In the Rio Grande valley large ranchers continued to dominate, but through the great interior below the Nueces only a few itinerant sheepmen grazed flocks of 1,500 to 2,000 sheep.Īmerican pioneers in Texas were slow to adopt sheep raising, except as an adjunct to the field or plantation. In the early nineteenth century the appearance of settlers from the United States pushed Spanish sheep ranching south of the Nueces River. High taxes, orders to close the missions, and other influences were all responsible. The Spanish interest in sheep ranching in Texas declined during the late eighteenth century. The pastores, the lowest in the hierarchy, each had charge of about 1,500 sheep, which he accompanied by day and camped with at night, moving on foot, usually assisted by a dog. The vaquero provided a monthly report to the caporal and delivered supplies and news to the three pastores (herders) he supervised. They each directed the work of three vaqueros. The caporales produced monthly reports, rode the range, and provided their camps and their subordinates with provisions from the home ranch. Answering to him were the caporales, usually three to a mayordomo. He stayed constantly on the range, going the round of the different camps, noting the conditions of the sheep, and suggesting changes of ranges. Below him was the mayordomo, a man of long experience in sheep raising. At the top was the haciendaro (owner) or, in his absence, a superintendent. In the other system, used especially on the large haciendas, a careful hierarchy of organization existed. At the end of the term of the contract the herder received his wages, took a brief respite from the range, and subsequently entered into a new contract. He remained with them day and night, moved them from range to range, and participated in lambing, shearing, and other activities associated with sheep raising. It was common for the sheepherder to tend about 1,500 sheep. Customarily, herders and owners entered into contracts as to the length of service and wages. In one, often called the partido system, sheep owners hired individual herders to tend the animals. Two important systems of sheep ranching emerged. Nonetheless, mission Indians wove coarse blankets or other cloth from the wool, and ranchers in the Valley found a small market for wool south of the river. The chaurros were more important for mutton than for the small amount of coarse wool they provided. Most of the sheep were chaurros, a gaunt breed that weighed only sixty to eighty pounds. Solís and others estimated that perhaps 90,000 sheep grazed on haciendas in the Rio Grande valley from near the site of present McAllen to near Laredo. He noted 2,200 sheep in the La Bahía area. In that year Gaspar José de Solís estimated the number of sheep and goats at 17,000 around San Antonio. Sheep ranching spread to others areas of Spanish Texas and by 1767 had become an important industry at La Bahía and in the Rio Grande valley as well as at San Antonio. Although most sheep raising in early Texas was associated with mission stations near San Antonio, where there were 9,000 sheep in 1727, and La Bahía, civilian ranchers included sheep and goats with cattle in their pastures, and a few sheep grazed near the East Texas missions. The next year flocks appeared in the San Antonio region, and during the 1720s sheep ranching spread down the San Antonio River. Although the missionary work there was soon abandoned, Spaniards returned in 1716 under the leadership of Domingo Ramón, bringing with them a band of 1,000 sheep and goats. As early as 1691 Domingo Terán de los Ríos brought to New Spain's recently established East Texas mission field some 1,700 sheep and goats. Texas today leads the nation in sheep production. In terms of numbers of sheep it reached a peak in the mid-twentieth century. It declined somewhat at the end of the century after authorities ordered the missions secularized, but in the mid-nineteenth century, after Anglo-Americans came to dominate the industry, it increased again. It expanded during the eighteenth century with the continued establishment of mission ranches, especially near San Antonio and La Bahía. Sheep ranching in Texas began when the first Spanish explorers and missionaries came to the region.
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