On September 25 , 1493 , Christopher Columbus ’ fleet of 17 ships departed Cadiz harbor in Spain for Hispañola , the island that now comprises Haiti and the Dominican Republic .
Aboard his ships were 1,200 colonists and everything they needed to settle Spain ’s newest settlement , including “ … a few horses for cavalry service … mares , sheep , heifers and other creature . ”
At the Canary Islands , they took on extra calf . When they walk down the crew plank at Mole St. Nicholas , they were the first kine to set hoof in the New World .
By 1512 , stock - raising was well found throughout the West Indies .
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A fiddling American Cattle HistoryHowever , it was n’t until 1521 , when Juan Ponce de León , with two ships of colonists and a accompaniment of livestock include seven drumhead of Andalusian cows , shore on the southeast coast of Florida , that cattle first come to North American stain in what is now the United States .
The Calusa tribe of Native Americans attacked the political party and Ponce de León took a poison arrow to the shoulder . His ships hark back to Cuba , leaving the livestock behind .
© Jeanette Berenger / ALBC
Landrace?What ’s That?Many of the inheritance stock breed we foreground inHobby Farms — Pineywoods and Florida Cracker cattle admit — are referred to as “ landrace ” breeds .
Landrace breeds are what their name suggests : races adapt to thrive in a specific domain or neighborhood , like Pineywoods oxen and Spanish caprine animal in hot and humid region of the South .
Landrace breeds are often divided into individual stress further adapt to a family or group ’s think use , such as the Griffen strain of dairy farm - character Pineywoods cows develop by William Griffen in southern Mississippi and the meaty , cashmere - bearing Syfan railway line of Spanish laughingstock shape by Tom and Meta Syfan in Mountain Home , Texas .
Landrace breeds are n’t bred for uniformness in the way of standardized breeds ; they ’re consistent enough to be recognized as trenchant populations , but they vary in appearance more widely than individual of standard breed .
Most landrace breeds evolved in isolated , sometimes compromised environments outside the mainstream output of their species .
Within the strain , human input into choice is frequently minimal .
Apart from Pineywoods and Florida Cracker cattle and Spanish goats , deterrent example include Rocky Mountain , Mountain Pleasure horses , Randall Lineback oxen , Mulefoot hogs and Gulf Coast Native sheep . Top
More Spaniards followed . In 1540 , Don Diego Maldonado brought bombastic ruck of cattle and horses to the Pensacola Bay area to supply Hernando de Soto ’s on-going exploration of the Spanish Southeast . He give out to make contact lens with de Soto ’s expedition and many animals were left to run tempestuous or given to aboriginal tribes .
Historians trust the Spanish convey fewer than 300 cattle to the New World .
The cattle they brought , however , were elusive , rangy animal noted for their fantastic coloration , hardiness , longevity , long horns and poorness . These multiply on spread and in the wild , in very unforesightful order .
Known as criollos ( Spanish Bos taurus behave in the New World ) , they became the Corriente of Mexico , Texas Longhorns and two landrace breeds in the Southeast : Florida Cracker oxen and the Pineywoods cows of Mississippi , Alabama and southern Georgia .
Two Peas in a Pod ( Almost)Pineywoods and Florida Cracker oxen resemble one another in legion shipway .
They are small cattle , most fall in the 600- to 1,000 - pound image , with visible light to moderately heavy bone and muscling .
Adults have short , shining whisker coats during the summertime months .
Both breeds sometimes have “ guinea ” or midget cattle , much smaller versions with forgetful heads and shorter leg .
They exist in a huge array of solid and spotted people of colour , include Longhorn - type speckles , linebacks and roans .
Most are tusk ; horn styles vary widely from small , Jersey - comparable curved car horn to large , up- and back - swept types .
They ’re long - live , prolific , great mother and signally easy custodian , quite capable to flourish on second-rate grass without metric grain .
Both acquire in the abstruse South where they ’ve been known by name as divers as “ woods , ” “ brushing , ” “ scrub ” and Florida native cattle .
The Difference Between ThemWhat is the difference between Pineywoods and Florida Cracker oxen ?
“ Both Florida Cracker cattle and Pineywoods cattle are unique , Spanish - based , inheritance stock , ” says Steven Monroe , coach of the Florida Department of Agriculture ’s ruck of Florida Cracker cattle .
“ Both breeds have been and go on on a parallel class . They include unique strains of cattle that have been preserve independently of each other for many generations .
“ Any of the freestanding tune of Florida Cracker oxen would fit the breed standard of the Pineywoods cattle . This would likely be true of Spanish - type cattle find oneself throughout the Americas , if they could be found .
“ The breed know as Florida Cracker cattle , ” he continues , “ include cattle from Florida farms and cattle farm that were maintained without the impart influence of ‘ modern breeds . ’
“ The same can be say for Pineywoods Bos taurus . The foundation Bos taurus for the Florida Cracker Cattle Breed Registry were evaluated and selected in 1989 through 1991 from known herd that had intentionally been kept free of influence from introduction of other stock .
“ Only cattle considered to be the purest congresswoman of Florida ’s range Bos taurus were included in the foundation register .
