Cactus Mesquite Ranch

06/12/2026

We may not be in the "Surveillance" area, but its not comforting to see your county you have cattle in on the map

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EVsZw36Cr/

A confirmed New World screwworm case documented on Monday, June 8, in Gillespie County has put southwest Llano County within the “Adjacent Surveillance Zone” established by the Texas Animal Health Commission to monitor the outbreak.
https://www.dailytrib.com/2026/06/11/llano-county-now-in-screwworm-surveillance-zone/
This story has been made free by DailyTrib as a matter of public safety.

06/10/2026

This year we have been paying extra attention to the condition of our cattle with all the talk of screw worm. We weren't expecting one of the first cases in the US to be in a neighboring county though. We live two counties to the north of Gillespie where the goat has been reported. Even though we have a majority of our herd here, we did move these to a property in Llano. Herd checks just got more serious for us

06/06/2026

Do you ever have one of those days when you are trying to get a good pic of a new calf and her Momma just won't let you? Two pics that make me laugh everytime I look at them, especially since Brazoria kept Angelina hidden for so long then refused to let me get a pic

06/02/2026

We have finally settled on names for our calves born, so far, this year. As we are still working on growing our herd we are so very fortunate to have had all heifers. For now, they are all red and white, Victoria and Bonney are starting to get some darker stripes.

05/24/2026

Its hard to get good pics of newest addition to the herd when your are running around in thigh high grass. We can confirm now, Comanche had a little heifer yesterday. Both mother and daughter are registered/ will be with TLBAA and CTLR. 🥰

05/23/2026

We have a new addition! We will figure out if its a bull or heifer when we have a little more time to spend in the pasture tomorrow morning. This little cutie will have the pleasure of being dual registered with TLBAA and CTLR

05/22/2026

Looks like Calf Watch 2026 is back on! 43 days ago we were able to purchase a bred heifer from Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. Told ourselves it would be a few months before she actually calved. Yesterday it looked like she was bagging up but today we can say for sure another calf is on its way!

05/11/2026

Calf Watch 2026 was over last week, but didn't want to call it until we actually got to see the last calf. Brazoria has had us out in the weather all week looking for her and her baby. Today she finally decided to bring HER out of hiding and it was worth it 😍 She only stayed long enough to grab a couple of cubes and let us get a couple of pics before she headed back into the brush.

05/05/2026

Or out looking for that heifer that is due to drop her calf and she wasn't with the rest of the herd

05/02/2026

Day 73 of Calf Watch 2026. It took us almost an hour of driving around to find Brazoria. Before she walked out of the brush she kept looking over her shoulder. Was hopeful she already calved, but not quite yet.