Texas Longhorns thrive at Muses’ Bastrop Co. ranch 

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas Edition

Gentle Giant  ... Jimmy Muse of Paige walks up to his herd bull, Crackerjack. Muse uses organic-type practices for managing his cattle and ranch land. Plus, he works at keeping his cattle gentle.     -- Staff photo by Taylor

January 5, 2005 - If you want to meet ranchers who really believe in their breed, talk with Joann and Jimmy Muse in Paige about their Texas Longhorns. You can see by the sparkle in Jimmy’s eyes that they are his favorite thing, next to Joann.

Both Muses were reared on farms, but Joann’s family raised Santa Gertrudis, and Jimmy’s family was farmers.  The property where they now raise their Texas Longhorns belonged to Joann’s family, so the property has been in the family for more than one generation.

Jimmy retired from the Lower Colorado River Association in Austin in 1987, but they had built their house on the property in 1983. It was about 1980, when the Muses were still living in Austin, that Joann’s father asked Jimmy if he wanted to “partner” with him and Joann’s brother in the cattle business. Jimmy said, at the time, he was ready for “a change,” so an agreement was made.

Jimmy Muse and his wife Joann raise Texas Longhorn cattle and utilize eco-agricultural practices. Calves from the herd are taken to a processing business and the meat is sold to families. Here, Jimmy shows some of the compost that he purchases. -- Staff photo by Taylor

But the Santa Gertrudis cattle offered some challenges. “I just got tired of pulling calves and told them if they didn’t get another breed of cattle, I was getting out of the cattle business,” explained Jimmy.

Although the Santa Gertrudis brought good prices at auction, he felt the vet bills and other problems outweighed the good, and he started researching other breeds of cattle.

After talking with a number of Texas Longhorn producers, Jimmy learned a lot about the 400-year-old breed. One fact that may have tipped the scale toward Jimmy and Joann becoming Longhorn owners, was that the breed had none, or few, calving problems.

He added, with a smile, that he’s “always been an organic thinker,” and he incorporates these ideas into this cattle operation. When he was younger, he had organic gardens, along with 50 bee hives, on leased land. Jimmy admits to being a “big fan” of Mother Earth magazine in the early 1960s, but when asked if he was really a “hippy,” he laughs and said some people may have thought so.

�The Texas Longhorn was created by God; not made by man,� explained Jimmy.

The Muses’ first Texas Longhorn was born in 1989, and Jimmy noted that out of his 30 or so “momma” cows, they have each had a calf every year, and claimed that it (Texas Longhorn) is well known for its reproduction rates. Jimmy also pointed out that the entire herd defends the calves, so there are no losses to predators.

Another good thing about raising the Longhorns is that they are “hardy animals” and will eat just about whatever is on the ground.

The Muse Longhorns cows usually weigh between 900-950 pounds, and the bulls weigh in around 1,600 pounds. All are very “docile” animals, allowing the Muses to walk among them in the pastures. As a matter of fact, Jimmy explained that they “never” take a truck into the pastures to put out hay or the cottonseed cubes … with no additives … he uses to help “gentle” the animals.

The Muses make their own salt and mineral mix for the cattle using natural products, including sea salt. They use no wormers on their cattle, and their pasture management includes their own compost tea for fertilizing, and hatching their own Dung beetles. Jimmy has been catching the run-off water from a shed to use with his tea, and plans to start ordering seawater to use for his fertilizer. He will order it from Florida by the gallon, and although it costs $60/gallon, Jimmy said one gallon will cover 10 acres of pasture.  

He plans to order humus from a Wyoming dinosaur pit that University of Texas Professors Dick and Pat Richardson believe is extremely healthy for the soil. The humus just goes along with the Muses’ idea of using “eco-agriculture” with their animals and property.

According to Jimmy, Texas Longhorn owners started line breeding before the Civil War, but the breed itself arrived from Spain around 400 years ago. During the early times, the breed roamed the prairies, eating what they could find and later developed the ability to produce efficiently under “harsh environmental conditions.”

This is a trait that Stewart H. Fowler, director of research with the International Texas Longhorn Association in Austin noted in his paper, “The Unique Texas Longhorn.” Texas Longhorn owners believe more and more producers will turn to the Texas Longhorn breed to cross with others, in order to allow “the advantage of letting cattlemen exploit the benefits of heterosis, or hybrid vigor, while utilizing the complimentarily of genes from two or more breeds.” 

This process would “… allow producers to tailor-make commercial cattle that more exactly fit the demand of the economic and environmental conditions of their production areas,” explained Fowler.