Pineywoods (cattle)
Encyclopedia
Pineywoods cattle are an endangered breed of landrace
heritage
cattle
that are descended from the original Spanish stock left along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of Florida
, Georgia
, Mississippi
and Alabama
by the Spanish explorers
in the early 16th century. The breed was historically cultivated by the "Crackers" of Florida
, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.
The cattle bred without human interference in the brushy wooded terrain of the Gulf Coast
. They developed natural resistance to disease and are able to forage on marginal vegetation.
breeding stock of small, hardy cattle which were able to survive the sea crossing. Some were released deliberately, trusting that their survival instincts would allow them to survive and reproduce. Thus months or years later a ready food source would be available. Pineywoods (also called woods cattle and Rakestraw), Florida Crackers
, Corriente
, and Texas Longhorn
s all descended from the same original Spanish stock (also called Criollo cattle
).
In time, these Spanish cattle acquired different names from the localities where they were concentrated. The name pineywoods was derived from their location in the Pineywoods of southern Mississippi.
The Pineywoods survived and adapted to their new home. For the first 350 years in the new world they lived in the wild. The ones moving west into Texas evolved to a plains
habitat and developed wide sets of horns characteristic of the longhorn breeds. Those remaining in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi had to survive in thick woods and brushy areas. This environment favored small, nimble animals with slender horns allowing passage through narrow brushy trails. Since the mid 1800s they have live in semi-wild conditions on very large family ranches along the Gulf Coast.
Early settlers
and Native Americans
used the cattle as ox
en, meat, milk, hides, and as a trading commodity. During the early 19th century the Choctaw Indians began migrating west in search of agricultural opportunities and brought livestock, including Pineywoods, with them. History tells us only a limited number of livestock was brought west during the great Indian removal
of the 1830s. Many people and livestock were lost due to the harsh traveling conditions before reaching Oklahoma. Presumably therefore the majority of Spanish type livestock were introduced to Oklahoma prior to the 1830s.
Pineywoods numbers began a decline in the late 19th century and early 20th century, displaced by improved English and European cattle in the southeastern United States. As the overall popularity and abundance of Pineywoods declined, only a few families continued to keep purebred
herds. During this time the agricultural programs of the land grant universities
were promoting highly bred domestic cattle and saw these as inferior “scrub” animals. The effect of these programs was to endanger the Pineywoods existence as a breed. As time passed, these herds became isolated from one another to the point that each herd has become a unique and self-contained strain.
Pineywoods cattle are listed on the "critical" list by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
(ALBC). The conservancy’s definition of critical is fewer than 200 North American annual registrations and an estimate of fewer than 2,000 global population. Less than 1000 head of pure stock, but not necessarily registered, have been located by the Pineywoods cattle registry.
The pineywoods cow is well known in some areas and has some impact on more general culture.
. They developed natural resistance
to most diseases, insects, and parasites of the region and are able to forage
on rough vegetation that commercial cattle will not touch. Even though they graze grass like domestic cattle, Pineywoods also browse on brush and tree leaves and twigs like goat
s. This makes more efficient use of the land than domestic cattle who will graze only selectively on non-native
grass.
Pineywoods are also “dry land” cattle and have evolved to avoid predators by spending only a minimum of time at their water hole
. This makes them very low impact cattle, as they do not contribute as much to bank erosion and fouling of streams like most domestic stock.
Pineywoods are noted for their ability to survive and reproduce under the often-harsh conditions of the South, withstanding high temperatures and high humidity. These American breeds have important qualities, such as fertility and longevity, that are lacking in the Brahman, Zebu, and other heat-tolerant cattle commonly used. They require no assistance with calving
. They are very self-sufficient due to their varied foraging habits, low birth weights, gentle disposition and hardiness. The Carter strain in particular is noted for its excellent mammary system, reproduction, longevity, docility, self-sufficiency and calving ease.
Pineywoods are generally red, brown, or occasionally black and white, spotted, or speckled. They often resemble the related Texas Longhorn and Florida Cracker cattle in color. Compared to the Texas Longhorn, the horns
of the Pineywoods cattle are small to medium in length and tend to curve inward or upward and can ward off most dogs and predators. Mature weight ranges from 600–1000 pounds, occasionally larger depending on the environment. The smaller structure and horn size has been retained to meet the needs of farmers and loggers of southern Mississippi.
Despite their apparent advantages, at least in some regions, the term "pineywoods" has come to mean a thin, bony, or poor looking cow.
s are identified by the names of the families who owed the land where the herds ranged: Holt in Georgia, Barnes in Alabama, and Conway, Bayliss and Carter in Mississippi. All are Pineywoods but the animals on each farm evolved under slightly different conditions and can be recognized by differences in color, shape, and size. Some of the family strains have been selected for specific colors or patterns. For example, Conway cattle are red/white in various patterns; Holt cattle are nearly all black/white spotted to roans; while the Griffin strain tend to be yellow.
