Longhorns: not just in Texas
Over the past year and a half driving through the Driftless in search of stories, only once have I passed a small heard of Texas Longhorn cattle. I thought to myself, huh, and almost did a double take. Turns out there are actually more of these bovine beauties than I had ever thought in our beautiful state. Enter: Green Pastures Cattle Company in Plain, Wisconsin.
Tucked away in a valley located just Southwest of the Natural Bridge State Park in Sauk County, roams a herd of impressive Longhorn cattle that call Green Pastures Cattle Company home. The company, owned and operated by Aaron and Courtney Fiegl, was something that the couple kind of evolved into over just the past two years.
Aaron, having been raised on a farm and continuing to do so in his adult life, happens to be a world class taxidermist for the last 15 years. He runs the couples Wild Hills Taxiidermy out of the farm, specializing not just in traditional mounts, but Texas Longhorn shoulder mounts that are specially bred out of their herd for unique color patterns and impressive horns.
Having farmed in commercial beef, commodities, and the green trade, Aaron just didn't really like getting paid for producing a product and only getting paid for what someone else thinks it's worth. In his words, “I wanted to do something that I liked, and have some ownership in a farm. I also wanted to do my own thing and be my own boss.”
Now, how do you go from taxidermy to Longhorns? Well, Aaron said that Longhorns kind of piqued his interest so to speak. He found that there were more aspects to mounting Longhorns. “You can do a lot more with their skulls, and actually, I researched what Texas Longhorn shoulder mounts were selling for. It turns out to be not bad.” For Aaron and Courtney, it was time to dabble in the idea of raising Longhorns, for the health aspects of their meat, an alternative viable resource, and taxidermy mounts. My how their lives would change.
Aaron actually knew a guy not far from where their farm is that had a small herd. “I stopped in on a whim one day and asked him what he did with his Longhorns and said he butchered his steers. I asked if he would be interested in me buying a cape from him? He's like, ‘yeah, you know, I don’t do anything with them.’ So, he was more than happy to take some extra money for the capes of his animals and I started mounting several of his. We marketed them online and they sold right away. Now every time we've mounted one, they’ve sold within weeks.”
While talking to Aaron and Courtney, I could not dismiss a beautiful shoulder mounted Longhorn. Aaron noticed saying, “That animal there is from a gentleman we met at a Longhorn sale this summer. He drove that animal over from Grand Rapids, Michigan for me to mount.”
Eventually, the Fiegls got into their own herd. They learned that with buying registered stock, there is a breeding aspect of Texas Longhorns across the country. People are breeding for genetics, horn, and color.
The Fiegls started eyeing cows and buying quality stock they felt were affordable. Aaron noted that some of the prices on heifers at sales across the country are 10’s of thousands of dollars. “I mean, not every animal is gonna bring that, but you can get lucky once in a while. There are animals that are bringing 30, 40, 50 thousand dollars. You might breed your whole entire life and only sell a couple animals that way. But being that we AI, which is artificial insemination, we can use these big bulls that are normally worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. We can buy two-hundred-dollar straws of semen from these top bulls and we can essentially have that bull on our farm.” Aaron admitted that they have become addicted to the whole breeding aspect of raising Longhorns.
Artificial insemination has its advantages though. It enables the Fiegls to choose genetics from top dollar bulls with favorable traits, but without the cost of purchasing the whole bull. If the cows don’t take a couple of weeks after artificial insemination, in comes their clean-up bull “Devil Man”.
Interestingly, Longhorns have health benefits that set it apart from other breeds. “They're leaner and higher in protein. It's pretty mind blowing how healthy Longhorn is compared to other breeds out there,” Aaron said. A typical 3.5 ounce serving of Longhorn has a significant lower content of calories, cholesterol, and fat, but a higher content of protein compared to regular beef.
Courtney spends a large amount of her time marketing their company. Maintaining the website, Instagram, and Facebook page, she admitted that when they started, she wasn’t too sure how to go about it. Two years ago, she started the Instagram and Facebook page, and found both, very useful marketing tools. Courtney said, “it has been a bit of a learning curve,” but feels she has a good handle on it now. Asked if they do much advertising, Courtney said, “Instagram and Facebook are really, so far, all we've needed. Instagram and Facebook get people here, and we are able to sell our beef, mounts, and skulls pretty much right away”.
For more information on Green Pastures Cattle Company, visit them on Instagram, Facebook, or their website.
