Longhorn Drover July 2019

July 2019

Longhorn Drover The Official Magazine of the International Texas Longhorn Association.

TABLE OF

CONTENTS

About the Cover

This months’ cover was created by our Journalism/Design Intern, Kacie Ging. It serves to represent the way Texas Longhorns are all around the world, and their continued growth beyond the mainland USA borders.

If you have a photo that you feel would make a great cover photo.

Send your photo to longhorndrover@gmail.com for a chance to be featured as our next cover!

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08 10 12 54 56 59 63

Letter from the President What’s In a Name

From the Office ITLA Office Report

Around the World with ITLA

A Look at our International Community

Longhorn News

New Records and Contest Winners

Social Media Highlight

A Look at a Breeders Social Media Work

Affiliate News

See what’s happening near You

ITLA Championship Show and Convention

Everything you need to know about this years show!

Drover Longhorn

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Beautiful, cool Colorado . . . Where would you rather be this August?

August 9-10, 2019 Latigo Trails Equestrian Center

Colorado Springs, Colorado

7:00 am Latigo Grill Opens

7:00 am Cattle viewing; Latigo Grill opens

9:30 am 2019 Rocky Mountain Winchester Futurity

11:00 am 20th annual Rocky Mountain Select Texas Longhorn Sale

5:00 pm Rocky Mountain Select Heifer Sale and Semper Fi Banquet

SALE INFO

FUTURITY INFO

Charlie Searle

Marlene Reynolds

719/649-0058

719/510-2151

charliesearle02@gmail.com cowgirlmama83@gmail.com

www.searleranch.com/SelectSale

Join us for THE Longhorn Rendezvous of the year, in the shadow of Pikes Peak and the Colorado Rockies. Proud to have the SEMPER FI FUND on board again this year ‌ see you in August!

www.facebook.com/rmss2019

Letter from the

President “What’s in a name” In the late 1500’s William Shakespeare penned “What’s in a name” from his most famous play. Almost 500 years later in 1990, the founders of the ITLA had the wisdom to know that what’s in a name is of major importance.

The initial act of including “International” in our name laid the groundwork for the ITLA to not have boundaries and for all to feel welcome no matter where they reside.

This issue of the Drover celebrates the International in our name. We are not only recognizing those who live great distances from the ITLA’s home base, but we are also bringing awareness to all ITLA members how International the ITLA really is.

We hope everyone enjoys this issue of the Longhorn Drover highlighting our international aspect.

The ITLA’s international members unable to join us at the 2019 Convention and Championship Show October 10 - 12 in Sulphur Springs, Texas, will not be forgotten.

New on the schedule is the first International Championship Photo Show. Entry forms with classes will go out shortly for members outside the boundaries of the United States to enter photos of their longhorns to be evaluated by ITLA Approved Judges.

The International Photos will go on display for all to view in Sulphur Springs, and the results will be included in the Longhorn Drover.

The International Texas Longhorn Association - where everyone is welcome no matter where the address reads.

2019 Officers Larry Smith II

Lizz Huntzberry

Vice President President Term: 2019 Term: 2019 Smithsburg, MD Celina, TX 240-291-1952 254-396-9185 larrypsmith2@yahoo.com lizzhuntzberry@yahoo.com

Russell Hooks

Secretary Term: 2020 McGregor, TX 409-381-0616 russellh@longhornroundup.com

John Moxley

Treasurer Term: 2021 New Market, MD 240-446-9950 crosswrenchranch@msn.com

2019 Board of Directors John Moxley

Joel Dickinson

Gordon Musgrove

Dan Grove

Dick Lowe

John Nelson

T.J. Farnsworth

Terry Brink

Connie Olive

Russell Hooks

Joe Dowling

Mike Tomey

Director at Large #1 Term: 2021 New Market, MD 240-446-9950 crosswrenchranch@msn.com

Region 2 Term: 2019 Bailey, NC 252-373-2926 dan@grovecattle.com

Region 5 Term: 2019 Mountain Home, UT 435-503-5229 tj@chapman-const.com

Region 8 Term: 2020 McGregor, TX 409-381-0616 russellh@longhornroundup.com

Director at Large #2 Term: 2020 Barnsville, OH 740-758-5858 joel_d@texaslonghorn.com

Region 3 Term: 2020 Horton, MI 517-688-3030 info@rrrlonghorns.com Region 6 Term: 2020 Frederick, OK 580-335-5732 brinkauction@gmail.com

Region 9 Term: 2021 Caldwell, TX 979-273-0277 dowlingoe@yahoo.com

Region 1 Term: 2020 Patricia, AB 403-363-1729 onetreeranch@gmail.com

Region 4 Term: 2021 Wellington, CO 970-897-2441 jnelson@enganalytics.com Region 7 Term: 2020 Big Sandy, TX 903-780-0665 connie_olive@aol.com

Past President Director Term: 1 year Bedford, IN 812-583-4622 tomeyfarms@yahoo.com

From the Office Report

Office

July 2019

ATTENTION MEMBERS

The ITLA office in Glen Rose, Texas has been extremely busy this past quarter. Our numbers are on a very steady increase compared to this quarter in 2018. The youth program has increased over 40%, active/ lifetime memberships are up 7%, registrations have increased 42%, and transfers are up by over 32%.

Next quarter looks to be even busier with the steady increase in members and new additions coming to the ITLA show circuit.

The ITLA has some great specials that you don’t want to miss out on.

On top of our already reasonable service fees, we are running an amazing offer on dual registrations for only $5.00 until August 1, 2019, and bull registrations are just $10.00 through December 2019. This includes a color photo of your animal on the registration

certificate. We are always working hard to serve our members and appreciate every single one of them.

The office is in full swing as we gear up for the 2019 ITLA Championship Show and Convention being held in Sulphur Springs, Texas October 9th – 12th.

Keep a close eye on our Facebook page as well as our website www.itla.com for all the event updates, special offers, and the many exciting things coming to the ITLA. Until next time, see you all down the trail!

Sincerely, Cori Garcia ITLA Office Manager staff@itla.com

Emails provided during registration will only be used for ITLA related business such as the release of the monthly Longhorn Drover, association news, reminders about upcoming ITLA events, etc. Any email claiming to be from the ITLA Office or an ITLA Director that does NOT pertain to any ITLA associated news or event is spam and should not be trusted.

If you receive an email or message you are not quite sure about, feel free to contact the ITLA office at 254-898-0157 or staff@itla.com.

ATTENTION DIRECTORS If you have not yet been featured in the “Meet Your Directors” section of the Longhorn Drover, please send your bios to longhorndrover@gmail.com. You don’t want to miss this opportunity to connect with members and give them a chance to get to know who you are.

Contact the Drover staff directly at longhorndrover@gmail.com to submit content, provide e-mails for others to enjoy the magazine, or to let the Drover staff know you appreciate the effort.

Photo by Axel and Katja Gröbner of Greenwood Ranch

A Look Around the World with ITLA Written by Kacie Ging

While Texas Longhorns may have originated in the southern United States, they have long since spread over great distances to find themselves all over the globe.

This article consists of a series of interviews, article submissions, and photos from breeders all over the world. It explores the unique challenges and benefits of each location, and highlights breeders excited to promote the breed they love. Each country and the ranches within them are unique.

This means that every section will

be different than the one before, providing a well-rounded view of the international industry.

The article covers ranches in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Hawaii, Netherlands, and Switzerland.

Though these places are far away, many connections between different breeders can be spotted throughout the article. Many of the stories overlap in some points as breeders help other breeders start up their longhorn ranches, promote their herd, or have get

togethers. It is a testimate to the strong sense of community that the breeders of Texas Longhorn cattle are known for.

The International Texas Longhorn Association values community amongst the members and is proud of the “international” part of its name. The ITLA’s motto “Putting Members First” applies just as much to these breeders who live far away from the office, as it does to the ones who live right next door.

From the Editor I can’t express enough the positive impact this issue has had on me.

Breeders from around the world are more than eager to share and connect with their international longhorn community.

Kacie Ging Longhorn Drover Intern

Getting to know these breeders and learning the differences and similarities of raising the Texas Longhorns in different climates and biomes is fascinating. We all face a lot of the same issues, but breeders outside of the mainland USA often face many challenges that are almost enough to make some people turn their noses on the idea. The breeders in this issue do not seem to have ever even thought of giving up on the

longhorn breed. They are as resilient as the breed that they raise.

I also enjoyed seeing how similar we all are. Almost every country had at least one person comment about how great their country’s beer was. I couldn’t help but smile with every email that I read. I have enjoyed the opportunity to connect with the international longhorn breeders, and witness the longhorns spread out across the globe become a bit more connected. I hope this issue brings us all closer together and raises awareness and support for what our far away friends are accomplishing.

Photo by Wes and Hayley Offord of Brigalow Longhorns

Australia Featuring interviews from Michael Bethel Desley Davidson Hayley Offord

Michael Bethel Horseshoe B Longhorns LD: What is the history of Texas Longhorns in Australia?

Where did you get your Longhorns from?

