KING RANCH - Cattle, History and Wildlife

The King Ranch is major agribusiness.  It has interests in cattle ranching, farming (citrus, cotton, grain, sugar cane and turfgrass), luxury retail goods and recreational hunting. 

Texas Longhorn / Patented King Ranch Designed Web Fencing

Richard King, a Rio Grande steamboat captain, purchased a creek-fed oasis in the Wild Horse Desert of South Texas in 1853. He bought longhorn cattle from Mexico and battled droughts and cattle thieves to build a profitable ranch.

King Ranch led some of the first cattle drives, developed the Santa Gertrudis and Santa Cruz breeds of cattle, bred fine Quarter horses and produced champion thoroughbreds. We heard the King Ranch is the keeper of the genetics for the original longhorn cattle.

In the mid 1800's the first Kinenos from the tiny town of Cruillas arrived from Mexico.  They were hard working ranchers and expert horsemen.  Through the years these cowboys helped shape and tame the King Ranch.  Generations later, their descendants continue to work the ranch and are called "Kingsmen". 

King was one of the first ranchers to "drive" his cattle between 1866 and 1886.  The journey to the railhead in Abilene, KS, at the end of the Chisholm Trail took up to two months through a thousand miles of dangerous wilderness. 

Running W Brand

Over the years the King Ranch accumulated 825,000 acres, more land than the state of Rhode Island. Ford Motor Company has a "King Ranch" F-150 Pickup truck that has plush accessories.

Santa Gertrudis Breed

King descendants are pioneers in wildlife management.  They created visionary farming and ranching techniques and managed the land to be productive while conserving habitat for wild game. It's a balance of wild game and domestic livestock on this ranch.

White-Tailed Deer

We took a guided wildlife tour of the King Ranch. I was hoping to see that elusive Nilgai Antelope that we have been hearing about.  The King Ranch acquired Nilgai brood stock from the San Diego Zoological Garden in the late 1920s. They are flourishing as they now number 12,000 on the King Ranch. But alas, none were to be seen that day. We did see white-tailed deer, turkey, javelina and many species of birds.

Javelinas

Wild Turkeys

King Ranch

With 825,000 acres of varied habitat, the King Ranch is named as a site on the globally Important Bird Area by the American Bird Conservancy boasting 363 bird species. 

A Haven for Birds

As the King Ranch is located along the Central bird migration flyway it's not surprising that Laura Bush frequently visits the King Ranch as she is a passionate bird watcher.