Thursday, January 21, 2010?
When you think of Texas, you also have to think about beef! Oprah Winfrey stirred up the Texas Cattlemen back in 1996 with her statement about never eating another burger again. You’ve got to understand that cattle have always been big business in Texas and Fort Worth was the former home of one of the biggest stock yards and livestock exchanges in the United States. Today, most of the trading is done over the Internet and cattle are trucked directly to regional processing plants, from the farms and feedlots. The Forth Worth Stockyards and Exchange are now a collection of gift shops, restaurants, bars and Texas Barbecues.
The Fort Worth Stockyards has been declared a National Historic District and preserves the history of the this area which covers approximately 120 acres. The stock pens are still visible and cover a good portion of the park. How they ever kept track of all those animals is amazing. (Most cows look alike to me.) Probably the biggest highlight of the day was the cattle drive down the main street of the area. They keep a small herd of Texas Longhorn cattle for use in this mini-cattle drive. They all seemed very docile and only one seemed like he was ready to escape from the herd. But a cowboy was soon there to nudge him along and he lost interest in freedom. I suppose he’s got a pretty good life here and he won’t soon land up as a quarter pounder.
We probably came at the wrong time as there is not a lot of activity during a weekday morning. I would imagine that it is absolutely mobbed with young people in the evenings and on weekends or during a rodeo.
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