B: Michael & Lynda Bethel own and operate Leahton Park which is located 140 km from Townsville in North Queensland, Australia. The closest town is Charters Towers, which has a population of approximately 8,000 people. We initially started breeding Texas Longhorns more than 20 years ago using imported semen that was already available here in Australia. At the outset we named our herd Horseshoe B Longhorns and registered a brand that typifies that name. Lynda was the one who decided to learn the technique of AI and since then, we have only ever used AI to breed our Longhorns. We imported frozen embryos from New Zealand, which were the foundation of our full blood Texas Longhorn herd. These cattle were all of Semkin origin. We later added more embryos from Charlene Semkin, and we also imported frozen embryos from Darol Dickinson. We have been registering our cattle with the ITLA for almost 20 years, and we believe we have bred more full blood

Texas Longhorns than anyone in Australia. We have sold and delivered cattle into every state (and territory) in the country. We have also had cattle of ours go to South East Asia, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates. The majority of the genetics in the Horseshoe B Longhorns herd now are of Dickinson Cattle Co. origin with the legendary and wonderful bull Drag Iron being the stand out influence.

LD: Why did you decide to raise Texas Longhorns?

B: Michael was raised on a 90,000 acre family cattle station (Ranch) that runs Brahman cattle, and was fascinated with things of the ‘Old West’ when growing up in the outback of Australia. We were also both heavily involved in rodeo competition for a lot of years.

In Northern Queensland, the majority of cattle were Brahmans. Because Texas Longhorns were also suitable for our harsher, hotter climate, they were perfect for this environment. They also proved to be excellent cattle when crossed with Brahmans. We have been in the cattle industry all of our lives. Making the transition was an easy one, and it gave us an advantage of knowing ‘good’ cattle from the ‘not so good’ cattle. Because our property is relatively small by North Queensland standards, we also needed to have higher value livestock. Texas Longhorns have been a big factor in our life for more than twenty years now and will be forever.

LD: What are the benefits of raising Texas Longhorns in Australia?

LD: What kinds of projects are you working on to promote the breed?

B: For us, Texas Longhorns tick most every box. We love the classic and timeless looks, the temperament and adaptability of the cattle, plus everything about them is marketable. For example, their meat, horns, hides, and of course, their history! We have successfully used the Texas Longhorns as the major draw card to our tourist attraction called Texas Longhorn Tours since 2009. We sell Texas Longhorn breeding stock to other breeders of registered cattle, and also trophy steers as well. We also process the horns and skulls ourselves to sell.

B: We established Texas Longhorn Tours (www. texaslonghorn.com.au) in 2009 and it is one of the most unique tourist attractions in Australia. We use a horse drawn wagon and also UTV Polaris Rangers to showcase our cattle to visitors from all over Australia and other countries. Our presentation also includes a historical and interesting narrative of the evolution of the Texas Longhorn breed and the important place they play in history. Michael has been building saddles for more than 30 years, and in keeping with the theme of the attraction, he built an authentic replica 1880 Texas Trail Herd saddle which is on display. We also had a genuine chuck wagon made for us by a wagon maker in West Texas which is also part of the Texas Longhorn attraction. Working closely with our friends from D 7 Spur Texas Longhorns & Brigalow Texas Longhorns Queensland we present the annual ‘Trails West Texas Longhorns’ sale where we offer for sale some the best registered cattle in Australia each year. We have built and maintain several websites dedicated to promoting our own cattle and Texas Longhorn Tours as well as being an information source for aspiring Texas Longhorn breeders or enthusiasts throughout Australia. We also support the annual Texas Longhorns Australia sale and show each year. We are the proud owners and breeders of JR, a steer who was certified as the Guinness World Record holder in 2011 for the longest horns tip to tip. His horns now exceed 123 inches from tip to tip and we also have two other steers with horns exceeding 100 inches. Whilst JR is no longer the Guinness World Record holder, he is still a very impressive animal. These cattle are on display at our attraction and remain an important draw card. We also have a cow whose horns are getting close to 90 inches tip to tip. Along with, Texas Longhorns we also run several other breeds of cattle including Scottish Highlanders, Watusi, Brahmans, Indian Gyr and Asian Water Buffalo and American Buffalo (Bison). We don’t think there would be too many places in the world where a person could see so much bovine diversity as well as kangaroos all in the one place, especially from the back of a canvas covered horse drawn wagon!

LD: What are the challenges of raising Texas Longhorns in Australia?

B: The biggest challenge is the logistical difficulty and expense in sourcing genetics from the USA. We have been fortunate that there has been some wonderful Texas Longhorn breeders in the USA and Canada who have gone to the trouble of having their bulls and embryos collected for use in Australia. We would particularly like to acknowledge Charlene Semkin and Darol Dickinson for their foresight and willingness to make Texas Longhorn genetics available to breeders in Australia over an extended period of time. Australia typically has an unfavorable exchange rate and with semen prices rising each year, these input costs are just something we have to deal with if we are to continue to breed with AI exclusively. Because this is such a huge country, with livestock movement restrictions between states and territories, this can be somewhat problematic when it comes to marketing and moving cattle. Our property is 1,100 acres in area, and we run around 100-120 head of Longhorns and other livestock. We are situated in what is known as the dry tropics. We don’t irrigate or fertilize and are reliant on rain that typically falls during the summer months, locally known as the ‘wet season’. Our seasons can be unreliable, which even though it’s a challenge, the situation is made much easier due to the adaptability of Texas Longhorns.

“For us, Texas Longhorns tick most every box, we love the classic and timeless looks.�

Desley Davidson D 7 Spur Texas Longhorns

LD: What are the benefits of raising Texas Longhorns in Australia?

D: The benefits of raising Texas Longhorns in Australia is slow moving. Many people like and admire the animals, but there are only a few who wish to purchase and breed.

LD: What are the challenges of raising Texas Longhorns in Australia?

LD: What is the history of Texas Longhorns in Australia?

D: A few breeders in Australia have bred Texas Longhorns since the early 1910s. I have seen documentation that in 1985 Patrick Holt imported four young live animals HR Rural Frost, HR Montana, HR Shooting Star and HR Snowbird Heifers and Semen of HB Texas Mickey into Queensland Australia.

LD: Why did you decide to raise Texas Longhorns?

D: We have been breeding Texas Longhorns for 15 years.

Starting off with breeding Time Event cattle. In 2008, we purchased our first full blood Females from Michael and Lynda Bethel of Horseshoe B Longhorns; we had also previously purchased a full blood bull. From then on it has been a slow process to breed a full blood Longhorn herd, moving away from the Time Event type of cattle. Texas Longhorns give us great enjoyment seeing the cattle we bred mature to eye catching animals, especially with using the AI genetics available to over the last few years.

D: The challenges of breeding Texas Longhorn cattle in Australia are: acceptance from the general public that horned cattle can exist alongside beef cattle; they can only relate to them as lean mean animals, which is not the case. We have major problems to process slaughter animals as most meat-works won’t accept horned cattle. Loading and unloading facilities at shows and Field Days, we have custom built a trailer so we can unload and load.

LD: What kinds of projects are you working on to promote the breed?

D: Our main promotion project is to go to as many local shows and travels 1,000 kms to agricultural Field Days to show our Texas Longhorns, sell our Texas Longhorn hides, leather and mounted polished horns. We also have started to sell a small number of Longhorn cattle to a local butcher with the prospect of this expanding. We are trying hard to promote the breed and educate people as we go. We have our own Texas Longhorn Sale called Trails West Texas Longhorn Sale at Roma Queensland every year with two other breeders Horseshoe B Longhorns and Brigalow Longhorns. The sale is live streamed via Elite Auctions across Australia and beyond.

“We are trying

hard to promote the breed and educate people as we go.�

Hayley Offord Brigalow Longhorns LD: What is the history of Texas Longhorns in Australia?

Where did you get your first Longhorn from?

O: Texas Longhorns Australia was established in 2008, and the first Texas Longhorn Association registrations began in 2012.

Wes and I purchased our first registered Texas Longhorn bull in 2015 from Warren and Judy Matotek in Ridgelands, Queensland.

He was HBL Cowboy Saloon bred by Michael and Lynda Bethel of Horseshoe B Longhorns, Charters Towers.

LD: Why did you decide to raise Texas Longhorns?

O: Wes is a fifth-generation cattle grazier and has worked cattle all his life from milking dairy cows to raising stud and commercial Brahmans and Brangus (Brahman x Angus).

Wes first became interested in Texas Longhorns from a meat perspective as he is a Butcher by trade. We bought our first Texas Longhorn bull to cross him with our Brahmans which was a successful cross. However, once those colorful little calves started hitting the ground we were addicted. We sold our entire herd and replaced with registered Texas Longhorns. We have not looked back since.

LD: What are the benefits of raising Texas Longhorns in Australia?

O: Texas Longhorns are very well suited to us in Australia as they are such an adaptable breed of cattle. They are very well suited to our climate here in Central Queensland where it is generally hot and dry, but they also do very well in colder, wetter climates. Wes and I personally like them as they are great foragers and will eat things that other cattle do not, like leaves on bushes and trees. This has been great for us as we have been in drought conditions at our place and have had limited rainfall for the past two years. Good grazing grass has been at a minimum.

