ORVTLA 18th Annual Texas Longhorn Show

Wooster, OH -- The Ohio River Valley Texas Longhorn Association's 18th annual Texas Longhorn show was staged at the Wayne County Fairgrounds at Wooster, OH, July 18 under the careful planning of President Andrew Morris of Malhonding, OH. The ORVTLA is an affiliate of the International Texas Longhorn Association.

Registered Texas Longhorn cattle sparred for championship awards with 56 International Texas Longhorn Association approved classes offered. Contestants came mostly from Ohio, but also several from Indiana, Michigan, Texas and Kentucky.

Judge for the show was ITLA approved training judge, Lizz Huntzberry, of Smithsburg, MD. Huntzberry also judged the International Championship show in Oklahoma City in 2014.

Unique classes included early starters "Pee Wee" classes, Youth Halter, Open Halter and Non Halter. Unlike other breeds, ITLA shows are popular for the Non Halter classes where cow/calf pairs, exhibition steers and all ages of registered cattle show freely in the show arena.  Unlike traditional shows where cattle are clipped, trimmed, placement corrected with show sticks and especially fitted, each animal is judged casually in the arena. Judging evaluation takes into consideration poise, disposition, mothering ability, travel, as well as all other points of purity and conformation.

The crowd in attendance was believed to be the largest of the previous shows. President Morris has already contracted to use the Wayne County Fairgrounds again for the 2016 event.

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Cont'd - ORVTLA 18th Annual Texas Longhorn Show

The All Age Grand Champion Non Halter Female was Sweet Kookateu, a 2009 daughter of Drag Iron, owned by Kirk Dickinson and exhibited by Dickinson Cattle Co, LLC of Barnesville, OH. 

The All Age Champion Halter Steer was AA Clever Oliver, a 2009 steer exhibited by Gail Beach of Huntington, IN. The Grand Champion Halter Female was Candy Cane Crystal, owned by Luke Merrick. 

The Grand Champion Halter Bull was HHF Judge Baron, owned by Double H Farm. 

The All Age Grand Champion Steer was Shawnee KCC owner Kimble Cattle Co and Brice Chaffee.

To be a part of Ohio's fast growing family of Texas Longhorn producers those interested are encouraged to join ORVTLA. Become a member. Contact secretary Martha Sherer, 419 756 8369 or shererwood@centurylink.net;

(Below) Clever Oliver was the choice "friend" of kids during the ORVTLA show.  He entertained as the  bigger than life ambassador.

(Below) Texas Longhorn Cattle shows have a special division for all ages to be shown Non Halter with no manipulating by the owners. This is an honest and fair way to judge cattle. 

Texas Scientist With a Thing for Longhorns

as reported in the New York Times - July 6, 2015

by Claudia Dreifus - A Conversation With

David Hillis photo: macmillan education

David M. Hillis, an evolutionary biologist who studies how the Texas Longhorn evolved horns that can exceed seven feet across, has a ranch with about 50 of the animals. 

Deep in the heart of Texas, cows with fearsome horns are everywhere - on bumper stickers and T-shirts, on the signs of auto dealerships and chain restaurants, grazing in broad pastures. The ubiquitousness of the Longhorn, a symbol of the state and its flagship university's mascot, might lead one to wonder: How did this animal get horns that can exceed seven feet across?

David M. Hillis, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Texas at Austin, has the answer.

Dr. Hillis, 56, and the recipient of a 1999 MacArthur "genius" fellowship, has been employing genetics, biochemistry and computation to figure out how this breed of cattle developed its trademark feature.

We spoke for two hours in Austin and later by telephone. A condensed and edited version of both conversations follows:

Q. How exactly did this hobby of yours begin: researching the evolutionary history of the Texas Longhorn?

A. It started about 10, 15 years ago when my wife and I bought a ranch outside Austin. In thinking about what we wanted to do with the property, we hoped to connect it to some aspect of Texas history. That's what led us to Longhorns. These animals are not only a symbol of the state, they have an unusual biological history.

Like all cattle, they were domesticated about 10,000 years ago from the wild aurochsen. But they are special because they went wild a second time and were twice domesticated. There aren't a lot of animals for whom this is true. We don't really know a lot about how animals changed while being domesticated. It seemed we could learn a lot by studying this breed. The idea was to use the ranch as a kind of off-hours laboratory. We call the place the Double Helix Ranch. Originally, we had four Longhorns - three cows and a bull. When I got the MacArthur, we bought some more. Today, we have about 50.

What have the Longhorns taught you?

Where they came from and how they got to be like they are. There'd been all these myths and theories floating around: that they'd originated in Northern Europe. We used genetic testing and historic documentation, here and in Europe, to confirm that Texas Longhorns appear to be directly descended from Iberian cattle brought to the New World by Spanish explorers.

We know that Columbus had cattle with him during his second voyage. But here's the rest of the story: In the early 1500s, the Spanish introduced them into Mexico, where they broke free of captivity and eventually formed feral herds. It was those that migrated into what would later become the American Southwest and that lived in the wild for hundreds of years. Then, in the 1860s, Texans returned home from the Civil War, broke and starving. Because there was nothing else, they rounded up these wild animals. That's when redomestication began.

photo: associated press may 2013

How did the Longhorns get their long horns?

From that feral period. Today's Longhorns have much longer horns than the animals brought over from Spain. In the wilderness, these animals, which had been bred for docility, were forced to contend with bears, wolves and coyotes. The mothers had to protect their young from predation. That's when the principles of natural selection came into play. The females with the longest horns proved the best defenders of their young. Their offspring survived, and they were able to pass their genes on to the next generation, which is how you got selection for those long horns.

