Banner Graphic, Volume 12, Number 39, Greencastle, Putnam County, 22 October 1981 — Page 13

TexaS Longhorns: Sunday's auction at Fort Worth another step in return of breed

c. 1981 N.Y. Times FORT WORTH When Tom Chandler came back from a trip nine years ago with two longhorn cows and a longhorn calf purchased from a man who owned a trucking business, his friends were quick to take notice. ’•They all thought I was crazy,” said Chandler, a plumbing contractor who owns a ranch 85 miles southwest of his home in the suburbs west of Dallas. "There was no interest in longhorns back then. I’ve always loved the Old West and bought them basically as a hobby.” The three animals he bought for S3OO each are now worth about 10 times that, and Chandler now owns a herd of 100 longhorns. And his wistful purchase in Weatherford turned out to be a precursor to one of the most surprising resurgences in the American cattle industry, the return of the Texas Longhorn, a species once near extinction with only a few thousand head, at most, surviving. Chandler was among those on hand Sunday when 132 longhorns were auctioned in what was billed as the First Annual Cowtown Choice Registered Texas Longhorn Bull Sale. Held at Fort Worth's restored stockyard area, it is another step in the return of the breed. Brought by Spanish explorers, the ancestors of today’s Texas Longhorns were the first cattle imported to America. They were

U.S. slaughter cattle

WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation’s inventory of cattle being fed for slaughter as beef totaled 9.03 million head as of Oct. 1, the smallest for this time

Nov. 2-3 in Washington

Farm-Church Land Conference

Calling land “our most precious commodity”, Eric Bedel, Indiana Farmers Union Director of Information, has asked churches throughout the state to stand in support of Hoosier farmers and the communities in which they live. Bedel’s request was contained in a letter to state religious leaders which called attention to the 1981 FarmChurch Land Conference to be held Nov. 2 and 3 in Washington. D.C. THE CONFERENCE, organized at the national level, is expected to bring together farm organizations and church personnel to discuss possible solutions in solving the problems surrounding rural communities. The two-day session will be divided into four areas of major

Texaco plans gasohol sale only in Midwest

fC) 1981 Chicago Sun-Times CHICAGO Texaco plans to concentrate its sales of gasohol ul four Midwest states while abandoning its efforts in the East, a company official says. Dave Johnson, Texaco’s Midwest spokesman in suburban Oak Brook, said Tuesday gasohol sales in the East were hampered by high transportation costs and lack of consumer interest, among other things. Texaco is the nation’s largest dealer of gasohol, which is a mixture of 10 percent ethanol, .made from grain, and 90 percent gasoline. The company once sold gasohol at 1,600 stations in 19 states. That number will be reduced ;to 600 stations in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri, Johnson said Johnson said the company is

credit ...to help you buy or build a farm home. That’s right. The Federal Land Bank, the same source of credit you count on for farm financing, also offers long-term loans for farm homes. Sand ™ 231 North Gal liV Greencastle See: Bob Wolfe 653-8417

of year since 1967. the Agriculture Department says. Officials said Tuesday the Oct. 1 inventory was down 9 percent from levels of the past two

discussion: Tax and Credit Policy; Conservation Policy; Stabilizing Farm Population; and Ownership and Control of Land. The program will be oriented to help allow personnel to return to their communities and establish farm organization/church partnerships. Scheduled to address the twoday conference are Senator Mark Andrews (N.D.); Rep. Berkley Bedell (IoWa); Bob Gray, Director of Policy Development American Farmland Trust; Frank Tsutras.

Farming still a family operation

WASHINGTON (AP) - According to government census sifters, farming continues to be mostly a family enterprise. The Census Bureau, a Corn-

redirecting its marketing efforts to the Midwest because the area is the source of the company’s ethanol. Later this year, Texaco and CPC International will begin joint operation of a plant in Pekin, 111., which is expected to produce up to 60 million gallons of grain alcohol a year. Texaco, he said, plans to develop a new premium unleaded gasohol with an octane rating of 92. The present regular gasohol has an octane rating of 89. Johnson said the company is devising names for the two grades of gasohol to boost sales Both grades will offer the same mix of gasoline and ethanol. Gasohol sales represents about 18 percent of total sales in Chicago, more than three times higher than the national figure of 5 percent.

