70 Texas Longhorn Trails

When we look outacross a pasture inthe early morning

and see the silhouettes of graz-ing Texas Longhorns throughthe low hanging fog, we knowthat there is no greater cattlebreed on Earth. Calving datesare anticipated with the child-ish excitement of opening a gifton Christmas morning becausewe just can’t wait to see whatcolors the calves will be. Itdoesn’t matter how old oryoung we are, just thinkingabout this majestic cattle breedinvokes a plethora of differentemotions. Though every mem-ber of the TLBAA has a differentopinion about what the perfectTexas Longhorn is or should be,the one thing that we can allagree upon is that this breed isextremely variable and can bemolded through selectivebreeding to reflect our own in-dividual ideals. Whether we areselecting for color, size, confor-mation, or horn, this breed of-fers something for every breeder and is theperfect medium for ranchers to expresstheir individuality. Texas Longhorn breeders are as variable

as the breed itself, which is one of thethings that makes life so interesting at theTLBAA. What fun would it be if all of ouranimals looked identical and could only bedifferentiated by their private herd num-

bers? Over time, this breedhas changed dramaticallythrough selective breeding.The general trend has been tocreate larger bodied animalsthat have horns that stretchout to the stratosphere. Asmall handful of breedershave taken their breeding pro-grams in a completely differ-ent direction from what isconsidered mainstream. Theyhave down-sized the TexasLonghorn to create trueminiatures. These miniaturesare approximately 1/3 the sizeof standard Texas Longhornsand have all the unique qual-ities that we love about thebreed.

Many people may askthe question WHY? Overtime, the average sizes ofranches around the worldhave decreased, making it vir-tually impossible for manylandowners to run profitablecow/calf operations. Minia-ture livestock have made it

possible for these small landowners to runa respectable number of animals on theirland. Additionally, miniature livestock areviewed by government agencies as agricul-

Why Miniature Longhorns?

Why Not!

Why Miniature Longhorns?

Why Not!By Eric J. Redeker

Eric Redeker of the Vertically Challenged Cattle Company (Alice, TX)with his 5 year old cow, Mini Socks.

Eric Redeker of the VerticallyChallenged Cattle Company

(Alice, TX) with his 1 ½year old herd sire, Smoke-haus and yearling heifers

December 2010 71

tural commodities, enabling smallerlandowners to take advantage of various taxbenefits. Miniaturizing the Texas Longhornhas enabled these smaller land owners toget away from monochromatic herds of tra-ditional miniature cattle and enjoy thebreed that we are all so passionate about.

The Miniature Texas Longhorn isthe product of a vision shared by twoTLBAA members: Bill Buck (Krum, TX) and

John Fore (Denham Springs, LA). Both setout to create true Miniature Texas Long-horns twenty years ago, independent ofone another. Each man had a different mo-tivation for miniaturizing the breed anddid not find out about the other until theyhad each successfully created their own ver-sion of Miniature Texas Longhorns.

Bill Buck, a retired US Air ForceChief Master Sergeant and the son of a cat-tle broker, first started raising Texas Long-horns shortly after he retired and purchaseda recreational ranch in 1986. After spend-

ing the first several years barely breakingeven with his cattle operation, he startedlooking for a way to generate higher profits.One day he saw some miniature horses andasked the owner, “What are they good for?”To which the owner replied, “They are fan-tastic pasture ornaments, people pay topdollar for them, and they don’t cost awhole lot to raise!” Shortly thereafter, Billstarted searching all over the country forMiniature Texas Longhorns but could notfind any. So, he visited with his veterinar-ian and asked how he could miniaturizethe breed. The answer was to selectivelybreed the smallest cows to the smallestbulls, retain the smallest offspring, and cullthe largest offspring. Starting with fewerthan fifty WR cows and a shoe-stringbudget, he began selectively breeding forsize. After about the third gener-ation, the size of his animals wasmarkedly reduced. Currently, Billis on his eighth generation and isstill working to perfect the Minia-ture Texas Longhorn. Bill admitsthat he spent so much time andeffort trying to reduce the physi-cal size of his animals that he for-got about the horns. Now, withthe help of some nicely hornedbulls, he is trying to “put thehorns back on them.” His goal isto consistently produce animalsthat are 36 inches tall at the hipwith 36 inches TTT horns and willnot rest until he sees this goalcome to fruition.

Around the same time and over500 miles away, John Fore, an engineer, in-ventor, and technological innovator thatholds over 17 patents to various inventions,

had a simple motivation tominiaturize the breed: “I wantedto see if it could be done.” Start-ing with a herd of over 240 Butlercows that were hand selected fortheir small size and had pedigreesthat were relatively free of “largegenetics,” John bred these cows tothe smallest Butler bulls that hecould find. Out of the original240 cows, John only kept a halfdozen calves that had the sizeand conformation that he waslooking for. The animals that

he retained from the initial herd formedthe foundation of his breeding program.Using embryo transfer and artificial insem-ination, he was able to accelerate his breed-ing program and further refine theMiniature Texas Longhorn into what it istoday. According to John, it took almosttwelve generations to achieve his dream ofproducing consistently small animals thathad desirable horns.

With fewer than a dozen activeMiniature Texas Longhorn breeders acrossthe country, the minis are very much still anovelty. The genetic base comes from bothButler and WR stock, so they are just asmuch Texas Longhorns as their largercousins. Until recently, these minis werebeing registered within the standard TLBAAregistry. One downside to having these an-

imals in the standard registry is that theycannot effectively compete with standard-sized cattle in shows. On May 26 of thisyear, the TLBAA Board of Directors ap-proved the creation of a new MiniatureTexas Longhorn registry. This new registrywill enable Miniature Texas Longhornbreeders to reclassify their cattle as minia-tures and compete in TLBAA sanctionedshows within a new miniature class.

The TLBAA is currently testing the new reg-istration system to insure compatibility with thenew Miniature Texas Longhorn Registry. Assoon as the registrations department is able toaccept Miniature Texas Longhorn registrationand reclassification applications, the websitewill be updated. For more information, pleaseemail miniature@tlbaa.org

Bill Buck of the Indian Mountain Ranch (Krum, TX)with his favorite cow, Miss Dollie (8 year old cow)

Anna Redeker of the Vertically Chal-lenged Cattle Company (Alice, TX) withher 1 ½ year old herd sire, Smokehaus

Dave Sullivan of the Silver Star Ranch (Celina, TX)hand-feeding his 2 year old herd sire, Boots

Eric J. Redeker was born and raised in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania. He earned his B.S. in Forest Science in 1995 and his M.S. in

Rangeland Ecology and Management in 1998 from Texas A&M University. In 1998 he took a Research Scientist position with the Cae-

sar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute of Texas A&M University – Kingsville, where he oversees the use of mapping technologies within

the graduate wildlife research program. In 2002, Eric founded Landitude Incorporated, a ranching and wildlife consulting company that

specializes in using mapping technologies to increase ranching efficiencies. In 2008, Eric and his wife Anna purchased a small ranch

in Jim Wells County (near Alice) where they are currently raising Miniature Texas Longhorns. Eric has been an active member of TLBAA

since 2009 and currently serves on the TLBAA Miniature Texas Longhorn review committee.