LD: What are the challenges of raising Texas Longhorns in Australia?

O: There are very few challenges in raising Texas Longhorns as they are so versatile. One limitation is we have a rather small gene pool in Australia. This is being helped substantially by the import of semen from the US and Canada. Dickinson ranch has always been a big supporter of Australia by collecting new bulls to import to Australia which we are all so appreciative of.

Another challenge is the major meat-works do not accept horned cattle so sometimes a fair amount of travel is involved in getting Longhorns to slaughterhouses that accept horned cattle. We are currently in the process of getting our accreditation to sell genuine Longhorn Beef from our property which is very exciting for us.

LD: What kind of projects are you working on to promote the breed?

O: We are always trying to promote Texas Longhorns in Australia as there has always been a bit of a misconception that if cattle have horns then they are wild animals. We travel to shows with our display of Texas Longhorns to show the general public their very placid nature. They are always a big hit. Wes is Vice President of Texas Longhorns Australia Inc., and we both handle all the registrations for Texas Longhorns in Australia. We are also part of the annual Trails West sale in Roma Queensland.

This sale was started by Gordon and Desley Davidson (D7Spur Texas Longhorns, Tambo, Queensland) Gordon and Desley saw the benefit of holding a Stud Sale in Queensland where the interest of Texas Longhorns has been rapidly increasing. This also gave breeders in Australia 2 sales a year, one in Queensland and one in New South Wales. The Trails West sale is made up of 3 vendors, D7Spur Texas Longhorns, Horseshoe B Longhorns (Michael and Lynda Bethel) and Brigalow Texas Longhorns (Wes and Hayley Offord) The Trails West team have recently partnered with G&G Longhorns, Rochelle, Virginia on a young bull that will be collected for import to Australia, the EU and Canada. We feel that the partnership with G&G Longhorns is just the start of more exciting ventures in the future. Wes and I are excited to travel to the US in the fall and hopefully we will get to meet many Longhorn breeders while we are there.

“Texas Longhorns are

very well suited to us in Australia as they are such an adaptable breed of cattle.�

Photo by Micha Hamersky of Texas Longhorn Austria

Austria Featuring an interview with Micha Hamersky

Micha Hamersky Texas Longhorn Austria LD: Where did you get your Texas Longhorns from?

H: Our first two Texas Longhorns were Embryos from Dickinson Cattle Co., a daughter of WinWin and a son of Unlimited. We bought a few animals from other breeders to have a bigger genetic-pool, and now we work with Embryos again. This way we were able to bring in the first Cowboy Tuff Chex genetics to Europe. Our grandson of him is now doing his first breeding season.

LD: Why did you decide to raise Texas Longhorns?

H: They just took my breath away when I first saw them in pictures. Looking into the breed, I found it was the perfect one for me to start my farm. That was one of my best decisions ever.

LD: What are the benefits of raising Texas Longhorns in Austria?

We are the first breeders of Texas Longhorns in Austria. This has some advantages. We do a lot of public work to make people aware of the breed, and we help others getting started with breeding stock and all information they can handle.

LD: What are the challenges of raising Texas Longhorns in Austria?

Being the first is also a challenge. Everybody compares you with the local breeds, especially in terms of meat production. People

think you are crazy for keeping cattle with such big horns in a place where everybody has dehorned cattle. Also there was no meat market when we started out, so it was a challenge to get into that too. Another bigger challenge we face right now, and actually a challenge that all European breeders face, is that we do not have a European Texas Longhorn Association to connect us, and helps us promote the breed, or even support each other under one roof. The EU has brought up laws to make it more difficult to just simply register our cattle in the USA as ITLA or TLBAA, so we are in the process of finding a solution for that. I guess we all like challenges here.

LD: What kinds of projects are you working on to promote the breed?

Some of our pastures are right beside a public hiking and bicycle road. We placed information on posters and a flyer box next to it.

Every beginning of grazing season, we put up info-cards with all animals names, character description, weight, horn measurement and number of calves on the fence, so people can read about the animals and encourage them to watch them. We do BBQ courses directly on one of the pastures. We sign up for innovative competitions to be more in the public. Last year, we interviewed for about seven newspaper and magazine articles. We have a Facebook page with more than 3,500 followers. Especially on Facebook, we try to give the community an insight of what Texas Longhorns are, how the daily life is with such a breed, how special their meat is and so on.

“We are the first

breeders of Texas Longhorns in Austria.”

LD: Could you tell me about your work with the Texas Longhorn beef products?

We started to build a market just a few years ago. Since we only butcher steers and only have had one per year so far, this made it even more difficult. Approaching restaurants with little quantity is hard. Our aim was to promote the Longhorn beef as lean, natural, tasty and healthy beef. Our price range is high because if the price is cheap, the value is low, at least in the minds of customers. We sell all steaks possible, the rest we produce burger patties, freeze them in packages of six and twelve and sell to burger restaurants and private customers off the farm. We also started a very high quality Longhorn Salami product out of 100% beef. It all started out very good and we are now trying to get more animals for the beef-market. In the meanwhile we connected with BBQ-trainers, chefs, food-blogs and more and gave them samples to test and use them for articles in their blog, etc. Besides the beef, we sell the skull to customers all over Europe. And if the hide is worth it, we have it tanned and sell that too.

LD: Is there anything that else that you would like to add?

I am really glad that ITLA offered the Judging clinics as a webinar and hope such clinics happen from time to time. Europe struggles a bit with the fact, that everybody makes up their own mind about what a good Longhorn is. Mostly the ones owned are the good ones. Such clinics offered help to stay real about it. Unfortunately, not many have attended. I have attended three times. Now one or two others for the first time, but I do hope more and more attend as they realize the importance of such events. We try to stay connected with USA and European breeders, and also try to participate in associations events such as articles for Drover, sending in Pictures and so on. We simply believe that it needs a community and we want to be part of if.

No matter that this community is widely spread.

Photo by Dirk Vogelaere of Texas Longhorn Beer Co.

Belgium Featuring an interview with Dirk Vogelaere

Dirk Vogelaere Texas Longhorn Beer Co.

LD: What is the history of Texas Longhorns in Belgium?

Where did you get your Texas Longhorns from?

V: I was the first who started with longhorns in Belgium. I wanted to buy some embryos, but a local farmer advised me not to do this because of the low results you would get with embryos and it would cost me a lot of money. He advised me to buy some in France. It was no problem to pay three times the money because I would be better off compared to the embryos.

I did buy two “longhorns” in France. They had no papers, no horns and became very aggressive. One cow never produced a calf due to malnutrition when young. My vet said he had never felt such small ovaries. The second one became extremely aggressive. They went to the butcher for next to nothing.

Meanwhile, I studied pedigrees and learned more animals than the average longhorn breeder, I think. There were already some longhorns over here in Europe at that time, but nothing for sale. I took contact with Dawn Davinia from DDR Longhorns and asked if they could produce some embryos for me out of

DDR Rio Ranger and Rodeo Max. I also really liked their cow Grande Perfection SL, who is a JP Rio Grande daughter and who was in his prime at that time. She answered that she wanted to cooperate, but had no clue how it must be done. About 100 emails and a lot of time later, the first embryos landed in Brussels, Belgium. Some guy at the airport asked me what was in that strange kettle and I said cows. He asked: “Are they alive?” And I said: “I hope so !”

LD: Why did you decide to raise Texas Longhorns?

V: I first had miniature Zebu cattle. They were nice, but nothing special. One day I was browsing the Internet looking for other miniature cattle and found miniature Texas longhorns, but not many. I found them really nice, but with so little animals on the world, something unreachable. A while later, I browsed the Internet again looking for the longhorns I saw but did not type in miniature, so I found “the real stuff” and I was hooked.

LD: What are the benefits of raising Texas Longhorns in Belgium?

LD: What kinds of projects are you working on to promote the breed?

V: Breeding Texas Longhorns in Belgium is doing something different than the usual, so you can attract lots of people to come over and visit them. Meanwhile, we are famous in the area for longhorn hamburger and as the man with the huge horned cattle.

V: I’m only a small breeder with four to six animals so my influence is minimal. We promote the longhorns as much as we can and even have beer on the market with the longhorns as logo and it are our own recipes. Our main project now is to start up our own brewery, but that is not sure yet.

LD: What are the challenges of raising Texas Longhorns in Belgium?

LD: Share some fun facts about Belgium!

V: Farmland in Belgium is very expensive, so it is almost impossible to sell longhorns to farmers because the rate of gain is too low for a farmer, and so is the weight at an age of two years. Belgium is full of the race Belgian White-Blue and Holsteins for the milk. Most visitors really like the longhorns, but as soon as somebody even thinks to buy one, the question is always how much meat in how little time. This plays a lot less in other countries in Europe, but nevertheless, the meat is very important in Europe. I think that is still a consequence of the many wars there have been in the past.

V: Our main language is Dutch, same as in the Netherlands. The south part of Belgium speaks French and in the East, there is a small section where they speak German. Belgium is well known for his Beer, the chocolates and the Brussels sprouts and Waffles.

In my own village, the Sentse Paling (Eel of Sint-Laureins) is specialty. Bruges, Antwerp, Brussels and Gent have the most tourists visit. From the coast in the west to the most southern point in the east in a straight line is only 300 kms or 190 Miles.