Florida Cracker Cattle Associationc / group O T. A. OlsonUniversity of Florida Animal Science Dept . P.O. Box 110910Gainesville , FL 32611352 - 392 - 2367
Pineywoods Cattle Registry and Breeders Association183 Sebron Ladner Rd . Poplarville , MS 39470601 - 795 - 4672
Cowpen Creek FarmJess , Julie and Billy Frank Brown183 Sebron Ladner Rd . Poplarville , MS 39470601 - 795 - 4672
“ Colonial Spanish Cattle in the USA : History and Present Status , ” by D.P. Sponenberg and T.A. , Olsonhttps://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/fichero_articulo?codigo=278744&orden=90532
“ The Introduction of Cattle into Colonial North America , ” by G.A. Bowlingwww.dairy-science.org/cgi/reprint/25/2/129
The Criollo : Spanish Cattle in the Americas , by John E. Rouse ( University of Oklahoma Press , 1977 )
Florida Cowman : A History of Florida Cattle Raising , by Joe A. Akerman ( Florida Cattlemen ’s Association , 1977 )
“ cows that “ look proper , ” but were not from trackable heritage were not evaluated or considered for the basis registry . Some cattle of the Barnes strain from Alabama were include as the Barnes cattle ranged in Florida , Alabama and Georgia . ”
The Barnes strain is also recognized by the Pineywoods Cattle Registry and Breeders Association .
Kept by the Barnes family near Florala , Ala. , a hop , skip and skip over north of the Florida panhandle , they once keep down as many as 500 head word .
As was true of costless - range livestock in other days , the cattle order wide and incur little care ; they were expected to make their own way .
Barnes cattle alter widely in size , coloration ( “ white , blue - sided , ruddy - sided , red - pied , black - pied , strawberry mark - bespeckle , and solid dark , ” says W. H. Barnes , who still keep these oxen on the Barnes family farm ) and horn type ; some were canvas , but most had automobile horn . The family consistently culled any cow that fail to calve per annum ( one Barnes cow calved at 31 years of age ) , and no bull cover outside the herd were used since 1910 .
When call for about the Pineywoods cattle raised by his family at Cowpen Creek Farm in Poplarville , Miss. , Jess Brown , president of the Pineywoods Cattle Registry and Breeders Association , says , “ Milk River and meat , they feed my menage for over six generations . They ’re gentle and easy to palm so they make good oxen ; my great - grandad had 25 yoke of them to help lumber the virgin ‘ yeller ’ pine timberland of south Mississippi .
“ Their hides were used for chair bottoms , rugs and other leather good , and horns were used for making ‘ shock horns . ’
“ They ’re self - sufficient , problematical and hardy . They acquire rich milk and good , lean beef , and they ’re idealistic for pot and brush control . Pineywoods Bos taurus range well with multi - farm mintage like the Native Gulf Coast Sheep that deal the longleaf pine tree forest for age , and they ’re heat tolerant and resistant to disease . ”
The Key to Their SurvivalThat last point , in a nutshell , is why Spanish cattle survived in the Southeast for so long .
hotness and humidness , copulate with sponger and diseases endemic to the American Southeast , rapidly rule out bring in cattle for hundreds of years .
Native cattle unwrap as calves to diseases like babesiosis and anaplasmosis uprise immunity while consequence yield .
It was n’t until heat- and disease - immune Zebu ( Brahman ) kine arrived in the 1930s that aboriginal Spanish cattle start to falter .
Crossbred calves beget by Zebu bullshit thrived and apace uprise to market size of it , so purebred Spanish populations decline until by the 1970s very few Florida Cracker and Pineywood kine remained .
luckily , a few intrepid farm families go for onto their hardy cattle , never introducing “ fresh , improved blood . ” Thanks to their foresightedness , the breeds survived . Now they ’re do slow - but - steady comebacks .
Florida Cracker CattleDuring the late 1500s , Jesuit and Franciscan mendicant instal a serial of mission in north and north - central Florida ; they maintain extended herds of farm animal , making them the first oxen spread in North America .
Private ranches emerged in the 17th century . During the other 1700s , Spanish nose count takers count 20,000 head of kine on the ranches alone ( herds owned by the missions , those preserve by aboriginal tribes and savage oxen were n’t counted ) .
Homesteaders of northerly - European descent began settling Florida in the 1800s . Wild native oxen were theirs for the pickings .
Sometimes herds were huge . A Polk County taxation census dated 1862 indicates the number of cattle owned by landholders in this mid - state county : N. R. Raulerson owned 2,515 brain of native cattle ; William Holden , 1,800 ; W. H. Willingham , 1,550 head .
Staggering numbers were possible because the cows ranged risky and virtually accept care of themselves .
During the American Civil War , Florida supplied the Confederacy with an estimate 50,000 head of beef .
After the state of war , while the respite of the South lie in ruins , Florida established a practicable economic system based on cattle sales agreement to Cuba . cowboy call “ cracker , ” so named because of the 12 - foot bullwhips they crack to keep their charge moving , drive cattle from points of origin to the docks of Tampa , Manatee and Punta Rassa ; in a 10 - class geological period from 1868 to 1878 , 1.6 million head of cattle boarded ships bound for Cuba , Nassau and Key West .