When you look at this breed today, you can actually see differences between what humans select for in cattle and what nature does. Farmers select for docility, high meat and milk production. Those traits are not necessarily an advantage in nature. However, because of their second bout in the wild, Longhorns are usually far more resistant to disease, live longer, have more calves than domesticated cattle. They generally need less water and feed on more diverse types of grasses and brush.

Does this have any present-day implications for the breed?

Well, with increased health consciousness, there's now a new market developing for range-fed beef. Thanks to their evolutionary history, Longhorns are ideally suited for that, and that may encourage more ranchers to acquire and breed them.

Given their economic potential, are you discovering a new appreciation in Texas for evolutionary biology?

A lot of the economic basis of Texas involves things directly connected to evolution. The fossil fuel industry couldn't exist if you didn't know about billions of years of evolutionary history. Ranchers understand how evolutionary change comes because they are practicing artificial selection themselves in breeding.

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Western heritage thrives on El Paso County Longhorn ranch

July 2nd, 2015 - The Gazette

photo: loganriely.com

He and local cowboys at noon Thursday will herd about 40 head of wicked-looking Texas Longhorn cattle down Tejon Street. Some weigh more than 1,000 pounds and have horns that stretch 6 feet or more from one tip to the other.

"We're showing people that their hamburgers don't start out in the back room at Safeway," says Searle, only half-jokingly.

The Longhorn drive promotes the Ride for the Brand Championship Rodeo, whose contestants work on area ranches, not the professional rodeo circuit.

Not many folks know that Colorado has more than 2.6 million head of cattle, and the business is one of the largest sectors of the economy valued at more than $2.8 billion, according to the state Department of Agriculture.

Longhorns on Tejon Street, Colorado Springs photo: fencepost.com

Longhorns are the legendary icon of Western life. But they are not a huge part of those numbers and were once nearly extinct because consumers at the time wanted fattier, marbled meat.

But Longhorns are making a comeback because of the green food revolution - they are grass-fed and lean.

There are a handful of ranches in El Paso County that raise Longhorns; the most well-known are the Searle ranches in Monument and Ellicott.

Searle, 78, grew up on a ranch near Yakima, Wash., that was homesteaded in the early 1900s by his grandfather, a former Cripple Creek mining engineer.

"My father's advice was to get a town job because ranching is so capital intensive."

So he studied civil engineering at the University of Washington, did a short stint at Boeing as an illustrator, had his own ad agencies in California and Washington and later owned a cable company system and was publisher of American Cowboy Magazine and Texas Longhorn Journal.

"I never had to make a living raising cattle," he says. "It's tough."

But you can tell that's where his heart is. He has lived in Colorado since the 1970s and had ranches in Evergreen and Walsenburg before coming to El Paso County.

He and his wife, Lorna, live on the Monument ranch. They had five children, and one son helps run the ranch. One daughter died, and the others have nonranch careers.

The place is on Colorado 105 west of Colorado 83, and from the hillside there's a breathtaking view looking east to Black Forest. The property is on what was once the town of Gwillimville, which was a stage stop. A couple of old cabins remain.

In the driveway, there's a large sculpture of a cowboy herding Longhorns, and more is inside.

Searle is getting ready to move to a different pasture some of the cattle for Thursday's Tejon Street drive.

His spurs jingle on the beautiful hardwood floor. In his office are photos of prize cattle, an award from the International Texas Longhorn Association, photos with Republican politicians and presidents and a collection of toy trucks, golf balls and several wild animal trophy heads he bagged.

As for the politicians, Searle says most of them want to be photographed on a horse.

"They want to look like cowboys," he says, laughing.

He stops to take a phone call about the Texas Longhorn sale to be held this summer at Latigo Trails. Searle's conversation is peppered with folksy humor.

"I been sweating like a cowboy," he tells the caller.

"Yeah, I ride a broke horse these days," he says, laughing.

"It sounds like you are honking at your own tail lights," he empathizes.

The original Longhorns, from criollo stock, came here 400 years ago with Spanish explorers. Eventually, some in the herds that fed the southwest communities ran wild and multiplied. After the Civil War, millions were rounded up. They were perfect for long cattle drives from range to market because of their long legs and hard hooves and the fact they could go long distances without water, find their own food, swim rivers and survive in a desert, Searle explains.

Later, Searle rides to the pasture on his horse Jazzy. The only sounds are squeaking of saddle leather, a few moos from the younger Longhorns and the whooshing of the thigh-high grass as the cattle head out.

"These are the cows that invented cowboys," he says.

The cattle are gorgeous - they come in all shades of brown, yellow, brindle and merle and even black.

He and others say they are very intelligent animals and a gentle breed despite their rough Wild West look.

"I've had Angus put me over the fence, but never a Longhorn," he says.

But they use those horns to protect calves from coyotes. They are smart, too, divvying up chores. "You often see one cow baby-sit a half dozen calves, while the other mothers go off to graze," Searle notes.

They take care of themselves during calving, too, unlike some genetically larger calves of other breeds that have to be pulled.

Today, many of the animals are registered. Searle sells breeding stock to other ranchers. But since the healthy food movement, his Searle Longhorn Lean Beef business can't keep up with local demand, he says.

Longhorns particularly adapted to being grass-fed. The cattle aren't given antibiotics and steroids like feedlot cattle or raised on grain. They are high in healthy omegas. Because they aren't given growth hormones, it takes about 21/2 years to raise one for market.

Searle said that when they drive the Longhorns through downtown Thursday that "it's important to remember that agriculture is vital to everyone and that rural families depend on property and water rights and the right to keep their land in agriculture."