Q und Oxn Schule Zengermoos

TLH - Newsletter (englisch)
Used courtesy of Dickinson Cattle Co. USA

Used courtesy of Dickinson Cattle Co. USA
{{empty}}

Texas Longhorn Promotion History

Erstellt am: von Longhorn

DCC Ranch e-News #416 - 9-5-2025

by Darol Dickinson

Good marketing takes time, money, and persistence. It pays off
with profit for producers and attraction for Texas Longhorns
~ Anonymous

In March 1936, ground-breaking ceremonies for the San Jacinto Memorial attracted high-society Texas celebrities to memorialize the defeat of Santa Anna and the origin of the Republic of Texas. A team of Texas Longhorn oxen was a fitting ground-breaker, and E. H. "Emil" Marks was the first and only choice to make this event happen. His trained Texas Longhorns pulled the plow, and Emil even wore a tie, which was unusual for him.

The Marks cattle were one of the seven original Texas Longhorn families. The herd ran on the LH7 Ranch, a sprawling, coastal grasslands west of Houston, Texas. Today that land is totally covered with city.
The Marks cattle were one of the seven original Texas Longhorn families. The herd ran on the LH7 Ranch, a sprawling, coastal grasslands west of Houston, Texas. Today that land is totally covered with city.

In 1936, an innovative and significant thing was happening. As everyone knew, a few old, desk-worn bureaucrats with new shovels typically did ground-breakings. But somehow, some way, Emil manipulated a big political event into a Texas Longhorn in-your-face promotional photo op that we are still enjoying today. He created this magical stunt through clever planning and chicanery at a time when other ranchers were turning away from Longhorns to Brahmans.

As a true promoter of Texas Longhorns, Marks took every opportunity to show off the breed—including celebrities riding a half-dozen steers in the Houston Livestock Show Rodeo Grand Entry in the Astrodome. Promotion is about numbers. With the Astrodome’s capacity of 70,000, and over 20 performances, that was real breed promotion.

Although Emil Marks was selling cattle for $35-$75, he understood the value of promotion. He was far more than a literal ground-breaker and creatively added to the fame of the breed, beginning with this first plowing event in 1936.

Fast-forward to today. Today, no business can succeed with any product if it makes no effort to promote sales. Without a serious marketing plan, the most valuable product may be sold at scrap prices. No matter how good the product, a viable business must invest in marketing to generate income that exceeds production costs.

At base, every producer must work at promoting to ensure that inventory moves. Marketing benefits the industry as well as each individual and business. As one ranch expands sales, it spins off publicity and can help other producers who are less involved in marketing their own products.

Here’s a dedicated example. During the 1980’s, Dickinson Cattle Co mounted a colorful display at the Denver National Western Stock Show for 28 days each year. The bright red, eye-catching site was strategically located by the overpass exit
Here’s a dedicated example. During the 1980’s, Dickinson Cattle Co mounted a colorful display at the Denver National Western Stock Show for 28 days each year. The bright red, eye-catching site was strategically located by the overpass exit connecting the old and new coliseums—a major human traffic path. Every day, more than 60,000 people walked within a few feet of this display. Some stopped to discuss Texas Longhorns, some took educational materials, and others became producers of the breed.
Here’s another late-20th-century example. In 1866, Charles Goodnight had forged the Goodnight-Loving trail from Texas to Montana, herding 2,000 head of cattle around east of Colorado Springs.
Here’s another late-20th-century example. In 1866, Charles Goodnight had forged the Goodnight-Loving trail from Texas to Montana, herding 2,000 head of cattle around east of Colorado Springs. More than a century later, in 1988 Dickinson Cattle Co staged the first Texas Longhorn drive through a major city since Goodnight’s initiative.

This modern recreation included just over 100 cattle and nearly that many horsemen driving the herd. Action went southward down Tejon Street and ended in front of the historic County Court House. Timing and numbers were important, so the event was staged just before the annual Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo. TV crews rode in front of the herd in a special press perch where they could shoot from a safe, picturesque elevation up above street level. Three major networks filmed the drive as part of their rodeo coverage that reached over three million viewers.

