The Cattle
Industry: 500 Years in Florida
Part I: An Introduction to
Cowmen and Cattle
By Mary Beth Litrico - Photos courtesy of the
Florida State Archives
When looking at old photos of Fernandina homes,
one feature is consistent. Every home is
surrounded by a fence. Even the homes in town. Were the owners
keeping something in, or keeping
something out?
Homeowners were keeping free roaming
livestock out - particularly cattle. Can you imagine a
cow ambling down Centre Street today? Until 1950, when a fence
law was enacted by state
legislators, cattle roamed free all over Florida. They have
always been an important commodity for
Floridians, from the time of early Spanish settlement to today.
Cattle raising influenced the Florida
cracker culture. Like the crackers who raised them, Florida
cattle have had an interesting history.
Cattle were first introduced to the
North American continent in 1521, when Ponce De Leon
landed on Florida's west coast. He brought with him a small group
of Andalusian cattle. It is
possible that some of these escaped into the woods and survived
to become the foundation stock of
Florida "piney-woods" cattle. Missions established by
the Spanish in the 1600's had herds of cattle
totaling 20,000 head. A map by Joe A. Akerman, Jr. indicates
Spanish cattle ranches existed in
Nassau County in 1698.
 Examples of brands used by some of Florida's first cattlemen, the Spanish, are shown above. _________________________ |
Native Americans learned to raise cattle from the Spanish
and became master cattlemen. Some herds were owned
independently by Indian chiefs.This proved fortunate for
the future of cattle raising in Florida. British and Creek Indian invasions of Florida in 1702 and 1704 virtually destroyed cattle raising in Spanish Florida. Fortunately, the practice was maintained by Seminole Indians. Ironically, the British would help strengthen the industry when settlers of English descent started |
moving south during the English occupation of
Florida in 1863. They brought stock descended from English
shorthorns and English longhorn cattle. The longhorns could
survive Florida's climate. They were tough, wiry brown or black
with white markings or brindled. As these mixed with the
surviving
Andalusian stock, the Florida piney woods cow evolved. She is a
compact, tough cow, weighing
only about 600 pounds. She has sharp horns to protect herself and
her calves from predators such
as buzzards and wild cats. Her color varies from black to brown,
with spotted, speckled or
brindled patterns.
The cattle roamed free over the
state, grazing as they pleased. Brands and earmarks were used
to identify the ownership of individual cattle.
Branding is an old world tradition,
brought here by the Spanish. A brand was often a letter or
letters of the alphabet, a number or symbol or sometimes a
combination. Earmarks were also used
because a cow will generally always turn its head to look at
someone approaching. It won't always
show you its brand. Earmarks included holes, splits, plowhandles,
slopes, poplar leaves, crops and
more. Earmarks and brands were registered at the local
courthouses. The words were spoken and
neither the cowman or the clerk were often very good spellers.
One ear mark, the "Florida loose,"
is thought to be a corruption of the fleuršdešlis. Regardless
of the spelling, the right marks were
registered with the right cattlemen.
When it came time to round up the herd
for market or otherwise, cattlemen used long whips that
they "cracked" to get the cows moving. The name
"Florida cracker" is derived from this practice.
Where were some of these herds driven?
|
Southwest Florida was a popular destination in the
1800's. A lucrative trade with Cuba began in the
mid-1800's. Cuba had lost most of her cattle in
revolutions but had gold to exchange for Florida cattle.
Herds were driven from all over Florida to Punta Rassa,
south of Tampa, where they were loaded onto ships bound
for Cuba. In 1840, 30,000 cattle were exported to Cuba
from Punta Rassa. Trade was so profitable, cattlemen
risked running Union blockades during the Civil War. During the Civil War, Florida was a significant supplier of beef to the Confederate army, supplying at least 50,000 head of cattle. According to Robert Taylor, author of Rebel Storehouse: Florida in the Confederate Economy, "Stringy and unappetizing as the grass-fed beef was, the venison-like meat often served as the only protein in the rations of Confederate soldiers fighting in the lower South." Taylor also noted a Georgian's description of the Florida beef he consumed during the Olustee campaign in 1864. The cattle were so lean, "not a |
 Cattle received a paint mark upon exiting the dipping vat, indicating they had received treatment for the Texas tick. _______________________ |
single ounce of grease or fat could be found on
any of the bovines. The butchered meat appeared blue in color,
and the men amused themselves in camp by throwing their beef
rations at brick walls to watch them stick like tar."
Regardless of the taste, Confederate
demand for beef was so great, it depleted many herds in
Florida. However, herds in south Florida were not so affected.
After the Civil War, the gold from
cattle trade with Cuba would help lift Florida from economic
depression. However, with
competition from Texas and South America, Florida's cattle trade
with Cuba died out in the early
1900's.
The early 1900's brought a few more
difficulties for Florida cattlemen, all of which began the
mandate to put livestock on the other side of fences. The first
was the Texas fever tick. The tick
was already a severe pest in Florida by 1906. This added another
cost to raising cows: fencing, so
stock could be controlled without extensive cowhunts. Early
eradication attempts involved keeping
stock off of pasture that infected animals had grazed in in the
last four months. Since ticks also fed
on wild animals, this was not successful. The Florida beef
industry was losing an estimated
$10,000,000 annually due to the Texas fever tick. Something had
to be done, so in 1923 the state
of Florida implemented a mandatory cattle dipping program.
Cattle had to be dipped every 14 days.
Without fencing, it was almost impossible to find all the
cattle twice a month. From holding pens, a narrow chute led into
the dipping vat so the cow had no
choice but to move forward through the dip. As it exited the vat,
a cowman would dab it with paint.
The color of the paint changed with each dipping. Then dipping
continued for 18 months, but took
longer to work in some sections. The Texas fever tick seemed to
be eradicated in the mid to late
1930's.
Then came the screw worm, also from the
West. Although no one is certain when the screw
worm first appeared in Florida, many Florida cattlemen associate
it with the influx of cattle from the
Dust Bowl in the 1930's.The Mississippi River was a natural
barrier against the screw worm
because the flies that laid the eggs of the larva could not fly
very far. Then, during the 1930šs,
infected cattle were brought to Florida ranges instead of being
left to starve on parched ranges of
the West. Again, cattlemen had to keep a more vigilant watch over
their herds. An eradication
program using sterile screw worm flies was an easier solution to
enact than the eradication solution
to the Texas fever tick. The screw worm has appeared again from
time to time, but was pretty well
wiped out by 1959.
One final problem to overcome was cattle
(and other livestock) roaming on highways. This was
dangerous for man and cow alike. One of Governor Fuller Warren's
campaign platforms was a
fencing law. It was enacted in 1950 and free ranging cattle were
no longer a road hazard.
So, it is presumed that by 1950, fences
were no longer necessary in Fernandina to keep cattle
out of yards. Regardless, many fences still stand around our
historic homes.
In our next issue, we will talk with
Ernest P. Davis, a former cowman in Nassau County.
Wešll see how traditions and laws affected the cowmen of this
area.