The Cattleman's Pages of History

The cover was a simple ad for the upcoming convention in Dallas. Then, as now, cattlemen were urged to attend for the business meetings, interesting and instructive programs, and “pleasing entertainment.” The Cattleman also promised that “your friends will be there.”

➤ The issue included an obituary for Colonel C. C. Slaughter, charter member and second president of this association. He was born Feb. 9, 1827, the year Texas seceded from Mexico and was recognized as a republic. His father was a native of Mississippi but spent the greater part of his life as an itinerant Baptist minister in Texas and is said to have had a part in the battle of the Alamo. His mother was a relative of John Y. Mason, of the “Mason and Dixon line.” At the age of 17, Col. Slaughter purchased an interest in his father’s small herd of cattle with $520 cleared from a three months’ trading trip in a wagon. From this small beginning grew the Slaughter long S herd, one of the best known and best-bred herds of the entire Southwest at the time. He created a sensation in livestock circles in 1893 when he paid $2,500 for Ancient Briton, the Grand Champion at the Chicago World’s Fair, and again in 1899 when he paid $5,000 for the Champion Sir Bredwell, who made history at many stock shows after being placed at the head of the Slaughter herd. His success attracted the attention of stockmen of the State and inspired many in an effort to improve the quality of their cattle.

The Cattleman cover used a color photograph by Paul W. Horn, noting that “Gray Brahman cattle are becoming more of a familiar sight all over the Southwest. These purebred cows and calves from the I.W. Whitaker & Sons herd at Donie near Buffalo, Texas, show not only their good breeding but the good care they have received. This issue of The Cattleman features Brahmans in its editorial columns.”

➤ TSCRA Honorary Director Stan Horwood was pictured in a Caterpillar ad for its Cat Conservation Tractors. Horwood had been named Outstanding Conservation in his district for renovating some 12,000 acres of low-yield ranchland into productive acreage.

➤ In his column ‘Around the Southwest,’ Paul Horn noted that “Life Magazine has used the January cover of The Cattleman for a recent spread in a slightly larger, slightly redder version of Tom Ryan’s painting “Patching His Saddle.” Apparently, the cowboy is smoking a Marlboro.”

➤ An odd-looking little heifer calf was born in October, looking much like a deer-Hereford cross. Dr. O.D. Butler, Texas A&M University, affirmed that this was not possible, saying that the calf “is likely what’s known as a long-headed dwarf and thoroughly bovine… it’s not hybridization.”