Although this effort was a local boost for the breed, it also helped thousands of producers nation- wide and introduced millions of TV viewers to Texas Longhorns. Numbers matter.

A decade later, in 1998 the International Texas Longhorn Association (ITLA) had headquarters on the west side of Fort Worth. The young organization was searching for creative ways to promote the breed
A decade later, in 1998 the International Texas Longhorn Association (ITLA) had headquarters on the west side of Fort Worth. The young organization was searching for creative ways to promote the breed with public events, field days, and educational programs. To spur these gambits, past-president Joe Valentine and then-current president Darol Dickinson proposed a downtown Drovers Cattle Drive right through Fort Worth.

City fathers were not enthusiastic about this crazy new idea. Valentine assured them the Texas Longhorns would be handled professionally, with no damage to the city. Still, they had visions of wild-eyed steers flying through storefront windows with death, blood, and destruction exploding in every direction. With more of Valentine’s persistent persuasion, however, they finally agreed—but ITLA had to purchase a major insurance policy to cover all anticipated damages.

The ITLA Board of Directors was solidly behind this strategic-but-high-risk promotion. After months of planning, on Memorial Day weekend 1998, loads of steers and saddle horses were volunteered from several states. Ron Marquess of Ben Wheeler, Texas, had loaded and brought trailers of big-horned steers to Fort Worth before dawn. A couple dozen hands brought horses to contain the predicted "stampede." They gathered and staged the herd just north of the city’s skyscrapers and west of the Trinity River Railroad Trestle Bridge. Ron and his crew slept in their trucks awaiting first light to launch the drive.

The first-ever ITLA Drovers Cattle Drive lasted over an hour. It went off without a hitch, winding around the Trinity Valley, right by Fort Worth’s biggest buildings, and on to the Stockyards corrals. People came from everywhere, rubber-necking and taking photos along Exchange Avenue. The sights were stunning. The crowd had never seen anything like cowboys and Texas Longhorns on Texas city streets.

City councilmen, including Steve Murrin, attended. After the drive, Valentine and I proposed to these leaders that a daily Texas Longhorn drive down Exchange Avenue would be a powerful and much-needed tourist draw. Why? Because Fort Worth had lost its steam as an exciting, historic "Old West cow town." The cattle were gone and the yards were rotting. Our proposed drive could be the resurrection Fort Worth needed. We thought this was a no-brainer, but the Council still had reservations about financing, liability, and a washtub full of other concerns.

Despite official skepticism, within hours the Fort Worth Star Telegram and local TV stations released positive local news covering the ITLA’s first trail drive. There was also national recognition—and no broken windows or bloodshed. All was well, but nothing more happened.

Over a year passed with no further notice of the drive. Apparently all was forgotten—and then an explosion erupted on June 12, 1999: the Fort Worth Herd made its debut. The slow grinding wheels of government made a test move.

All year long, ITLA had been working quietly behind the scenes for members to donate big steers to the potential project. In June, authentic cowboys drove a small herd of fifteen huge Longhorns from the downtown Fort Worth Convention Center to the Stockyards. Thousands of enthusiastic spectators watched these historic beasts saunter through the center of town, cheering excitedly and taking photos at every corner. That was among the first of thousands of modern cattle drives.

Today and every day since then in Fort Worth, the Old West comes to life before thousands of eyes during the world's only twice-daily cattle drive. Real cowhands in period chaps and Stetsons move Texas Longhorns down East Exchange Avenue in the Stockyards National Historic District.

What do this and other urban cattle drives have to do with promoting Texas Longhorns? They were the payoff for a long, arduous process. Someone had to take the time, take a chance with a speculative idea, finance it, plan the event, and take full responsibility. Although ITLA and volunteers got little or no direct return, their efforts forged the way for Texas’s second-largest tourist draw. And every Texas Longhorn producer since then has profited from this pioneer marketing experiment. Someone had to lead.

Here’s another modern instance of creative promotion. Since its founding in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has pushed the boundaries of scientific and technical limits to explore the unknown for all the citizens
Here’s another modern instance of creative promotion. Since its founding in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has pushed the boundaries of scientific and technical limits to explore the unknown for all the citizens of the planet.

