Rocking O Longhorns - Things to know from Rocking O

Why Longhorns?
Curtis Ohlendorf grew up on a multi-purpose farm/ranch that included crops such as corn and cotton and livestock such as chickens, hogs, and commercial cattle. Even though he moved to Austin to work for the University of Texas for a number of years, his passion for agriculture remained strong. One day, while at his cousin’s ranch near Lockhart, he saw a colorful newborn longhorn calf and was immediately hooked. He knew from that day that he wanted to eventually raise longhorns on his homestead, and a few years later Rocking O Longhorns was born. The variety of colors in longhorns has and always will be one of Curtis’s favorite things about the breed. Looking for a new calf reminds him of looking for Easter eggs as a child, as he is filled with excitement in anticipation of learning not only the sex of the calf, but also its color.

The variety of colors was the kindling on the fire that has burned into Rocking O Longhorns, but there are a number of other things that make this breed special. Some other benefits of longhorns include ease of calving, disease resistance, heat tolerance, longevity, superior forage utilization, lean beef, and of course beautiful horns. At Rocking O Longhorns, we strive to raise pretty and productive cattle to be enjoyed by ourselves and other breeders.

Registering Cattle
We will pay to register adult and weaned cattle purchased from us into the new owner’s name. In the case of a young bull or heifer, we may be registering the animal for the first time (and you can choose to change his or her name in that case if you have another you prefer). If the animal has already been registered, we send in a transfer of ownership to the registry. Whether it’s for a new registration or a transfer of ownership, the new owner will be mailed a registration certificate for their new animal. If the animal is a cow with a calf at side, the new owner will be responsible for registering the calf (and he or she will need to brand the calf before registering it). We are always here to help guide the new owner through the registration process.

There are two primary longhorn registries, the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America (TLBAA) and the International Texas Longhorn Association (ITLA). The TLBAA was the original registry, dating back to 1964. We are members of both registries but have chosen to register our calves with TLBAA. Some of our cows are dual registered, and we are happy to register cattle purchased from us into the registry of the buyer’s choosing. We are also happy to set up a three month promotional membership for first-time Texas Longhorn owners with the TLBAA. This promotional membership will let us register or transfer the cattle into the new owner's name. The membership also includes the monthly Texas Longhorn Trails magazine.

Registering Texas Longhorn cattle requires filling out paperwork showing the animal’s name, breeder, owner, sex, sire, dam, birthdate, color, and branding information. We are happy to help customers figure out this paperwork when it comes time to register their calves. Each calf will need to be branded before registeration. It will need both a ranch brand (also called a "holding brand") and a private herd number brand.

Coming up with your ranch brand can be a lot of fun. When we bought our first cows, our oldest son Ross was in middle school. He was really excited about the longhorns and decided to take the lead on designing our brand. He quickly realized that designing a brand would be easier if we had an identity to base it on, and “Rocking O Longhorns” was born. After that, designing the brand almost took care of itself, as he decided on an O with a semi-circle underneath. Each of our calves gets the Rocking O branded on its left hip shortly after weaning. They also get the private herd number brand on the left hip, just under our ranch brand. We have chosen to place both brands on the left hip, but they can also go on the side or the shoulder, and on either side of the animal. Depending on your squeeze chute configuration, you may decide that one of these other locations is preferable to the left hip.

There are a variety of private herd numbering systems, but we feel it is generally useful to use the number to provide an indication of the age of the animal. Years later you will be glad that you branded a heifer this way when you are asked her age by a guest and can’t remember it off the top of your head. One popular system is to put a number over the year (i.e. 1/19, 2/19, etc... denoting the first calf branded that was born in 2019, the second calf branded born in 2019, etc...). We have found it difficult to put a second row of numbers on some of our heifers given the height of the heifers and the build of our squeeze chute. Our preferred numbering system is a 3 or 4 digit system. The last digit is the last digit of the year (9 for 2009 or 2019). The first digit (or 2) indicates the month. The next to last digit indicates the number calf born in that month. For example, the first heifer born in March of 2019 would be 319. The third heifer born in October of 2019 would be 1039.

We purchased our branding irons from Husky branding irons. There are three types of branding irons: fire brands, electric brands, and freeze brands. We use electric brands and strongly recommend them if you have a place to plug in your brands by your squeeze chute. We recommend the 3" brands unless you are branding the calves at an older age than 6-7 months. In that case, the 4" brands may look better.

