We are proud of our national reputation for breeding excellence. Our motto - “Making the Most of the Best” - reflects our goal of constantly improving our herd so that we can retain our place among the top breeders in the industry. In 2005 we expanded our operations and purchased a ranch in Bowie, Texas, which we have populated with two more top bulls and nearly thirty additional foundation longhorn cows from among the best stock in the country.

We strongly believe that good cattle are the product of good breeding decisions. The ability to make those good breeding decisions requires that we have good material to work with. We are proud of both our bulls and our cows, and we are honored by the way their progeny have become sought after by the most discriminating buyers in the breed.

Herd Sires

It is often said that bulls are only as good as their mothers. In our case, we now have a remarkable collection of five bulls, three of whose dams have over 70” tip to tip horn measurements. In addition to their impressive horns, these dams have all excelled as producers, and their offspring are well represented in the best herds in the industry. To have been able to accumulate bulls with such spectacular parentage is evidence of the lengths we have gone to to assure that our program competes at the very highest level of our breed.

Our current herd sires in California are Shadow’s Reflection (who we call Flex) and Lakota Chex. Both have impeccable pedigrees and both show the size, frame, temperament, horn growth, and conformation which place them among the finest young examples of the breed.

Shadow’s Reflection was born April 13, 1998. He is an all black son of the great bull, The Shadow, and he sports 64” tip to tip on an 1800 lb frame. He is always calm, friendly and approachable. Although it is difficult to imagine an 1800 lb family pet, Flex fits that bill in all respects except that he isn’t house broken.

Lakota Chex was born October 11, 2003. He is a son of Farlap Chex, Bob Loomis’ 66” herd sire, and he is out of Bob’s famous cow, BL Night Safari, who, at 72” TTT, is one of only two all black cows in the industry whose tip to tip measurement exceeds 70”. Thus, he was bred for horn as well as color. Lakota had 63 3/8” tip to tip at only 33 months. We project his ultimate horn measurement to be well into the high 60”s, and he has a legitimate chance to become a member of the elite 70” club. He too is extremely gentle and approachable, and his offspring demonstrate the wild color gene which we had hoped he possessed and which it is apparent he does. If they grow horn the way they should, these youngsters are going to take the industry by storm.

For our Texas ranch, we have purchased three very exciting young bulls. Chuck Wagon, born 11/19/1998, is a mammoth bull with a tip to tip measurement of 65.75” and total horn of 85.75” His pedigree is exemplary. His sire, Dixie Thunder, is a huge horned Emperor son out of Blackie Graves program, and his dam is the famous Tari Graves, one of El Coyote Ranch’s foundation cows who reached 70” as a five year old and has gone on to now have about 75” tip to tip. Chuck Wagon is widely recognized as one of the elite bulls of the breed, and his offspring are in very high demand.

MVP is a 2003 son of the famous Grand Slam bull (67”+ TTT) and is out of Delta Pia, a well known Emperor daughter whose horn length exceeds 72”. MVP was born on 5/3/03 and had 59 1/8” TTT on his third birthday. Based on the few calves born to date, it appears he may well be outproducing himself.

We have also recently purchased a ¾ interest in a fantastic young bull named Padrone YS. Padrone is a rare blue colored bull who was born on 3/5/2004. He represents the finest of Owen McGill breeding, and he was measured at 60 1/8” tip to tip at just 26 months. He, too, should mature in the high sixties. Like our other bulls, Padrone, too, is dead gentle. We expect truly great things out of him.

Click on an image for more detailed information about these bulls.

Click on an image for more detailed information.

Foundation Females

At Fairlea Longhorn Ranch we have a number of what we call our core cows. These are cows who are sound producers, who have far greater than average horn length, and who are correct in all the other ways we expect them to be. In order to meet our criteria, a cow must not only be a proven producer of a healthy calf each year, but she and her calf must have excellent horns, a non aggressive disposition, good conformation, clean lines, and she must meet our visual standards of correctness. The cow must also be a proven good mother and a good milk producer.

Obviously, the standards we have set eliminates most of the Texas Longhorns you will see in sale pens and in average herds. We pride ourselves in having a herd which we believe compares to the very finest in the country, and we are constantly looking to improve it. In horn length alone, the adult female members of the herd (those over 5 years old) average over 63” tip to tip.

The cows described here are only 14 out of our 50 mother cows. Several others are too young to have yet shown us their potential and will probably be included in future updates of this list. Those others not mentioned below are also valuable to us in many ways, and all have shown that they are capable of bearing and raising excellent offspring.