As we are in Eurozone, the Euro is our currency, before it was the Belgian Frank.

“Belgium is well

known for its beer...�

Beer brewed at the Texas Longhorn Beer Co. in Belgium.

Photo by Al Nieuwenhuis

Canada Featuring an interview with Al Nieuwenhuis Deb Lesyk

Al Nieuwenhuis

LD: What is the history of Texas Longhorns in Canada?

Where did you get your Texas Longhorns from?

N: I am not rightly sure about the history of Longhorns in Canada, but I know they’ve been here a good while and theres a lot of them. Unfortunately, where I am from (SW Ontario) there’s not a lot, so its pretty slim pickins’, but most of the people that do have them are very supportive and helpful folks.

I think there is quite a lot of Longhorns out in western Canada on the prairies in the real Canadian cattle country, but thats a long ride from here. I purchased my first Longhorns from a dairy farmer located just west of Bright, ON. It seemed he was dispersing his entire herd of Longhorns and they were priced to sell. It was my dream to raise these beautiful critters for a good while and I felt this was the best chance I’d get. At that time, he had a herd of open cows and heifers and one bull left over for sale. With some motivation from my brother Matt, we went over and scooped three cows and one heifer.

LD: Why did you decide to raise Texas Longhorns?

N: Ever since my father used to grow them for a local farmer in our own pastures, I’ve grown to love the breed and everything about the breed. There are many “pros” with the Longhorns and with raising them.

LD: What are the benefits of raising Texas Longhorns in Canada?

N: I would say its definitely pretty easy to grow grass, especially in SW Ontario. We usually have a relatively good supply of precipitation, and with the utilization of rotational grazing, grass just grows. Also, it doesn’t get super hot here, 40 degrees Celsius is about the max, so not a lot of heat stress.

LD: What are the challenges of raising Texas Longhorns in Canada?

N: The winters can be long. Grazing is certainly not an option through any Canadian winter so you better have a good supply of hay stacked up in the barn. The temperature goes down to about 40 below (Celsius) in these parts, but it doesn’t seem to have much of an effect on the Longhorns LD: What kinds of projects are you working on to promote the breed?

N: I am part of the Ontario Texas Longhorn Association which is a good group of people that are all for the promotion of the breed. We have showcases at local fairs and also have hosted Longhorn specific showcases. This gives the general public a better understanding of the breed and all the benefits that come with it. The OTLA hopes to be present at the annual Stratford Fall Fair this year with plenty of Texas Longhorns to look at!

LD: Share some fun facts about Canada!

N: Canada is best known for hockey, maple syrup, and super cold winters. Canada’s lowest recorded temperature was -63 degrees Celsius (-81.4 degrees Fahrenheit)!! But at any given time, you’ll find us sippin’ syrup and rockin’ plaid jackets, enjoying the Great White North.

“The OTLA hopes to be

present at the annual Stratford Fall Fair this year with plenty of Texas Longhorns to look at!”

Deb Lesyk CTLA President LD: What is the history of Texas Longhorns in Canada? Where did you get your Texas Longhorns from?

L: In 1876, George Emerson, previously a trader for the Hudson Bay Company, brought a small herd of Longhorns up from Montana. The next couple of years saw more Longhorns being brought up from the states. A herd of 1,000 head arrived in 1879. The buffalo were gone from the Canadian prairies and meat was needed for the Indigenous population.

The expansion of the ranching industry in Alberta occurred rapidly. A census on the cattle herds in 1884, only eight years after the first herd was trailed into southern Alberta, estimated the numbers at 40,000 head. Photos of the early herds show multi-colored, rangy, horned cattle displaying Longhorn characteristics.

The railroad reached Calgary in 1885, opening up the eastern market for the fat beef and providing an easier route for breeding stock to come to the west. During the next twenty five years, ranchers bred away from the Longhorns preferring the beefier, earlier maturing British breeds.

By 1902 and 1903, leased range land suitable for cultivation had been surveyed and was being offered for homesteading. Ranching on the unfenced range was disappearing as quickly as the Longhorn cattle. The Longhorns did disappear completely from Canada.

In 1969, several Canadian ranchers reintroduced Longhorns to Alberta from the United States. Part of the reintroduction of this breed was for nostalgic reasons but not entirely. Longhorn calves with their light birth weight, are vigorous and active shortly after birth, quick to nurse and ready to travel. These traits made a desirable cross using Texas Longhorn bulls to breed heifers having their first calves. No calving or nursing difficulties meant the new mothers were healthier and less stressed. The crossbred calf with genetic “hybrid vigor” had advantages from both parents resulting in a useful beef calf at weaning. As a result of the easy calving and the good growth rate of the cross bred calf, Texas Longhorn bulls have been used extensively in Western Canada since 1969.

The story continues and breeders across our country have individual preferences regarding the Longhorn cattle they raise. It could be conformation for the show ring, horns for the new market, genetic pools for developing the ultimate cross of conformation and horn, low cholesterol beef, roping stock for the rodeo industry, crossbred calves on first calf heifers, or just having Texas Longhorns because of nostalgic reasons. It is a breed that continues to be recognized, utilized and admired in Canada.

The Double D Arena in Outlook, Saskatchewan purchased our first registered heifers in 1988. We initially wanted the cattle for nostalgic reasons but quickly realized their value in various areas. We purchased our first heifers from an ad in the Western Producer that I was reading on a horse buying trip to Montana. Those first heifers became the seed stock of our herd and even 31 years later, the original bloodlines still exist.

LD: What are the benefits of raising Texas Longhorns in Canada?

L: The benefits of raising Texas Longhorns in Canada is they are a unique breed that capture the attention of many no matter where they are displayed. They become a topic of conversation and many times visitors stop to just look at their majestic beauty. For us, they are easy keepers on pasture, land that is far from lush. We appreciate their ability to utilize all grasses and get into bush areas that other breeds would not attempt. There are ongoing requests for registered bulls from the commercial cattleman and the recreation cattle industry is there as well for us. We are still interested in showing cattle, so we work on conformation and consistency in the calves we raise.

LD: What are the challenges of raising Texas Longhorns in Canada?

L: The biggest challenge of raising Texas Longhorns in Canada is limited markets and the lack of appreciation of the breed at sale barns and by other breeds. It always amazes me when a well known breeder from another breed secretly says “we use Longhorns on our first calf heifers, but don’t tell anyone!” They should be celebrating the success of the crossbreeding, not trying to hide it! For us, the lack of shows for the breed in Canada is discouraging, and the ridiculous rules to take show cattle into the United States can be extremely limiting. Not every breeder wants a “CAN” brand on a show animal and often times the border vets don’t encourage the tattoo that can also be used. I see several of the Canadian breeders being very creative in their marketing strategies and seriously promoting Longhorn beef. It can only help to increase the numbers of Texas Longhorn cattle in Canada.

LD: What kinds of projects are you working on to promote the breed?

L: The Texas Longhorn affiliates in Canada attempt to offer projects of interest to as many as possible. Various displays featuring Longhorn products, various contests to promote interest in the uniqueness of the breed and working with various committees in the United States to recognize the concerns and needs of the Texas Longhorn breeders in Canada. Certainly seeing our genetic stock being sold to breeders stateside helps all of us, and we do try to celebrate every breeder’s success as we are few in number. Some of the biggest success stories were to see a Canadian bred Texas Longhorn bull win World Show Championships, to see Canadian bred cattle place well at events in the states and to see crossbred cattle with Texas Longhorn influence being shown by youth in 4-H projects. The Alberta Texas Longhorn Association has ensured that youth have been recognized for showing those crossbreeds, as it’s another avenue of promotion.

LD: Share some fun facts about Canada!

L: Canada is a great country, our weather is unpredictable, our money is colored, we can have long, cold winters but we have the best beer! If you have never been across the line get your passport and come north for a visit. Beautiful country, wonderful people, and we do love our Texas Longhorns. Thanks to the ITLA for recognizing Canadian breeders in this publication.

Photo by Anne Leichtenstern of Texas Longhorn Ranch

Germany Featuring interviews with Katja Grรถbner Anne Leichtenstern

Katja Gröbner Texas Longhorn Greenwood Ranch LD: What is the history of Texas Longhorns in Germany? Where did you get your Texas Longhorns from?

G: During our stays in the US, we first came into contact with the Texas Longhorn cattle breed. Since then we got hooked on these fascinating animals. In 2011, the first directly imported Texas Longhorns came to Germany via Canada. That was the moment when we decided to breed and keep this cattle breed. However, it would take another four years before we would get our first Texas Longhorns. In 2015, we bought the first bull and three cows from the Leichtenstern family in Bavaria (Texas Longhorn Germany). On our pastures, we now also graze a suckler cow herd of Texas Longhorns along with quarter horses.

LD: Why did you decide to raise Texas Longhorns?

G: Although we are greenhorns with respect to cattle breeding, our Texas longhorns made cattle farming easy for us. Our extensive grassland farm is operated according to eco-farming principles, and the innate positive characteristics of Texas longhorns are perfect for the herd being pastured throughout the year.

