Angus and Longhorns

Yesterday was very wet and cloudy. I enjoyed hiking along the fence line in the rain, but my spirits were lifted this morning as I watched the sunrise and listened to the birds excited chatter. We needed to move the cattle again today as there is only so much grazing available in each field.  

We have two types of cattle here on the farm, Longhorns and Black Angus. The Black Angus meat contains good fat content; this produces marbling and improved flavor compared to other species. They also have great marketing. People ask for Black Angus when they buy beef. The only problem with the angus, is that they only eat cool season nonnative grasses. These are closely to maintain and grow. 

We also raise longhorn cattle, which were originally introduced in Texas by the Spanish. These cattle are distinctive, because as their name implies, they have very long horns, they can extend five feet to the side with a mature cow. Longhorns look intimidating but are docile creatures; that said I keep an eye on them as I work because if spooked their horns could cause serious damage. They are a hearty species that can tolerate our cold nights and our hot days. Their meat is leaner than the Angus, and therefore less desirable by meat eaters. They do however eat native warm season grass, a certain amount of weeds and spring forest growth. We use them to help expand our native grass Savanas. These are cheaper to maintain as no fertilizer is required. Financially it’s a toss up, but I am very interested in bringing the ecology back to its native state, and so we are raising more longhorn currently then Angus.