shipped to the Caribbean and Mexico and brought up to what is now Texas, becoming the dominant breed in the United States for most of its history. At their prime, 10 million Texas Longhorns were estimated to be in the country. But American appetites for thicker, richer beef led to the importation of English breeds such as the Angus and the Hereford. In addition, the longhorns proved inconvenient for shipping after the open range ended and the cattle drives to the packing houses of the Middle West began. By the early 19205, longhorns had almost no commercial value. They were kept alive only through the efforts of two federal wildlife preserves and by ranchers who kept them in their herds for reasons that had more to do with memory than commerce. There were 15,000 registered longhorns in 1976 and there are 40,000 now. Some 8,500 new longhorns were registered last year, this year there should be 12,000. Breeders say the numbers should reach the 16,000 to 20,000 in the next few years. All are used for breeding, not beef production. Several factors helped the longhorns come back. They are exceptionally hardy, long-lived and resistant to disease, which makes them valuable for cross-breeding and attractive to ranchers who have to use marginal grazing land. Longhorn calves are the smallest of any cattle, which means heifers have less

inventory at lowest level since 1967

years. High interest rates and some lag in consumer demand are among factors that have bore upon the feedlot business for

Executive Director Congressional Rural Caucus. ALSO SCHEDULED are Jack Doyle, Washington Representative Environmental Policy Center; Dr. Harold Breimyer, Agricultural Economist - University of Missouri; Kathy Lerza, Director, National Family Farm Coalition. National Farmers Union (NFU) is co-sponsoring the Farm-Church Land Conference with the National Farm Organization (NFO), the Grange and numerous church denominations including the

merce Department agency, said its 1978 agricultural census shows that about 88 percent of the nation’s farms and 67 percent of the land in farms and

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months. Department economists say a large supply of “non-fed” cattle going to slaughter, along with plentiful supplies of poultry also have

Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, and Southern Baptist churches. IN HIS LETTER, Bedel called the conference an opportune time for Indiana churches and farm organizations to bring to the forefront the severity of the rural communities crisis. He emphasized the need for an “alliance of common concerns” and that rural communities are in need of a “unified effort to help pervent any further deterioration of its foundation - the family farmer.”

ranches are operated by individuals or families Partnerships and corporations account for the remainder, the Census Bureau said.

trouble giving birth. “A longhorn calf is like a little deer when it comes out,” said Vernon Scott, ranch manager for Fultz Longhorns, who brought 24 bulls to the Fort Worth auction. "With other breeds you have to stay real close in case there is any trouble and you have to pull a calf. A longhorn just drops them and doesn’t quit eating.” Longhorn breeders are also hoping that changing tastes and an aversion to fatty beef will lead to more commercial acceptance for the leaner meat of longhorns. No longhorns are raised for beef now, but some breeders expect it in the next few years. To many cattlemen, the longhorn remains a symbol as much as a product, a talisman of the open range. Even the breeders who did not have “Mom, Apple Pie, Texas Longhorns” bumper stickers on their pickups admitted raising longhorns was more than a business. But Pat Buchen, executive director of the 1,600-member Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America, said nostalgia probably helped the longhorn come back, but it cannot keep the current resurgence going. “If longhorns don’t have a real contribution to make to the cattle industry, this will all be ihort-lived,” he said. “Ninety percent of these people either have very successful businesses or

been important. The quarterly report, which covers 23 states, said feedlot cattle marketings during the

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July-September period totaled 5.93 million head, up 4 percent from the same quarter last year but 1 percent below two years ago.

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October 21,1981, The Putnam County Banner-Graphic

are independently wealthy. t>o they may get involved for nostalgia, but these are very astute business people who aren’t going to be in this if they’re not making some bucks.” In fact, the longhorns’ deferential treatment Sunday ended with each sale. After parading around a sawdust-covered auction ring while the auctioneer, Eddie Wood, sang out bids and pounded with a small gavel on a linoleum countertop, the bulls once purchased escaped through a door to the side. Outside they were greeted by a kid in a black cowboy hat on a Honda minibike, who chased them rather ignobly back to their weathered pine holding pen. The Chisolm Trail was never like this.

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