LD: What are the benefits of raising Texas Longhorns in Germany?

Due to their robustness and above all, their adaptability, we can graze our cattle all year round. Their browse efficiency and utilization keep our extensively used pastures free from weed and brushwood. Organic farmers in our neighborhood love to borrow our cattle to rid their meadows from thistles and brushwood, too. Our cows calve with ease and without assistance out in the open.

LD: What are the challenges of raising Texas Longhorns in Germany?

Currently, the return of wolves and lynxes to Germany poses a huge problem for many livestock farmers. Unprotected young livestock are easy prey. Here, too, the longhorns’ strong instinct to protect their calves is of big advantage. This particularly holds true for our bull “Double 5”, who is with the herd at all times and protects his “ladies” and offspring.

LD: What kinds of projects are you working on to promote the breed?

Of course, meat production is an important factor for keeping longhorn cattle, too. Meat consumers in Germany develop an increasing sense of health consciousness and quality awareness, which gives us good reason to be optimistic about a growing market. Consumer demand for our lean and low-cholesterol Texas longhorn beef is high. We have already sold our cattle’s offspring in Germany and neighboring countries.

Texas longhorns are becoming increasingly popular. The acquisition of sufficient and diverse gene material poses a challenge. With the prevailing opportunity to import breeding animals, embryos, and sperm from the American continent, we are hoping to expand the diversity of the gene material, in order to focus on American breeding objectives and to boost the positive characteristics of the Texas longhorn breed.

Furthermore, an objective should be the founding of an association or a subsidiary in Germany / Europe so that we can match the standards and breeding objectives of ITLA and to standardize them. We are happy and very proud indeed to keep such a fabulous cattle breed here in Germany.

For us, the nicest part of it is when the calves are born in spring. Over and over again, we are excited about the trusting nature and varied coloration of our calves. It is so exciting to watch them grow up.

“For us, the nicest part of it is when the calves are born in spring.�

Anne Leichtenstern Texas Longhorn Ranch

LD: What is the history of Texas Longhorns in Germany? Where did you get your Texas Longhorns from?

L: The Longhorns in Germany started with some animals out of embryos, but that was just a few animals. So in 2009, we decided to start with an import of living animals. We contacted some breeders in Canada because import from the USA was not possible until today.

We called Mark Stewart and his wife Tina, who agreed to Start the adventure with us. After that, we needed two more years for certifying the complete herd of longhorns to be able to fly them to Germany. That was a lot of work for the Stewarts, and we are still thankful to them for their great enrollment in that. In 2011, we had been able to fly 24 animals in. They really started the story of Longhorns in Germany on our organic Texas Longhorn Ranch. After that, we imported every year around 20 animals until Bluetongue in Canada stopped that possibility.

We are running the biggest Longhorn Ranch in Europe.

LD: Why did you decide to raise Texas Longhorns?

L: We fell in love with the breed on our trips to USA. We already had been raising Quarter horses for 20 years, and the story of those horses and the Longhorns are close together. We always would have loved to have them, but you could not find them in Europe back then. Longhorns are extraordinary animals, beautiful, easily to be kept and something very special to us.

LD: What are the benefits of raising Texas Longhorns in Germany?

L: Longhorns are not only good beef cattle, but they are also profitable.

You can sell calves very good, because there are still very few of them in Europe. The meat is of high quality, and we are delivering to very good cooks with Longhorn meat. They are happy about that.

LD: What are the challenges of raising Texas Longhorns in Germany?

L: In 2011, the genetic range was not very big in Europe, so you had to have a look in the pedigrees to avoid inbreeding. Now a number of embryo animals have come to Europe and some semen too. We are now happy that we have enough different lines here to produce really high quality animals.

LD: What kinds of projects are you working on to promote the breed?

L: To promote the breed further we are going to trade fairs. We had lots of attention in TV. Personally we own a distillery where we are distilling our own whiskey, the Longhorn Moonshine. All the projects are coming together. What still has to be done is official measurings and competitions, these things still don’t exist in Europe or Germany.

LD: Can you tell me about your work with Longhorn Beef products?

L: On our ranch, we produce Longhorn Burger. We use older animals or breeding bulls. The high quality meat, especially the meat of our steers, are going mainly to a two star cook named Alexander Herrmann, who is creating special dinners out of the meat. Some of the animals we are selling directly to our customers on the ranch.

LD: Share some fun facts about Germany!

L: What is special in Germany is that we do have the highest number of Breweries in relation to the people living in Germany. We also have a lot of bakers and butchers. People in Germany do know how to enjoy food and drink, so it should be a compliment that they are enjoying Longhorn meat too.

Photo by Avery B. Chumbley of Makani Olu Ranch

Hawaii Featuring an interview with Avery B. Chumbley

Avery B. Chumbley Makani Olu Ranch

LD: What is the history of Texas Longhorns in Hawaii? Where did you get your Texas Longhorns from?

The Makani Olu Ranch Texas Longhorn cattle came from Pete Boyce of Almendra Longhorns in Manteca California. We started out with 14 head in 2007 and recently grew to over 170 head. Texas Longhorn cattle were the first cattle to be brought to Hawaii.

In 1793, George Vancouver carried on a sailing ship about a dozen (what was then called) California Longhorns to King Kamehameha I as a gift to expand the commercial opportunities of early Hawaii. In order to help the cattle industry, grow, the King placed a “Kapu” which is a Hawaiian law that anyone who killed longhorn cattle would be put to death. The cattle flourished and started doing significant damage, so about 20 years later King Kamehameha III lifted the KAPU and started harvesting them for meat. Spanish cowboys, “vaqueros”, were brought in to teach the Hawaiians how to work cattle properly. These Hawaiian cowboys became known as “Paniolos.”

LD: Why did you decide to raise Texas Longhorns?

The Texas Longhorns have a long significant history in Hawaii and are beautiful animals to raise. In addition, the meat quality of a very lean beef offers a excellent, low fat alternative for red meat. I wanted to make Makani Olu Ranch a show place and there is no better of a breed to have than Texas Longhorn to show off.

“I wanted to make Makani

Olu Ranch a show place and there is no better of a breed to have than Texas Longhorn to show off.

�

LD: What are the benefits of raising Texas Longhorns in Hawaii?

We often have long periods during the dry months of our season where rain is sporadic and the pastures will dry out quickly. The Texas Longhorns are well adapted to having limited forage. We grow a grass fed all natural beef with no hormones or additives, just a good ole grass fed beef. In addition, the Texas Longhorns are the best birthing cow. Rarely do you have to attend or assist in a birth of a calf. In fact, in twelve years I have only lost two calves due to birthing complications.

LD: What are the challenges of raising Texas Longhorns in Hawaii?

In the past, the cattle industry in Hawaii was focused on a cow/calf operation with the weans being shipped out to the mainland for finishing.

Angus is the primary breed in Hawaii nowadays.

There has been a recent shift to doing more beef production here locally by increasing marketing efforts to the local consumers. The low-fat lean beef of a Texas Longhorn is something the local market is not accustomed to, and educating the market to this benefit has been a challenge.

LD: What kinds of projects are you working on to promote the breed?

I often take two or three older show steers to the local AG Festivals or County Fair. They are a huge hit.

People are snapping selfie pictures of themselves with the huge tip to tip horns in the background. They can’t believe even the cows have horns, often mistaking them for bulls. The cow/calf pair exhibits have won best in show two times, and they are a huge hit.

Someday, I hope to train a steer from early birth to a point it has a large horn spread, and I can saddle it and ride him in the Fair parade. That would be a mind blower on Maui!

Photo by Marianne Adriaans of Diepenhoek Texas Longhorns

Netherlands Featuring an article by Marianne Adriaans

Marianne Adriaans Diepenhoek Texas longhorns

We are Martien(57) and Marianne Adriaans(56), and we live in the Netherlands, Europe. The Netherlands is 17 times as small as the state of Texas. We have 17 million inhabitants in comparison to Texas that has 27 million. We are the second largest country, after America, in terms of agricultural exports, so we deal very efficiently with our agricultural land. This is also the reason that grassland is very expensive. An acre costs around 30,000 American dollars.

a company that exports breeding stock, embryos and semen around the world. Here she learned the tricks of the trade. Meanwhile, Holstein breeding was excellent. Diepenhoek Rozelle 54 was the number one in the world in 2012. Others in her pedigree are among the best in Europe. Several bulls went to AI centers throughout Europe, and even in America, we had a breeding bull. Embryos were sold to all countries in Europe, Canada, America, South Africa and even to Japan.

We both had a dream to start a dairy farm. There were no opportunities on the farms of our parents. As 20-year-olds, we therefore went to Canada to see if we could buy a small farm there. We also visited countries such as France, Denmark and Germany. Eventually we bought a very small dairy farm in the Netherlands. We started milking 40 cows.

We also had to invest in milking quota. This was $10,000 per cow. With these numbers, you understand that it’s almost impossible to build a successful business. We produce for the world market and therefore, we have no protection from our government.

In the meantime, Marianne had another dream. As a small child, she always watched “little house on the prairie� on TV. In Europe this series was very popular. How beautiful would it be to realize this atmosphere on their own farm in the Netherlands? Firstly, a veranda was built.

