I've seen them in the past but this weekend I had an opportunity to take a good long look at a herd of cracker cattle and talk somewhat with the herd keeper about them. Does anyone here in the Countryside forum keep cracker cows?

For those that don't know what I'm talking about cracker cattle (also known as pineywoods or criollo cattle) are the descendents of the cattle brought over by the Spanish about 500 years ago that went feral and had to adapt to Florida heat, humidity, and parasites. Over the centuries they also infused with cattle brought down by settlers from further north so coat patterns can be red, black, brindle, or some very interesting spotted patterns. They tend to mature at about 900 lbs or so and I'm given to understand hit sexual maturity very early.

This particular herd I looked at the woman said she's tamed a couple of the cows sufficiently to milk them and she gets about a gallon and a half a day of very rich milk per cow. My wife and I are interested in them due to their size and the fact that a half of one of these cows would not present a large freezer logistics problem. Still haven't decided if we want to go the dairy route or not.

={(Oak)-

-- Live Oak (oneliveoak@yahoo.com), September 03, 2001

Answers

A bit of history: Why were old timer Floridians (before the days of tourist and retirees) known as Crackers and these cattle as Crackers? At one time cattle were left to roam large area of unfenced woods and undergrowth. To round them up the owners hired locals who used horses and long whips which they cracked over the backs of the cattle to move them to pens (the whips, not the horses). They became to be known as Crackers, as did the cattle.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), September 04, 2001.

There are several folks that keep Florida Cracker cattle and the closely related Pineywoods. There are some differences between the two. We formed the Pineywoods Cattle Registry and Breeders Association in 1999. Both of these breeds are related to the Texas Longhorns, all having decended from cattle the Spaniards brought here. I don't have any to sell now but might be able to help you locate some.

-- David D. James (www.davidntammy@msn.com), November 03, 2001.