When we wean a group of calves, we take them to the vet for vaccinations, and we brand them while he has them in the squeeze chute. This does slow the vet down some in giving his shots, but he is happy to help us out (he also charges us a small fee). We recommend checking with your vet prior to taking the calves to see if he is fine with you branding them at his office. It is likely that he or one of his vet tech’s would be willing to do the branding if you do not feel comfortable doing so yourself. After giving the branding iron time to heat up, you need to firmly press it against the calf’s hide for three to five seconds.

How many cows to get
There can be a variety of factors that go into deciding how many cows you should purchase for your herd, but the right number for most breeders is typically somewhere between 1) the minimum number required by their county for agricultural status for tax purposes and 2) the maximum number that their land can be expected to support.

1) Well intentioned people can sometimes give false information about the number of head required for an ag exemption. Unless you have received information from someone you know you can trust on the subject, our recommendation is to check directly with your county office. Most Texas counties have information on their website about the required number of cattle to receive agricultural status. This number will be based on your acreage and possibly on whether or not you have improved pasture. There is typically a minimum number of head regardless of property size, which is important to pay attention to if you have a smaller property. From what we have seen, this number is typically around 3 (though we have seen it as low as 2 and as high as 7). In most counties, the number of cattle required for agricultural status will be fewer than the land is actually capable of supporting in a year of average rainfall.

2) The number of cattle a piece of property can be expected to support is mainly a function of average rainfall, soil quality, and grass quality. If possible, it is best to talk to an experienced rancher in your area about the number of cattle he thinks your land is capable of supporting. We recommend that new breeders consider starting with fewer cattle than they think their land will support (provided they get enough for an ag exemption). It is easier to buy more cattle in the future than it is to sell off part of your new herd when you realize your land won’t support them all. You can enhance your land’s ability to support cattle by weed spraying, shredding weeds, fertilizing, or planting improved grasses (and in rarer circumstances you may be able to irrigate). These are all expensive undertakings, but you may find one or more worthwhile for your situation. You can also stretch your land’s capacity by supplementing the diets of your cattle with hay, grain or molasses tubs.

Gestation Period
The expected gestation period for cattle is 283 days. Here is a helpful gestation table:

Colorations of Longhorns
The variety of beautiful colors and color patterns within the breed has probably hooked more people on longhorns than any other of their many attributes. There is no right or wrong when it comes to your favorite coloration, but the most marketable colors patterns tend to be the ones where it looks like someone through a can of paint on the cow, with different size spots randonmly scattered across her hide. If it is flashy and unique, people will want it.

Our good friend and fellow breeder David Hillis is one of the leading evolutionary biologists in the world. He has published several articles on the various colorations of Texas Longhorns and the genetics behind them. You can read these articles on his Double Helix Ranch website (http://doublehelixranch.com/color.html).

Breeding your cows
There are several options for breeding your females. Our preferred method is pasture breeding with a bull that we own (or sometimes lease). This is usually the preferred method if you have a larger herd of females for the bull. If you have a smaller herd, it may still be your best option. There are other options to consider though. A leased bull may make more sense for a smaller herd. It can be hard to find bulls to lease, but an advantage of doing so is that you can keep him at your place for a short time period while he breeds your females and then take him back to the owner before he becomes restless with no more females to breed. Younger bulls are less likely to get restless, but a middle aged bull is more likely to start looking at the neighbors' cattle if he hasn't had a cow to breed in some time. If you lease or own a bull, the females will get bred on your place. There are two other options to consider where you will not have a bull on your property. These are pasture breeding and artificial insemination (AI).

The way pasture breeding typically works is you take your cow or heifer to the bull owner's ranch and leave them for somewhere between 45 and 90 days. Sometimes they will let you leave the cow until she is confirmed pregnant. There are different terms and prices for these arrangements. A primary challenge with this setup is that it is usually hard to find people offering pasture breeding with nice bulls. Sometimes there are several breeders offering this service and sometimes it is hard to find someone.

