Sheep and Goat Industry in Texas

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, and I'm taking this straight from the official record, the sheep and goat industry in Texas has roots so deep they reach all the way back to the fifteen hundreds. Spanish explorers introduced sheep to the Southwest back then, and the Spanish missions that followed leaned on those animals hard, for food and for clothing. That's where the story begins, and it doesn't slow down from there.

Now, the first Angora goats to set hoof in Texas arrived in 1853, brought in by Colonel W. W. Haupt.

Angora goats, for the uninitiated, are known for the beauty and strength of their mohair. Haupt brought them here, and Texas has never quite been the same. Then there's George Wilkins Kendall.

The marker calls him the pioneer of modern sheep ranching in Texas, and it backs that up with a span: 1857 to 1867. Kendall wasn't just running his own operation and keeping quiet about it. He was out there encouraging others with glowing reports of the industry's future, all while improving his own flocks.

And he was one of the first to crossbreed the coarse-wooled Mexican churro sheep with the fine-wooled merino variety that European settlers had brought along with them. One man, two breeds, and a vision for what Texas could become. The land itself had something to say about all this.

The Edwards Plateau area, with its particular climate and vegetation, proved especially suited to raising sheep and goats. Nature had set the table. All somebody had to do was show up.

After 1870, new markets opened up and land was abundant, and the industry boomed. But don't let that word make it sound easy. Ranchers fought disease, predators, deadly plants, and droughts to build their flocks.

Every head of wool on those hills had a story behind it. Today, Texas stands as the leading producer of sheep and goats in the entire nation. San Angelo is the major market center for these animals and their wool, the place where all those centuries of effort come to be weighed and traded.

And the work of keeping that edge sharp falls in part to the San Angelo Research and Extension Center, built in 1969 through the efforts of General Earl Rudder, who was at that time president of the Texas A&M System. From Spanish explorers to General Rudder, from the churro to the merino, from 1853 to the boom years and beyond. Texas didn't stumble into this industry.

It built it, one stubborn, wind-burned season at a time.

What the marker says

Spanish explorers introduced sheep to the Soutwest in the 1500s, and Spanish missions depended on the animals for food and clothing. The first Angora goats, known for the beauty and strength of their mohair, were brought to Texas in 1853 by Col. W. W. Haupt. Pioneer of modern sheep ranching in Texas from 1857 to 1867 was George Wilkins Kendall, who encouraged others with glowing reports of the industry's future while improving his own flocks. Kendall was one of the first to crossbreed the coarse--wooled Mexican churro sheep with the fine-wooled merino variety brought by European settlers. The land, climate, and vegetation of the Edwards Plateau area especially suited the raising of sheep and goats. After 1870, with new markets and abundant land, the industry boomed. Ranchers fought disease, predators, deadly plants, and drouths to build their flocks. Today Texas is the leading producer of sheep and goats in the nation, and San Angelo is the major market center for these animals and their wool. Research facilities such as the San Angelo Research and Extension Center, built in 1969 through the efforts of Gen. Earl Rudder, then president of the Texas A&M System, work for the industry's continued prosperity. (1974)