A ranch with Texas longhorn cows was her next dream. At that time, there were no Texas longhorn cows in Europe. In 2007, she went with her husband Martien to Dickinson Cattle Co. in Ohio to inspect the cows and to buy some embryos for starting their own herd in Europe.

The result of the 20 embryos were six calves, three female and three male. It was her intention to import sperm from America to Europe.

During the years that she was doing this, it turned out to be almost impossible. Veterinary obstacles were the problem, but a solution came up for this. Diepenhoek John Wayne , the first 70 inch tip to tip bull in Europe was housed on an AI station, and semen was won from him. In the meantime, Marianne sold semen from this bull throughout Europe.

In 2010, 10 embryos were again purchased to acquire new bloodlines.

Again 6 calves came from this. She started breeding with these animals.

Our interest has always been in breeding. Our cows were not good enough for top breeding, so we decided to buy genetically high-quality embryos and calves. These embryos came from the best cow families around the world. We started breeding with these calves. In 1998, together with three other colleague breeders, our sales site www. eurogenes.com was established. This has now become the largest website in Europe. In the meantime, Marianne also started working for

The intention was to quickly build up a large herd by embryo transplant or In Vitro Production. She wanted to become a European trading company for all things Texas Longhorn. They had over 20 years of experience with ET and IVP with their Holstein cows. Unfortunately, the Texas Longhorns did not succeed. Meanwhile, the number of Holstein cows grew, and investments were made in a new barn with a milking robot. It became clear that none of their three children were interested in the Holstein business, but to Marianne’s great joy, their eldest daughter Wendy indicated that she wanted to set up a recreational activity on the farm with her mother. She has been a scouting child from a young age and has been in charge of her own group for years.

She wanted to cook on a campfire between the Texas Longhorn cows.

In the meantime, she offered cooking on a campfire for groups, High Tea on campfire for the ladies, and beer, meat, and fire for the men. It is impossible to always do this outside so when it rains everything moves inside our stable where the young stock is housed. Wendy just started a 15-mile route through colleague farmers who sell farm products. Our guests will receive a basket and money and will cycle the route and immediately buy from the farmers. They will use these products to cook at De Longhorn Ranch. The first Texas Longhorn cowboy cooking event would soon start. A longhorn from their own herd is slaughtered and the guests are presented with this meat in various ways. The American way of BBQ, the slow cooker, is not very well known in the Netherlands. We want to change that at DeLonghorn ranch. Our guests always ask if they can catch Texas Longhorns with a lasso. We are not going to do this, but we have now made a “Dummy” to practice on. His name is “Bullseye”.

We continue to look for ideas to entertain our guests. The condition is that it must be related to the longhorns and the western way of life.

Marianne was increasingly approached by schools to give practical lessons about breeding. Partly the lessons are about the theory of breeding. Genomic selection is a part that students want to know more about. The other half goes into the barn with Martien and Wendy and

actively assesses cattle. Martien is a connoisseur and has participated in national shows. Regionally, Martien and Marianne have also participated in shows for years. Martien with the cows in the ring, and Marianne in the organization of the show. We teach them about breeding and test their practical knowledge. Our government has made it compulsory for all primary schools that the children must have been on a farm at least once. Our government considers it important that children see where their food comes from. In collaboration with these schools, we will give substance to this.

Breeding and trade are really Marianne’s thing. Every week, emails from people who want to buy Texas Longhorns come from all over Europe. The last few years they were not very lucky with heifer calves.

For this year, they have eight pregnancies. If female animals are born, we will not sell them. We want to grow in numbers. Now we have a new regulation system in the Netherlands that makes it almost impossible to get more animals. What I do now is mediate between a buyer and seller. The first deal was with a zoo in the Czech Republic and a Texas longhorn breeder in Austria.

They would like to receive their guests in style. An American / Canadian barn was still on Marianne’s wish list. These buildings are not known in Europe, but everyone knows what they are. She started this immense caraway nearly two years ago. A former pig barn was converted into a saloon. Here she could give shape to all the ideas that she gained from her time in America. A project like this is impossible to realize alone. Luckily, she got help from a good friend who loves The Old West as much as Marianne herself. The barn was ready, but she had new ideas to start building again. An Old West Main street is on the list.

Visitors ask us what we still want to achieve. We have an application from a young couple to be allowed to hold their wedding ceremony here. They would like to marry with the Longhorns in the background.

Soon Marianne has an appointment with a Dutch cowboy who works in the horse show in Euro Disney Paris. He wants to come and discuss the Wild West to come alive at The Longhorn Ranch. Martien, Marianne and Wendy are always looking for people to work together, so anybody who reads this has something that might be interesting for Europe.

Please send them an e-mail.

October 2017, for the first time in Europe, official horn measurements have been made for the HSC in America. Diepenhoek Miss Temptation measured 80.375 inches. She was the first Texas longhorn in Europe to achieve this status. Their herd sire Dirk’s Ranger Grande measured just a hair under 80 inches. He scored 79.25. Both are currently the Texas Longhorns with the biggest horns in Europe. Diepenhoek Ponderosa is a two-year-old bull of these two animals.

And your wish with the longhorns? We now sell our meat to restaurants.

It would be much nicer if you could only go to De Longhorn Ranch for this piece of quality meat. They hope to realize that in the short term.

And for Diepenhoek itself? Calmly expanding to everything that has to do with Texas Longhorns, and in the meantime, they do not forget to enjoy with what they have already achieved.

Dirk Vogelaere from Belgium has made this possible. He has been appointed by TLBAA to do official horn measurements in Europe.

What will the future bring? Together with a number of Texas Longhorn pioneers in Europe, the Texas longhorn breeding as a whole is lifting to a higher level. Possibly setting up a European herd book. At the moment we are struggling with European rules so in a short time this is not possible. Jonathan Bentz has succeeded in qualifying sperm for Europe.

Also, Darol Dickinson has a bull qualified for Europe. Together we work hard to make it possible for semen and embryo to legally come to Europe. The wish is to extend this in the future.

Photo by Pascal Nyfeler

Switzerland Featuring an interview with Pascal Nyfeler

Pascal Nyfeler

LD: What is the history of Texas Longhorns in Switzerland? Where did you get your Texas Longhorns from?

N: The first two Embryos in Switzerland were born 2004. In 2013, the first import was done from Canada. No live stock can be imported from the USA, therefore 35 Texas Longhorns were imported to Switzerland.

I got two cows out of the import. Right now, I run about 15-20 head.

Shortly after that I focused more on American blood lines through blood lines out of American Embryos.

LD: Why did you decide to raise Texas Longhorns?

N: I did a Route 66 Trip from Chicago to LA in 2013 and fell in love even more with USA where I saw Longhorns for the first time. I was instantly clear about my goal to build up a breeding herd in Switzerland.

The same day, I researched and contacted about breeding programs in the USA and Europe.

LD: What are the benefits of raising Texas Longhorns in Switzerland?

N: The easy handling, the ideal character and I have not needed a vet in six years. The meat has not much fat, and is therefore preferred by my clients. I directly market all the meat. The most important is to live the United States Dream with them.

LD: What are the challenges of raising Texas Longhorns in Switzerland?

N: Prejudices exist that animals with big horns are dangerous. People here believe the Longhorns hurt themselves and people with the bigger horns. It is definitely not the case, just prejudices. Having to feed the Longhorns longer to reach the end weight for meat is also a difference to deal with. For me, it is hard to acquire new genetics. Good blood lines are a bit rare in Europe, not even talking about Switzerland. Import from the EU into Switzerland (Switzerland is not part of the European Union) is difficult and really expensive. I work together with a good breeder and pioneer from Austria (Texas Longhorn Austria), because there is still so much to learn and exchanging knowledge is very important to me.

LD: What kinds of projects are you working on to promote the breed?

N: I attend about 2-3 exhibitions with my Longhorns, so others get to know the breed and see the advantage. I sell Burger and meat to bigger events and customers are really happy. Selling the skull and hide also pushes popularity of the breed.

LD: Share some fun facts about Switzerland!

N: Switzerland is located in the middle of Europe. It is a very small country with only 41,285 square kilometers and 8.5 million inhabitants.

We have four official languages, and each language has several dialects.

Currency is the Frank, most of the EU countries have the EURO as currency. There are about 100 Longhorns in Switzerland, held by 12 breeders. Each year 1-2 new breeders join the community.

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Longhorn

News Director Speaks at Grass-fed Beef Conference

Dirk Vogelaere measuring Dirk’s Barracuda, Europe’s first Texas Longhorn to reach the 100 inch mark. June 24.

Reaching New Lengths The first Texas Longhorn in Europe to hit the 100 inch mark measures in at 101 inches (250 centimeters) tip to tip.

ITLA Region 9 Director, Joe Dowling, spoke at the Grass-fed Beef Conference at Texas A&M University May 30 - 31, 2019.

The conference serves to inform people from all over the world about grass-fed beef. It explains the different types of grass-fed beef, how it’s produced, and the different types of grasses for the best results.

“I spoke on production and marketing and some of the difficulties you run into marketing your own beef.”

