Friday, December 21, 2018

King Ranch–Kingsville, TX

King Ranch hide

We’ve heard of King Ranch . . . how could we work at Ford and not be familiar with the highest trim level available on the F Series trucks . . . and we knew it was the largest cattle ranch in Texas, but we were not aware of how much King Ranch was a leader in farming and ranching innovations, and how they have grown beyond just cattle, and beyond Texas.

From the website:

In 1853, Captain Richard King purchased a creek-fed oasis in the Wild Horse Desert of South Texas, sparking generations of integrity, preservation, and innovation.

King Ranch now covers 825,000 acres—more land than the state of Rhode Island. Over the course of over 160 years, King Ranch led some of the first cattle drives, developed the Santa Gertrudis and Santa Cruz breeds of cattle, bred the finest Quarter Horses, and produced champion Thoroughbreds—all under its iconic Running W® brand.

Today’s King Ranch is a major agribusiness with interests in cattle ranching, farming (citrus, cotton, grain, sugar cane, and turfgrass), luxury retail goods, and recreational hunting.

King Ranch continues to foster a culture of uncompromising quality, stewardship, and authenticity—a true testament to Captain King’s integrity and commitment to the land.

While we were in the area, we decided to take a tour of the ranch.

Arriving for our King Ranch Tour

We ordered our tickets online, and arrived at the Visitor center a half hour before the tour time so that we had time to watch the video on the ranch’s history.

After the movie, we gathered with the rest of our tour group and boarded our bus.






We didn’t get to ride in the King Ranch Transit, just a regular shuttle style bus.

King Ranch -- Not just trucks











During our driving tour of the ranch, our tour guide talked about the history of King Ranch and the family members who were instrumental in developing the ranch into the huge operation it is today. 

She also talked about the various animals that the ranch is home to – both animals that are raised here and wild animals that call this land home, also.

We stopped to see the horses first.

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They used to raise thoroughbreds, and even had one horse that won the Triple Crown back in the 50s, but they’ve gotten out of that business and now just raise quarter horses that are used by the cowboys on the ranch.

Pretty horses

King Ranch Quarterhorses

From there, we went to visit the Texas Longhorns.  According to our guide, the longhorns are not raised for their beef, but they keep a herd on the ranch just to preserve the breed.  They are certainly amazing animals.

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I can see why they want to preserve the breed.

Texas Longhorn











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So while the longhorns get to live out their lives in leisure, the main herds of the ranch have a higher purpose – they are raised for their beef.

Santa Gertrudis cattle

Curious cattle











They look pretty content with their lives!

Just a lazy day at the ranch

They used to raise dairy cows here, too, but that part of the business is gone now – too many regulations on milk.

The old Dairy Barn is still standing, though.

Old Dairy Barn

King Ranch is home to 363 recorded species of birds, including many migratory birds.  During our tour, we saw lots of egrets, herons and ducks,

Birds gathering in the Gertrudis River

Local swimming hole











and we spotted several pairs of crested caracaras – otherwise known as Mexican Eagles.

Caracara couple

One thing about our tour that I wasn’t crazy about was that we spent almost all of our time on the bus.  I would have preferred being able to go around at our own pace and stop as long as we (I) wanted for pictures.  An open-air vehicle would have been nice, too.  Most of my pictures had a slight glare on them from taking them through the windows of the bus.  It was a good thing we didn’t have a full tour, too . . . we had empty seats across from us, so I was constantly moving from one side of the bus to the other, depending on which side the animals were on.  I was probably driving the other people crazy!

We only had one opportunity for getting off the bus – that was when we stopped at the Weaver’s Cottage.

Weaver's Cottage

They weave their own King Ranch blankets.  Our guide said there’s only one person left on the ranch who still knows how to weave.  It’s a dying art.

Loom

There’s also a cattle brand display in the cottage.  It was interesting to look at.

Library of Texas cattle brands

We found the main King Ranch brand, the “running W” (they have several variations of this brand)

The King Ranch brand




We also found this brand, which looks somewhat familiar . . .

McDonald's has their own brand

Sure enough, it’s the McDonald’s Hamburger brand!

Branding Iron display

Branding irons

Back on the bus, we had one more animal spotting . . . a herd of javalinas rooting around in the field.  They took off pretty quick when we drove up, but I managed to catch a photo of a couple of them.

Javalinas running away

Our last stop on the tour was the main house.  This is another spot where I would have liked getting off the bus and getting some better pictures, but the home is still owned by and occupied (occasionally) by members of the family, so it’s not open at all for tour groups.

It looks like a beautiful house.

Main House

Recreation Building

Guest Cottages

Guest Cottages

The Main House Stable

Front view of the stable











Main House Stable

Back at the Visitor Center at the end of the tour,

Back at the Visitor Center

Glad we didn;t see any!

we were sure glad we hadn’t seen any of those guys!

Is the bell there to scare them away??

Dinner Bell

The two resident longhorns, Pancho and Pedro, were hanging out near the Visitor Center, so Tom and I stopped along the road on the way out to get some pictures.

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Those are some big horns!

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Overall, it was a good tour, and we enjoyed it.

Before leaving Kingsville, we stopped in at the King Ranch Saddle Shop,

King Ranch Saddle Shop

Antler Tree

and talked to the leather craftsman.  He does some beautiful work!

Saddle Shop










Beautiful Boots

Nicolas would love those boots – but they were expensive!!

Lunch at the Soda Fountain

Our last stop was the soda fountain across the street – after seeing all that cattle, we were hungry for some hamburgers!









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