were long-headed, swaybacked, with high rumps. They teded to represent the "traditional" coarse, small and "rangy" type of cattle.
Most of the Yates bulls' horns averaged under 36" with some as little as 30" tip to tip. On the other hand, there were a few with really great horns; however, this was the exception.
The Wright Family
Like some of the others in the 7 families, the Wright cattle are different. Originally they were almost all duns, reds and linebacks. Many had a slight "dish" in their face and with long bodies and only moderately tall.
The Wright herd is managed by Tracy Wright, who succeeded the late M.P. Wright, Jr., which was said to be started from a purchase from Uncle John Webster in the early 1900's.
The first cow in the Longhorn breed to bring a sales price of over $10,000 was "Wright 489" who was the dam of the legendary "Doherty 698". In following years, "Alma II" was the grandam of the world famous "Senator", the son of "Overwhelmer".
Wright cows are very feminine, with trim necks and straight backs. To correct earlier trends of inbreeding with these cattle, Butler, Wildlife Refuge and some other bloodlines were used for outcrossing to the Wright bloodlines.
The Wichita Refuge (WR) Family
This is one of the families with the best known history. In 1927, the USA Congress provided $3,000 to purchase some true Texas Longhorns to preserve them in a refuge in Cache, Oklahoma. Two government forest rangers were assigned the task of finding and purchasing these cattle. None of the WR herd was from any of the other families and were selected from smaller obscure herds; these WR cattle were not like the modern day Texas Longhorns.
The most famous WR Bull was WR 2935; he weighed 1,260 lbs and horns were over 42"...this was very good at that point in time. Don Quixote was believed to be the leading contributor to WR genetics. WR cattle were significantly inbred. The program for WR cattle is to sustain the Spanish type of historical appearance Longhorns; and, the cattle are managed like "wildlife" and are pretty much survive on their own.
Approximately 50 to 70% of all Texas Longhorn cattle have some of the WR blood.
The WR bloodline cows are very feminine and some are very colorful with excellent milk production. The most famous WR cow was "Measles" and her bloodline is often sought by breeders. WR cattle are moderate in size and horn growth.
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