Says Dowling. “I promoted Longhorns as one of the best breeds for grass-fed beef hopefully to bring more people into the Longhorn industry.”

Dowling has raised longhorns since 1997. His contributions to the Texas Longhorn industry are greatly appreciated by the ITLA.

By Kacie Ging Texas Longhorns are reaching new lengths as the first steer to pass the 100-inch tip to tip mark in Europe has just been measured.

Dirk’s Barracuda is owned by Dirk Vogelaere and measures in at 101 inches tip to tip. He is the product of DDR Rio Ranger and Grande Perfection SL. “My brother came over and I knew he must have been over 100 inches already,” says Vogelaere. “But you are only really sure when you take the measurement.”

To measure the steer’s horns, Vogelaere used a Swedish catch fence. Food is placed on the outside of the fence, and

when the cattle put their heads down to eat, the fence closes around their neck.

“When they are used to the fence, it takes only one minute to catch the animal,” says Vogelaere. “Then we simply put the tape on him which resulted in 101-inch tip to tip.”

Dirk’s Barracuda is just one steer in a family of lengthy horns. His full sister, Dirk’s Leweze measures at 78 inches tip to tip, and his full brother Dirk’s Red Bull, now deceased, measured 81 inches tip to tip.

“It sure is exciting to reach the mark, and it also shows that when I first contacted DDR Longhorns, Darin and Dawn Davinia, in 2009-2010 that I selected the right bloodlines,” says Vogelaere. “At that time, I would have never thought to be able to reach that number though.”

facebook Candid Photo Submissions ITLA Youth is at ITLA International Texas Longhorn Association.

July 2, 2019 at 9:58 AM • Glen Rose, TX

Enjoy the photo submissions sent in by our members! Thanks to all who participated! If your photo isn’t below, don’t worry! Watch for it in future issues and on the Longhorn Drover Facebook page!

The ITLA is pleased to announce the three winners for the ITLA Youth Facebook page’s photo contest. Blaine Banks Moore took first place with a total of 172 Facebook reactions. Jade Wiggins took second place with a total of 146 Facebook reactions. McKenzie Oswald took third place with a total of 91 Facebook reactions. The ITLA would like to thank everyone who participated in the contest.

Photo Submitted by Micha Hamersky Texas Longhorns Austria

Photo Submitted by Kyndall Keaton

Photo Submitted by Evonne Keene

Photo Submitted by Kathy Lewis 1 Bar 7 Longhorns

Blaine Banks Moore’s photo entry.

Jade Wiggins’ photo entry.

$10.00 Bull Registration McKenzie Oswald’s photo entry.

As a way of showing our appreciation of our members, ITLA has made all Bull Registration $10.00 for the year of 2019.

Social Media Highlight

facebook Madara Farms

May 26, 2019 • Erie, PA Loving animals is the best part of what we do. The daily work from cleaning, feeding, repairing everything they break and caring for these animals can be time consuming and wear us down to almost giving up. The reward of seeing their playful and adventurous personalities enjoying the smallest things is what makes everything worth it.

As a first generation Longhorn farm, we are learning much of what we do from the beautiful Facebook and Instagram community we surrounded ourselves with. Everybody knows social media can be filled with hate and judgement, but we have never experienced a more welcoming community of like-minded people than the communities we found on these platforms. Each and every day we are inspired to pursue our dream of being local farmers who inform their community of the agriculture industry. We made connections with other Longhorn breeders from Texas to Australia. Nothing makes us happier than getting an encouraging message from another farmer who sees us struggling and knows exactly what it is like to go through those beginning struggles.

If it wasn’t for social media we would not be able to get the advice we get today. In our area, Erie Pennsylvania, there are not many Longhorn breeders, so being able to connect with them can be very challenging. On social media, we can take a picture of our cow ask for advice and minutes later have a number of solutions to our problem. Our social media community ranges from veterinarians to sixth generation farmers. The volume of knowledge these individuals have and are willing to share is incredible.

Not only do these platforms provide years of knowledge, but we can also express and appreciate creativity through the photography and captions. Nature provides us with the perfect backdrop to capture memories and share them with our followers. Daily post of adorable calves or heifers wearing flower crowns are sure to put a smile on anyones face. Agriculture social media communities are not only for Breeders and industry companies, but for anyone who wants to see a life that is rewarding, learn more about the agriculture industry, or simply enjoy the photography.

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Erie County, Pennsylvania

I would encourage everyone whether they are new to the industry like us, or have years of experience, to join a social media community. Your story is important and could be life changing for someone who is seeking a career change, mentor or friend to share their tribute and trials with. We are so thankful for the connections we made on Facebook and Instagram, our Longhorn breeding journey is in part theirs.

Amelia Madara Owner of Madara Farms Erie, Pennsylvania

madara_farms Sunday Funday here at the farm!

Merchandise Long Sleeve Shirt

ITLA Cookbook

2019 Texas Longhorn Celebrity Calendar

Hoodie

ITLA Horn Stew Book

ITLA Member Sign

Short Sleeve Shirt

Vest

Stuffed Longhorn Animal

Order forms can be found at www.itla.com Please fill out and email to staff@itla.com

2019 EVENTS

AUG

Rocky Mountain Select Sale and Futurity

JULY Ohio River Valley Texas Longhorn Association Buckeye Classic Futurity Futurity July 19 | Open Show July 20 Wooster, OH For more information contact: Amber Dunmire bonnieglenfarm@gmail.com (330) 231 - 0345

Midwest Texas Longhorn Association Summer Show July 26 - 27, 2019 Bloomington, IN For more information contact: Courtney Tomey (812) 797 - 8609

Sale August 9 - 10, 2019 Latigo Trails Arena Colorado Springs, CO For consignment information contact: Charlie Searle (719) 649 - 0058 charliesearle02@gmail.com Stan Searle (719) 649 - 9590 stan@searleranch.com Sale Manager: Gary Lake (719) 314 - 8294 gary@searleranch.com Futurity August 9, 2019 Entries: Marlene Reynolds (719) 510 - 2151 cowgirlmama83@gmail.com

Bolen Production Sale August 17, 2019 Fort Worth, TX For more information contact: Brent and Cindy Bolen

SEPT Chisholm Trail Texas Longhorn Association Fall Show September 14, 2019 Wise County Fairgrounds 3101 FM 51 Decatur, TX 76234 For more information contact: Danielle Mershon (254) 630 - 0053

Dickinson Cattle Co. Customer Appreciation Day September 28, 2019 52nd Annual DCC Customer Appreciation Day Featuring: Texas Longhorn Demonstrations, Horn Showcase Measuring, Ranch Tours, Great Food, and Guest Speakers.

To RSVP, call 740-758-5050

OCT ITLA Championship Show and Convention October 9 - 13, 2019 Hopkins County Regional Civic Center 1200 Houston Street Sulphur Springs, TX Featuring: Open Haltered Show, Open Non-haltered Show, Youth Show, ITLA Futurity, International All Star Futurity For more information contact: ITLA Office (254) 898 - 0157 staff@itla.com

Alberta Texas Longhorn Association

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Cody Bailey, President Phone: (780) 361 - 8871 Email: albertatexaslonghorn@gmail.com

Best of Trails Texas Longhorn Association John Dvorak, President Phone: (620) 382 - 2067 Email: jpdcrd33@netks.net

Canadian Texas Longhorn Association Deb Lesyk, President Phone: 306-867-3039 Phone: 403-575-0114 Email: office@ctlalonghorns.com Website: www.ctlalonghorns.com

Chisholm Trail Texas Longhorn Association Danielle Mershon, President Phone: 254-630-0053 Email: danielle@whistlingtxlonghorn.com

Great Lakes Texas Longhorn Association Johnny Hicks, President Phone: 269-721-3473 Email: hicksamericanbulldogs@yahoo.com

Indian Territory Texas Longhorn Association Robert Van Liew, President Phone: 405-420-1720 Email: vanliewranch@gmail.com

The Longhorn Posse

Mikell Deatherage, President Phone: 817-999-1836 Email: luvmyholsteiner@yahoo.com

Midwest Texas Longhorn Association

Tim Mills, President Phone: 419-606-6184 Email: mountainview_longhorns@yahoo.com

Mountain States Texas Longhorn Association Marlene Reynolds, President Phone: 719-510-2151 Email: cowgirlmama83@gmail.com Website: www.MSTLA.org

Northeast Texas Longhorn Association Jodi King, President Phone: 717-475-5819 Email: latimorevalleyfarms@earthlink.net Website: www.netlalonghorns.com

Ohio River Valley Texas Longhorn Association Amber Dunmire, President Phone: 330-231-0345 Email: bonnieglenfarm@gmail.com

Texas Longhorn Association of Ontario Don Flemmington, President Phone: 519-323-7982 Email: don@trelanefarms.com

Top of the West Texas Longhorn Association Shadow Seaman, President Phone: 208-420-2484 Email: victoryranch@earthlink.net

We have some exciting news for those of you attending The Longhorn Posse Showdown on August 3rd! We are doing something new for our youth! We will have a scholarship available to one of the winners of showmanship. We will have the 4 divisions of showmanship. Then each 1st place winner will go on to an All Age Showmanship class.

