Anyone Ever Hear of a Texas Long Horn Agent?

[Griff]

From a query over on the SASS Wire. My New Old Shotgun.

[wecsoger]

Is that the Hollywood guy that's the agent and represents the cattle they use in all the range and stampede scenes? (grin)



(obviously, I got nuthin')

[Terry Murbach]

A STOCK DETECTIVE ?

[Hobie]

A STOCK DETECTIVE ?

Obviously!

[cas]

[Griff]

Aye Terry, but they're not referred to by that title by the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raiser's Assoc. And the Texas Longhorn Breeder's Assoc. was incorporated in 1964, nor do they have any policing powers like the TSCRA Brand Inspectors.

[20cows]

A UT recruiter?

...a serious one.

[Griff]

A UT recruiter?

...a serious one.

Ya, I can hear that line now... Son, I don't care what your Daddy said... y'all gonna play for UT... or else!"

[sore shoulder]

Never heard of that but in CO there is a law on the books making it a REQUIREMENT to shoot any longhorn bull found on open range. Years ago when a local grass thief was dumping longhorn cows inside our fenced subdivision I threatened to use it with the caveat that I couldn't tell the difference between a longhorn cow and bull.

[blackhawk44]

Texas longhorn agent?! T'ain't no such thang. (Hint-longhorn is one word, not two)

[mergus]

Sore Shoulder -- help an uninformed easterner understand the requirement to shoot a bull where its not supposed to be?

Mergus

[williamranks]

Sore Shoulder -- help an uninformed easterner understand the requirement to shoot a bull where its not supposed to be?

Mergus

Same reason an ex girlfriend's father offered to shoot me if he found me where I wasn't supposed to be.
Bill

[Griff]

Never heard of that but in CO there is a law on the books making it a REQUIREMENT to shoot any longhorn bull found on open range. Years ago when a local grass thief was dumping longhorn cows inside our fenced subdivision I threatened to use it with the caveat that I couldn't tell the difference between a longhorn cow and bull.

And yet, I've had other ranchers pay me to lease 'em my longhorn bull for a few weeks for servicing their heifers. Longhorns typically throw small calves, and for a first calf, it can be pretty easy on some of the smaller, 1st year cows... As some of the purebred cows can be pretty small when they first come of breeding age.

[Rusty]

Might ask someone with the Texas Dept. Ag. It might be that the Longhorn breeders Assn jealously guards their reputation and has agents to enforce who is using the label like other trademarked brands. I know the state of Ga. has laws that say only onions grown in a certain region can be labeled as Vadalia onions. The same goes for Indian River Citrus here in Fla.


That piece of brass looks like it's on a rifle stock, is it?

[mergus]

While I freely admit I don't know anything about cows, unhappy fathers are something I'm pretty familiar with...

Mergus

[Griff]

That piece of brass looks like it's on a rifle stock, is it?

A shotgun stock that was produced prior to 1930. Now... when the plate was afixed? No idea, neither does the current owner.

[sore shoulder]

Sore Shoulder -- help an uninformed easterner understand the requirement to shoot a bull where its not supposed to be?

Mergus

Colorado ranchers, and probably Montana and Wyoming also, spent a lot of money importing shorthorn/polled Durham, Hereford and Angus cattle that have a better quality of beef, carry more weight(this is $ for ranchers who get paid by the pound), and don't have long horns to tear up horses and cowboys and whatever else they decided to tear up, and they seem to want to hook their horns in everything you don't want them to (I've had a few things torn up especially in winter). Having a stringy longhorn range bull ruin your carefully bred beef herd would be costly, even today just the rumor of it can cost you at the sale barn. I've gotten a couple halfbreed yearlings for a steep discount on the agreement that I never talk about it's heritage. Most of my local neighbor ranchers seem to favor an Angus cow bred by a Hereford bull which tends to throw a black baldy. There are some running Scottish highland cows.

Longhorns are not as domesticated and also tend to be pretty rangy, meaning they travel a lot when left out on the range, which makes the meat tougher and leaner and there's less weight on them come sale time. The more domestic cows I referenced earlier like to find a good spot and stay there if they have feed and water, and usually only move when bad weather rolls in. I use them as a barometer here.

Remember, longhorns were feral for a few hundred years after the Spaniards left them here, reverting back to their ancestral heritage through natural selection in those TX thickets. When the beef industry demand boomed during the Civil War it was a very dangerous job going in after them, and it has only been about 150 years now without much domesticating as far as I can tell.

There is a growing market for Longhorn beef due to it being leaner than other beef, but for the most part is isn't as good of quality.

Hope that helped Mergus.

[86er]

There was a long horn security agency based out of Houston. They provided security to ranchers for a fee. There is also the Long Horn Villages outside of Austin that has a private security force. Maybe one of those outfits are behind the plaquard. There was also a Longhorn and Western RR that crossed TX and neighboring states in the early 1900's