In 1967, when our family bought our first Texas Longhorns, our best cow measured 29" tip to tip. We were impressed. We had selected some of the larger horned cattle to start our herd. We were on top of the genetic mountain! That is what we thought. It was exciting.
In the early seventies I visited the J. G. Jack Phillips herd. He had four bulls with over 40" horn. Texas Ranger was the widest with 48" tip to tip. I felt this herd was a gold mine of genetics to move our little herd forward. And, Texas Ranger did do that. I did not find any other over forty inch cattle anywhere in those years in all the other herds.
Good-golly, now here we are! The www.Arrowheadcattlecompany.com site documents the widest horned cattle. With all the work Craig Perez has done, the data is not that hard to analyze. Here at Dickinson Cattle Co., (DCC) it has been a long time since 1967. Craig has listed in order the cows measuring over 100" and the bulls. Unfortunately it has taken DCC 59 years to carefully breed and select for annual small increments of slow tip to tip improvement. And, "drum roooolll," DCC has bred and raised a total of ten over 100" T2T cows. Looking at thousands of numbers this is not easy or fast. It figures just over one inch per year improvement. Here are the wonderful over 100" cows bred at DCC.
Silent Iron
| Silent Iron 116.5" | Sire: Drag Iron | |
| Galore Gala 110" | Sire: Flair Galore | |
| Fiddle Sticks 105.62" | Sire: Tuxedo | |
| Saddle Jewel 104.12" | Sire: Saddlehorn | |
| FHF Top Star 102" | Sire: Top Hand | |
| Point Rider 100.93" | Sire: Clear Point | |
| Iron Trophy 100.6" | Sire: Drag Iron | |
| Point Of Smile 100.37" | Sire: Clear Point | |
| Precious Hand 100.1" | Sire: Top Hand | |
| 50 Lumens 100.0625" | Sire: 50-50 |
Point Rider
Drag Iron sired 6 over 100," Tempter 4, Top Hand and Clear Point sired 2 each. These great DCC cattle are the sire or dam of one or more over 100" progeny from the Arrow Head 100" list: Super Silent, Dragon Lady, Flair Galore, Blissful Morn, Fast Iron, Cut'n Dried, Tuxedo, Rodeo Wiz, Dragon Smile, Touchdown of RM, Foil Dragery, Time Line, Reckon So, Forever Drag, Trophy Trip, Tempting Smile, Jumbler and Precious Friend.
Precious Hand 100.1"
Jumping over to the Arrow Head bull list, DCC bred three of the over 100" sires--Jam Box, Line Drive and Cut'n Dried. Sires or dams of the celebrity over 100" bulls bred by DCC include Dragon Pearl, Time Line, Tuff Visage, Drop Box, Jamaca Rose and the dam of Kid Rock raised at DCC is Killer Soup.
As Dickinson Cattle Co young stock are calculated with horn growth graphs, the really exciting part is that now 31 younger cows are measuring to project over the 100" T2T mark at maturity.
While famous numbers were developing here at DCC an equally serious effort included developing ton bulls with commercially competitive rate of gain. Every sire was tested for IQ and the most flamboyant colors were always crucial. The more value-virtues that can be stacked in one critter the more profit to everyone down line.
Saddle Jewel 104.12"
These prime pedigrees have raced to the top from a humble beginning. It has not always been this way---but it is. Now for new producers no one has to start with a 29" cow or an under 40" bull. Semen is available from most of the families from the dominant breed-leaders.
To ride along in this highly profitable stampede check DCC semen investments at https://www.texaslonghorn.com/inventory/semen/index.cfm
It is reasonable to believe every entry level producer can go right to the top of the highest-selling families of cattle for just the price of a straw of semen. Make it happen. Enjoy.