Cracker cowman also moved herds along old military roads to Gainesville , then due north to track lines in Atlanta and Savannah . The drive from central Florida took 45 sidereal day , and the cattle fed themselves along the path .
The introduction of European beef and dairy farm strapper in the tardy 1800s had little wallop on Florida ’s stalwart Spanish kine , primarily because they rarely lived long enough to reproduce .
Zebus were another story . By the 1960s when only a few hundred pure Spanish kine remained , the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services stepped in .
In 1970 , Zona Bass and Zetta Hunt , daughters of pioneer cowboy James Durrance , donated five purebred heifer and a bull from their founding father ’s ruck , on behalf of the Florida Cattleman ’s Association .
The Department of Agriculture kept them at the Agricultural Complex at Tallahassee , finally establishing a ruck at the Withlacoochee State Forest . Herds ground on Durrance and extra old pedigree were send out to Lake Kissimmee State Park and Paines Prairie State Park during the seventies . Meanwhile , a few honest-to-goodness families maintain in private owned herd .
In 1985 , a excerpt and screening programme was developed based on valuation by a panel of three sanction puncher who compared cattle from previous family lines against archival photographs of Florida aboriginal cattle . They eliminated individual with irregular characteristics or coloration .
The Florida Cracker Cattle Association and its sis arrangement , the Florida Cracker Horse Association , were incorporate in 1988 .
In 1989 , the Florida Department of Agriculture and the cattle association hosted the first Florida Cracker Cattle Association Cracker Gatherin ’ at the Withlacoochee State Forest near Brooksville , Fla. The 2008 issue take place November 7 and 8 and includes public vendue of register Florida Cracker kine and horses from private and state - owned herds .
Pineywoods CattlePineywoods cattle evolved further north in the longleaf pine tree woods from which they take their name .
The vast Piney Woods neighborhood of the American Southeast once stretched from eastern Texas through Louisiana , Mississippi and Alabama to southerly Georgia and northernmost Florida , carpet more than 70 million acres with virgin pine , scrub oak , hickory and prickly pear cactus .
When European settlers begin homesteading the expanse in the 1800s , old - growth true pine so thick it took 20 men debase hand - to - hand to measure their girth towered 150 feet into the melodic line .
Pine thrived in the sandy soil of the Pine Belt , but the land was n’t suitable for turn cotton . So , instead of dismantle the nation as come about in more prolific region of the South , homesteaders claim their home site , work up cabins with the logs they felled and chip at out a heavy , subsistence life .
To do so , they needed oxen for draft force , milk cattle , hide for leather and boeuf to make full the class larder . Wild cow - trip up cater the Bos taurus for their indigence .
Separate var. evolved on menage farms in the region , each selected for slightly dissimilar qualities .
Broadus oxen were intermediate - sized and blocky ; the Ezell and Dedeaux cattle were chunky and forgetful .
Other Pineywoods , among them representatives of the Ladiner and Hickman strains , were improbable and gangly cattle .
Today , the Pineywoods Cattle Registry and Breeders Association recognize 20 separate kinsfolk or regional strains , five of which are deemed nonextant .
As in Florida , most dauntless Pineywood strains were lost due to outcrossing with non - aboriginal cattle during the mid- to tardy twentieth one C .
The Pineywood Cattle Registry and Breeders Association was lease in 1999 to preserve and raise the remnants of this worthwhile , Southern inheritance breed .
This Is Where You Come InPineywoods and Florida Cracker cattle are both heel as Critical on the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy ’s Conservation Priority List and Slow Foods USA ’s Ark of Taste .
extra dedicated curator are sorely needed .
Jess Brown declare oneself advice to readers interested in keeping these breeds : “ Do your homework . enquiry . talk of the town with breeders and have a farm design to accommodate your peculiar farm . Try them for dairying , kick production , and as oxen for log and plowing .
“ These cows helped my menage survive for multiplication and there ’s no reason they ca n’t still help us live on today , when grain and fuel price are have such an economic wallop on farm product .
“ My family did n’t call Pineywoods Bos taurus ‘ Rakestraws ’ for nothing — it ’s because they survive the winter months by rake the longleaf pine straw back with their horns and muzzles to find grass that was protected from the frost .
“ On the candid range they wintered on cane - filled reed brakes and acorn . They ’re sturdy and rich .
“ Pineywoods beef is lean and scrumptious . Several top chef in New Orleans and New York had one coarse ill : ‘ Not enough avoirdupois , but still a very flavorful mouthful . ’ The cut of meat are smaller , too . But to be hefty , we postulate less fat and smaller portion , so are these really impuissance ? No ! ”
Florida Cracker and Pineywoods cattle are arguably the ideal breeds for low - input , grass - ground husbandry in the South — and they need our assist to survive . If you ’re casting about for a true - gamey , American heritage breed for your farm , take these great little cattle to heart .
This article was first published in the November / December 2008 Hobby Farms .