The winner of that class will get the scholarship!

We will also have silver buckles for our All Age Champion winners in the youth and open shows.

You won’t want to miss it!

Bill Henderson will be our judge for open and Paul Evans will be our youth and showmanship judge this year!

The entry and sponsor deadline is July 26 so please hurry and get yours sent in! For entry packets and sponsorship info you can contact Pam Kinsel at 254-485-4269. We still have plenty of sponsorship opportunities in the youth and open.

Embryo Transfer & Artificial Insemination Facility Take advantage of the best genetics available in the cattle industry today by using AI & embryo transfer to build your herd.

The professional team at C1G is waiting to take care of all your AI and Embryo Transfer needs. Let them put their years of experience to work for you by helping you build the cattle herd of your dreams. At C1G we know that the success of a flush is not only determined on flush day but in the days leading up to the flush. Unlike other facilities we maintain your donors on pasture with mineral and nutrition supplements in the days leading up to their flush. We maintain a low stress environment for the cattle. In other words “We care for your cattle just like they were our own”. We only work with a limited number of cattle at a time. Ask about our Donor Special and our AI Special. Now booking ET and AI sessions. Space is limited, so call today.

“ Helping build your Dream herd, one embryo at a time”.

Russell & Felicia Hooks Owners / Operators Over 35 yrs experience in the cattle industry as ranch manager, private ET herd manager, herd consultant & custom fitter of show cattle. Russell will over see the daily care and preparation of cattle. Felicia will be managing the office, schedules and customer service.

Contact Chosen 1 Genetics Today

409-381-0616

Email: russellh@longhornroundup.com Located in McGregor, TX

“We care for your cattle just like they were our own”

President Amber Dunmire, VP Jeff Morris, Carice Jameson, Treasurer and Amber Newman Secretary.

The Ohio River Valley Texas Longhorn Association held their last planning meeting before the Annual Show and Futurity. The meeting of members and leaders was held at Robert R. Snyder’s office, executive conference room, at Granville, Ohio, last Saturday June 15. The air was peaceful,

food was good and numerous volunteers were eager and ready for the 25th annual show event.

ORVTLA President Amber Dunmire presided with expanded plans for the first Futurity along with the annual show. Dr. June Cohron, of Stuarts Draft, VA, will

be the official ITLA judge.

The events will be held July 19 & 20 at the Wooster, Ohio Fair Grounds. From early entries, president Dunmire states this looks like the largest ORVTLA show ever.

r u Yo ITLA Championship Show & Convention

Dear ITLA Members, Directors and all Longhorn Friends, We would like to officially invite you to YOUR 2019 ITLA Championship Show and convention.

breeders outside of the mainland U.S.. Listen to educational talks with keynote speakers, and attend extravagant dinners and banquets.

Join us for a weekend of fun and fellowship, as we bring our longhorn community together for one memorable show.

The ITLA appreciates each and every one of its members and supporters. We look forward to meeting with everyone out at the show! We would also like to give a huge thank you to all of the sponsors who make YOUR ITLA Championship Show and Convention possible. We hope to see you there!

Participate in haltered and nonhaltered shows, futurities, and several other competitions. View a display of the International Photo Show showcasing the work of

Forms: Entry Forms Elite Heifer Consignment Form International Photo Show Miss ITLA Youth Queen Sponsorship Form

2019 Championship Show and Convention Hotel Clarion Pointe - Sulphur Springs Contact: 411 East Industrial Drive Sulphur Springs, TX 75482 Phone: (903) 885-6851 Fax: (903) 885-6941 ITLA Room Rates: Standard $89 Suite $99 Be sure to tell them you are staying for the “Longhorn Cattle Show and Convention� to receive your ITLA discounted room rates.

Sponsors

Become a 2019 Championship Show and Convention Sponsor

Thank you to all of the sponsors for the 2019 Championship Show and Convention. We greatly appreciate your generous contributions which will make the event a grand and memorable experience.

Drag Rider - $350

One 1/4 page Ad in the show program ($100 value) One 1/2 page Ad in the Longhorn Drover ($150 value) Listed on the Sponsor Page in the Longhorn Drover 2 - Commemoratives Sponsor Badge(s) for all 3 Dinners Digital advertising during all 3 catered dinners and awards banquet. Sponsor provides banner for the arena.

Thank You 2019 Championship Show and Convention Sponsors

Out Rider-$500

One Full page Ad in the show program ($250 value) One Full page Ad in the Longhorn Drover ($200 value) Listed on the Sponsor Page in the Longhorn Drover 2 - Commemoratives Sponsor Badge(s) for all 3 Dinners Digital advertising during all 3 catered dinners and awards banquet. Sponsor provides banner for the arena.

Drover-$750

Point Man

Triple R Ranch Linron Commercial Flooring Out Rider

Sho Me Longhorns

One Full page Ad in the show program ($250 value) One Full page Ad in the Longhorn Drover ($200 value) One 1/2 page Ad in the Longhorn Drover ($100 value) Listed on the Sponsor Page in the Longhorn Drover 3 - Commemoratives Sponsor Badge(s) for all 3 Dinners Digital advertising during all 3 catered dinners and awards banquet. Sponsor provides banner for the arena.

Point Man-$1,000

One Full page Ad in the show program ($250 value) 3-Full page Ad in the Longhorn Drover ($600 value) Listed on the Sponsor Page in the Longhorn Drover 4 - Commemoratives Sponsor Badge(s) for all 3 Dinners Digital advertising during all 3 catered dinners and awards banquet. Sponsor provides banner for the arena.

Click here for Sponsorship Forms!

Thank You 2019 Youth T-Shirt Sponsors Twisted 8X Cowgirl Longhorns Leah Grove Grove Cattle Company G3 Ranch Cross W Longhorns Briarwood Longhorns Fisher Longhorns

Oak Hill Longhorns Twisted Hook Ranch KD Bar Cattle Co Hooks Ranch Lucky Lady Ranch Lonesome Pines Ranch D3 Farms Live Oak Ranch

Rafter M Ranch Larry & Heatherly Smith II The Longhorn Project A K Ranch Whistling Longhorn Ranch Circle B Longhorns Sho Me Longhorns

Thank You 2019 ITLA Championship Show Class and Buckle Sponsors Class Sponsors

Lucky Lady Ranch KD Bar Cattle Co Briarwood Longhorns Class Buckle Sponsors

The Longhorn Project Rafter M Ranch

Class Sponsors Class Sponsors-$75 (Youth or Open)

Name listed above the class sponsored Sponsor Recognized during the class Listed as a sponsor on the Thank You page in the Program and Magazine

Class Buckle Sponsors-$150 (Youth or Open)

Name listed above the class sponsored Sponsor Recognized during the class Listed on all Buckle Sponsorship Thank You pages in the Program & Magazine.

Listed on Buckle Sponsor Banner in the Arena

Champion Buckle Sponsors-$175 (Youth or Open)

Name listed above the class sponsored Sponsor Recognized during the class Sponsor Recognized during Buckle Presentation at the Banquet Listed on all Buckle Sponsorship Thank You pages in the Program & Magazine

ITLA Futurity Class Sponsors-$250

Name listed above the class sponsored Sponsor Recognized during the class Listed on listed on Sponsorship Thank You pages in the Program & Magazine One 1/2 page ad in the Longhorn Drover ($150 value)

All Star Futurity Class Sponsors-$300

ITLA Futurity Sponsors

Name listed above the class sponsored Sponsor Recognized during the class Listed on listed on Sponsorship Thank You pages in the Program & Magazine One Full page ad in the Longhorn Drover ($200 value)

TDR Contractors Show Program Advertising

Program Advertising

Briarwood Ranch Jeff Robinson

(placement ready) Full Page $250 1/2 Page $175 1/4 Page $100 We can create and design your ad for an extra charge of $50.00.

Click here for Sponsorship Forms!

Thank You 2019 Youth Calf Donors

2019 ITLA Championship Youth Show Calf Donor #1 JayCee Parsons Whiskey River Longhorn Cattle Co. DOB: 04-07-19

2019 ITLA Championship Youth Show - Calf Donor #3 Todd & Rozi Spaid - Twisted Hook Ranch DOB 3-7-19

Thank You 2019 Donors

2019 ITLA Championship Youth Show Calf Donor #2 Long M Ranch Robert & Cindy Manion DOB 5-9-19

Become a Donor!

Now Accepting: Calves for Youth

Calves that will benefit the ITLA Youth Program at the Championship Show

Elite Heifer Sale

Heifers donated to the Elite Heifer Sale to raise money for ITLA

Auction Items

Items donated to be auctioned off to benefit the ITLA

D3 Farms

Dwayne & Megan Dinsmore Boonsboro, Michigan 10 Straws of JP Grand Marshall Donated to the ITLA to auction off at the 2019 Championship Show and Convention

From: JP Grand Marshall D.O.B.: 8/12/03 Reg: ITLA #256959 TLBAA # B172005 Sire: JR Grand Slam Dam: JCK Roancie

Exhibitor Bag Items

Items to be placed in the exhibitor goody bags Contact the ITLA Office at staff@itla.com for more information.