AI is another option. AI is more labor intensive than the natural service options, and the conception rates are lower. It does offer a major advantage in that it allows you to produce calves of industry leading bulls at a fraction of the cost of purchasing that bull. Whether or not AI is a good fit for you will depend largely on your goals with your herd, your facilities, and your access to someone who can provide the AI service for you. Vets can AI cattle, but there are also people who specialize in AI'ing if you can find them. If AI is an option you would like to consider, we have semen for sale on some industry leading bulls and also some legends of the breed. It can be seen on our semen page.

Cattle Care
At a minimum, your Texas Longhorn will need three things - water, food and salt. Salt can be either salt blocks or loose mineral. In most cases the food is primarily grass, but hay is usually needed during bad weather or drought conditions. When the cattle do not have green grass to eat, they will do better with a supplementary feed such as molasses or cubes to give them more protein than the dry grass or hay will provide. Some cattle owners have their cattle on a mostly hay diet most of the year. In this situation, it is advisable to find high quality (high protein content) hay and to supplement with cubes, molasses or some other higher protein feed.

It is best to have shelter options for your cattle. The heat of the summer is easier to take with shade. This can be provided by trees or a shed or barn. They also need help dealing with the cold in the winter. In our area, we want them to have a northern wind break. This can either be trees or a shed or barn with a northern wall. The north wall is the most important for us, with a western wall being the second most important. In colder climates, it may make sense to have a full enclosed barn or thick woods for your cattle. You may also want to consider avoiding winter calves in colder climates.

Mature cattle will rarely get sick to the point where they have trouble recovering. There will be instances though where human intervention is needed to save a calf. The two most common issues we see with calves are respiratory illess and diarrhea. An occasional cough is not necessarily cause for concern, but if a coughing calf becomes lethargic or lags behind the herd, it can likely benefit from a shot of antibiotics. We would suggest talking to your vet in these situations, but feed stores usually sell antibiotics as well if you are having trouble getting a vet to come see the calf. It is normal for calves to get some diarrhea on occassion. It is a concern though if they are showing any indication of lethargy or dehydration. We treat this with a bolus that we get from our vet, but we have heard there are shots you can give too. Diarrhea in calves is often referred to as scours.

In addition to watching our calves to see if they need treatment, we vaccinate the calves for blackleg around 3-4 months of age at some of our places where we know there is blackleg in the soil. Blackleg is a fatal disease that kills the calves quickly once they start to show symptoms. Cattle between 6 and 24 months of age are most susceptable. At weaning time (6-7 months of age), our vet vaccinates all of the calves for blackleg. He also gives the bulls and heifers an 8-way shot that includes a lepto vaccine. He vaccinates the heifers for bruscellosis (sometimes called bangs or OCV) as well. There are many different ways to operate when it comes to vaccines and worming. Some people do neither, and some people do both on an annual basis. We vaccinate our calves and worm as needed. We have felt this makes the most sense for us, but there are a number of ways to do things.

Equipment
Equipment is another area where there are a number of ways to do things. As you look into equipment and facilities for your place, there are some things we recommend our customers consider. The first is hay rings. Hay rings are beneficial to reduce waste when feeding hay to your cattle. A good hay ring will stay around the bale and prevent the cattle from spreading the hay out on the ground, where they go to the bathroom on it and then just let it sit there uneaten. Traditional cattle hay rings are dangerous for longhorns though because they can get stuck. We use either custom made hay rings with four vertical posts (instead of the normal 6 or 8) or horse type hay rings that do not have a top rail. When we first started raising longhorns, we used the traditional bales. Our cattle's horns were shorter than they are now, but our longest horned cow Golden Empress (we still have a number of her descendants in our herd) got stuck in one of the hay rings. We had to saw the ring so she could get out. Luckily we were there to help her. Having appropriate hay rings is an important part of raising longhorns (or you can not use a hay ring and just accept that fact that more of the hay will be wasted).

When it comes to trailers, we recommend avoiding vertical bars with tight spacing. These are most often found on the gates of the trailers. When cattle get their horns stuck between horizontal piping, they are usually able to get out unharmed. It can be difficult for them to free themselves from tight vertical spacing though. This is especially of concern when other animals are in the trailer with them because they can bump them around and not give them time to get out of a tight spot.

Longhorn chutes are a great tool for loading and working cattle. We plan to update this page with more details on chutes after we get some pictures of ours. In the meantime, please let us know if you have questions about longhorn chutes that we can help answer.