The Carter strain began to be developed in 1850, by William Carter of Perry County, MS. No outside genes have been introduced to the herd since 1895. The Carter family owned a dairy and selected their cattle for milk production. After 1942, which marked the end of their dairy business, using the same strain of cattle, they began selecting stock for beef quality.
Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site, Texas : http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/2409811272_05448d1e68_o.jpg.
Landrace
A landrace is a local variety of a domesticated animal or plant species which has developed largely by natural processes, by adaptation to the natural and cultural environment in which it lives. It differs from a formal breed which has been bred deliberately to conform to a particular standard...
heritage
Rare breed (agriculture)
A rare breed is defined as a breed of livestock or poultry that is not common in modern agriculture, though it may have been in the past. Various national and international organizations, such as the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy or the Rare Breeds...
cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
that are descended from the original Spanish stock left along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
and Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
by the Spanish explorers
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...
in the early 16th century. The breed was historically cultivated by the "Crackers" of Florida
Florida cracker
Florida cracker refers to original colonial-era English and American pioneer settlers of what is now the U.S. state of Florida, and their descendants. The first Florida crackers arrived in 1763 when Spain traded Florida to Great Britain...
, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.
The cattle bred without human interference in the brushy wooded terrain of the Gulf Coast
Gulf Coast of the United States
The Gulf Coast of the United States, sometimes referred to as the Gulf South, South Coast, or 3rd Coast, comprises the coasts of American states that are on the Gulf of Mexico, which includes Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida and are known as the Gulf States...
. They developed natural resistance to disease and are able to forage on marginal vegetation.
Origins and Development
Spanish explorers in the 1490s and 16th century brought to the new worldNew World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
breeding stock of small, hardy cattle which were able to survive the sea crossing. Some were released deliberately, trusting that their survival instincts would allow them to survive and reproduce. Thus months or years later a ready food source would be available. Pineywoods (also called woods cattle and Rakestraw), Florida Crackers
Florida Cracker cattle
The Florida Cracker is a breed of cattle developed in the state of Florida, and named for the Florida Cracker culture in which it was kept. Also known as the Florida Scrub or just as the Cracker cow, these cattle are one of the criollo-type breeds originally brought to the Southern U.S. by the...
, Corriente
Corriente cattle
Corriente cattle are a breed of cattle descended from Spanish animals brought to the Americas in the late 15th century. They are primarily used today as sport cattle for rodeo events such as team roping and bulldogging...
, and Texas Longhorn
Texas longhorn (cattle)
The Texas Longhorn is a breed of cattle known for its characteristic horns, which can extend to tip to tip for steers and exceptional cows, and tip to tip for bulls. Horns can have a slight upward turn at their tips or even triple twist. Texas Longhorns are known for their diverse coloring...
s all descended from the same original Spanish stock (also called Criollo cattle
Criollo cattle
Criollo is a group of cattle breeds descended from Spanish stock imported to the Americas, including:* the Argentine Criollo* the Corriente cattle* the Florida cracker cattle* the Pineywoods cattle* the Romosinuano cattle* the Texas Longhorn cattle...
).
In time, these Spanish cattle acquired different names from the localities where they were concentrated. The name pineywoods was derived from their location in the Pineywoods of southern Mississippi.
The Pineywoods survived and adapted to their new home. For the first 350 years in the new world they lived in the wild. The ones moving west into Texas evolved to a plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
habitat and developed wide sets of horns characteristic of the longhorn breeds. Those remaining in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi had to survive in thick woods and brushy areas. This environment favored small, nimble animals with slender horns allowing passage through narrow brushy trails. Since the mid 1800s they have live in semi-wild conditions on very large family ranches along the Gulf Coast.
Early settlers
Pilgrims
Pilgrims , or Pilgrim Fathers , is a name commonly applied to early settlers of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States...
and Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
used the cattle as ox
Ox
An ox , also known as a bullock in Australia, New Zealand and India, is a bovine trained as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castrated adult male cattle; castration makes the animals more tractable...
en, meat, milk, hides, and as a trading commodity. During the early 19th century the Choctaw Indians began migrating west in search of agricultural opportunities and brought livestock, including Pineywoods, with them. History tells us only a limited number of livestock was brought west during the great Indian removal
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830.The Removal Act was strongly supported in the South, where states were eager to gain access to lands inhabited by the Five Civilized Tribes. In particular, Georgia, the largest state at that time, was involved in...
of the 1830s. Many people and livestock were lost due to the harsh traveling conditions before reaching Oklahoma. Presumably therefore the majority of Spanish type livestock were introduced to Oklahoma prior to the 1830s.