NASA’s Longhorn Project at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, was created in 1996 to create ways to make Texas Longhorn information available to the public. The Project is involved in educational field trip programs, summer youth camps, and showing cattle competitively at major shows nationwide. In 2016— and for the first time in the Project’s 20-year history—its educational field trips were opened to all public and private schools, youth, and adult organizations.

Through this unique program, students have the opportunity to learn about ranch management, animal husbandry, and our rich Western heritage to promote the preservation and legacy of cattle native to North America—Texas Longhorns.

When over 1.1 million visitors tour NASA each year, they see Texas Longhorns standing in all their majesty. Today, NASA, the Alamo, and the Fort Worth Herd are the most-viewed tourist attractions in Texas.

Although tour guides and organizers of The Longhorn Project profit very little, all Texas Longhorn producers are rewarded by their dedication. Someone had to plan, fund, and lead.

After that 1988 cattle drive in Colorado Springs (the first major city drive since 1866), many herds have trod through more cities and even small burgs. The biggest, most publicized event is the annual National Western Stock Show’s “Kick-0ff Parade”
After that 1988 cattle drive in Colorado Springs (the first major city drive since 1866), many herds have trod through more cities and even small burgs. The biggest, most publicized event is the annual National Western Stock Show’s “Kick-0ff Parade” in Denver, Colorado—right through the middle of town. Stan Searle and Gary Lake of Silverado Ranch have ramrodded this event for many years. The drive of Silverado exhibition steers is a sight to see, with thousands viewing from the sidewalks. It has been acclaimed by the national press, including The Wall Street Journal, which featured Texas Longhorns on its front page—reaching 2.3 million readers.
These are all good examples of large-scale marketing. But every size and scale matters. Take the family-owned Burris Cattle Co in Cambridge, Ohio. It holds a private “rancher’s market” of Texas Longhorn beef every Saturday during the summer.
These are all good examples of large-scale marketing. But every size and scale matters. Take the family-owned Burris Cattle Co in Cambridge, Ohio. It holds a private “rancher’s market” of Texas Longhorn beef every Saturday during the summer. This small market offers local consumers a selection of delicious, healthful, all-natural beef. It also develops clients and generates a record of buyers. The market’s list of customers is valuable for marketing even during the winter months when no one is open for roadside business.

One producer’s private or public market like this also helps others with similar products sell their beef despite their not contributing original effort. Small-scale, local activities are as important as national and international events. They add up and collectively reach as many customers as the large ones—over time. Every promotional effort is important no matter how small or great.

All of these examples have helped create a growing attraction and market for Texas Longhorns. Great promoters have famously spent thousands, often with little financial return for themselves. But all producers can be grateful for all promoters—back to Emil Marks, to a farmer’s market, and even to a child doing a school report on Texas Longhorns. All publicity is good. The more the merrier.Many producers have invested big dollars in marketing. But some believe that raising and selling registered cattle is just letting others do all the promotion. Some ride the wave of others’ large-scale advertising. Some pay others to market for them. Some try to get by without any marketing. They want full-sale benefit without making serious efforts to promote the breed.

They may be grateful to the serious marketers, but success and profit flag with minimal engagement. Gratitude alone promotes dependency. Cheap, free, or piggy-backing publicity is not enough. The industry needs more creative marketing to thrive.In reality, each producer of registered cattle has a responsibility to develop as much future interest as has been given to us. We may appreciate the big promoters, but they can’t carry the breed by themselves. We have an honorable and generous inheritance. The future calls for more promotion—and more promoters—large and small. The goal, however, is more than honor and generosity. Producers with no marketing plan will have a profit problem. Everyone who wants to develop product numbers must some way, somehow promote the Texas Longhorn. The cattle are continuously multiplying as a product and an icon of America. Promotion will create and sustain a beautiful and profitable market. It is all about numbers.

Zurück zur Newsübersicht

Dickinson Cattle Co., Inc.; 35000 Muskrat Rd.; Barnesville, OH 43713; 740 758-5050