RM Williams made Texas Longhorns familiar to Australian, but growing the breed in challenging
For over a decade a north Queensland couple have given visitors to their cattle farm a taste of the American West. It is a passion that has resulted in the couple owning the largest herd of full-blooded Texas Longhorns in Australia.
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00:00It looks a little like this is the heart of the American West.
00:07So we have Norman, we have Amigo, we have Newt, we have Hank over the other side there.
00:13And they're all side by the same bull.
00:15But this ain't Texas, it's Charters Towers in North Queensland.
00:20We're at Leighton Park, which is 10km just north of Charters Towers.
00:26And it's the home of one of the biggest herds of full-blood Texas longhorn cattle in Australia
00:33and also the home to Texas Longhorn Tours, our tourist attraction.
00:38Michael and Linda Bethel have been breeding Texas longhorns for more than 20 years.
00:43It's been a consuming passion.
00:45It started off as a love and a passion, still is, still is.
00:50Never thinking in that wildest dreams that we'd ever make a living out of Texas longhorn cattle.
00:55The couple grew up together.
00:57We actually went to school together. So we grew up in a little country town called Georgetown.
01:02Michael lived down on a property, I lived in town.
01:04We went to school together and I suppose the rest is history.
01:08Kind of like the old childhood sweetheart thing, you know.
01:11So yeah, everybody knew everybody else and I'd tell everybody that Linda was,
01:16not only was she the prettiest girl in Georgetown, she was the only girl I wasn't related to.
01:22Just kidding.
01:24The Bethel story with longhorns began in the 90s, but the breed's history spans hundreds of years.
01:30Nothing defines the old west like cowboys and we say it, we've said it a million times,
01:36if it wasn't for Texas longhorns it wouldn't be cowboys and cowgirls.
01:40Their ancestors were the first cattle ever introduced into the new world, the Americas, in 1493.
01:47And they were, and later those cattle evolved into what became known as Texas longhorns.
01:53Fast forward to today and Texas longhorns have made their mark on not just American culture, but Australia's as well.
02:00R.M. Williams proudly used the longhorn as his trademark.
02:04There wasn't even any longhorns in Australia when R.M. Williams realised the importance of something so iconic as the Texas longhorns.