Pineywoods numbers began a decline in the late 19th century and early 20th century, displaced by improved English and European cattle in the southeastern United States. As the overall popularity and abundance of Pineywoods declined, only a few families continued to keep purebred
Purebred
Purebreds, also called purebreeds, are cultivated varieties or cultivars of an animal species, achieved through the process of selective breeding...
herds. During this time the agricultural programs of the land grant universities
Land-grant university
Land-grant universities are institutions of higher education in the United States designated by each state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890....
were promoting highly bred domestic cattle and saw these as inferior “scrub” animals. The effect of these programs was to endanger the Pineywoods existence as a breed. As time passed, these herds became isolated from one another to the point that each herd has become a unique and self-contained strain.
Current Status
In 1999, some estimates were that the herd had shrunk to fewer than 200 breeding animals. The Pineywoods Cattle Registry & Breeders Association (PCRBA) was formed to preserve the breed. PCRBA members are dedicated to preserving the Pineywoods breed, viewing them as a national resource, and attempt to keep them in natural conditions.Pineywoods cattle are listed on the "critical" list by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy is a nonprofit organization focused on preserving and promoting genetic diversity among rare breeds of livestock...
(ALBC). The conservancy’s definition of critical is fewer than 200 North American annual registrations and an estimate of fewer than 2,000 global population. Less than 1000 head of pure stock, but not necessarily registered, have been located by the Pineywoods cattle registry.
The pineywoods cow is well known in some areas and has some impact on more general culture.
Traits
The Pineywoods cattle have been developed largely through natural selectionNatural selection
Natural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....
. They developed natural resistance
Immune system
An immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumor cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own...
to most diseases, insects, and parasites of the region and are able to forage
Forage
Forage is plant material eaten by grazing livestock.Historically the term forage has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially...
on rough vegetation that commercial cattle will not touch. Even though they graze grass like domestic cattle, Pineywoods also browse on brush and tree leaves and twigs like goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s. This makes more efficient use of the land than domestic cattle who will graze only selectively on non-native
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
grass.
Pineywoods are also “dry land” cattle and have evolved to avoid predators by spending only a minimum of time at their water hole
Depression (geology)
A depression in geology is a landform sunken or depressed below the surrounding area. Depressions may be formed by various mechanisms.Structural or tectonic related:...
. This makes them very low impact cattle, as they do not contribute as much to bank erosion and fouling of streams like most domestic stock.
Pineywoods are noted for their ability to survive and reproduce under the often-harsh conditions of the South, withstanding high temperatures and high humidity. These American breeds have important qualities, such as fertility and longevity, that are lacking in the Brahman, Zebu, and other heat-tolerant cattle commonly used. They require no assistance with calving
Calving
Calving may refer to:*Calving, the process of giving birth to a calf*Ice calving, the process by which an iceberg breaks off from an ice shelf or glacier...
. They are very self-sufficient due to their varied foraging habits, low birth weights, gentle disposition and hardiness. The Carter strain in particular is noted for its excellent mammary system, reproduction, longevity, docility, self-sufficiency and calving ease.
Pineywoods are generally red, brown, or occasionally black and white, spotted, or speckled. They often resemble the related Texas Longhorn and Florida Cracker cattle in color. Compared to the Texas Longhorn, the horns
Horn (anatomy)
A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...
of the Pineywoods cattle are small to medium in length and tend to curve inward or upward and can ward off most dogs and predators. Mature weight ranges from 600–1000 pounds, occasionally larger depending on the environment. The smaller structure and horn size has been retained to meet the needs of farmers and loggers of southern Mississippi.
Despite their apparent advantages, at least in some regions, the term "pineywoods" has come to mean a thin, bony, or poor looking cow.
Strains
The various races, strains, or sub-breedBreed
A breed is a group of domestic animals or plants with a homogeneous appearance, behavior, and other characteristics that distinguish it from other animals or plants of the same species. Despite the centrality of the idea of "breeds" to animal husbandry, there is no scientifically accepted...
s are identified by the names of the families who owed the land where the herds ranged: Holt in Georgia, Barnes in Alabama, and Conway, Bayliss and Carter in Mississippi. All are Pineywoods but the animals on each farm evolved under slightly different conditions and can be recognized by differences in color, shape, and size. Some of the family strains have been selected for specific colors or patterns. For example, Conway cattle are red/white in various patterns; Holt cattle are nearly all black/white spotted to roans; while the Griffin strain tend to be yellow.
The Carter strain began to be developed in 1850, by William Carter of Perry County, MS. No outside genes have been introduced to the herd since 1895. The Carter family owned a dairy and selected their cattle for milk production. After 1942, which marked the end of their dairy business, using the same strain of cattle, they began selecting stock for beef quality.
External links
- Picture of a Texas Pineywoods Cow, Barrington Living History Farm
Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site, Texas : http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/2409811272_05448d1e68_o.jpg.
