Land was abundant and economic demand was growing. When the United States annexed Texas in 1845, it distributed public lands for railroads and settlement.В This expanded new markets for Texas cattle. Through the вЂ40s and вЂ50s, the Texas ranching economy took off. American settlers began to spread into arid northern and western Texas, and the longhorn went with them. Over the next decade, the upheaval of the Texas Revolution and Mexican-American War left large quantities of land and cattle abandoned by Mexican ranchers. Cattle and beef were abundant in the Colony. Over time, their eastern cattle bred with Spanish cattle and the Texas Longhorn was born.Д«y the 1830s, settlers had blended eastern ranching techniques with those of their Spanish-Mexican predecessors. Anglo American settlers were attracted by the availability of newly вЂњemptyвЂќ land for planting and cattle ranching. By the end of the war in 1821, the Spanish ranching economy had effectively dissolved.В The warвЂ™s end also saw the establishment of the Austin Colony,В led by Stephen F. This was made worse by the turmoil of the Mexican War of Independence beginning in 1810. As a result, there was a major decline in cattle by the turn of the century. The Mustang Tax was revoked in 1795, and drives spread more rapidly to new markets. Written recordsВ from 1779 suggest that cattle were driven to Louisiana to feed Spanish soldiers fighting against the British in the American Revolution.В The arrival of the cattle remains unconfirmed, but it would have been the first-ever drive out of Texas. In 1778, the crown imposed the contentious Fondo de MestenosВ (Mustang Tax) on all unbranded cattle and horses.В Cattle drives out of Texas also began at this time, mostly to provide military rations of beef. The Spanish crown saw an opportunity in the growing number of cattle in the region. They worked as independent contractors, owning their own horses, saddles, and ropes but remaining unbound to a haciendaВ or a patronВ unless they chose to be. Most vaqueros were from lower castasВ - socio-racial classes used by the Spanish government - like mestizoВ (of American Indian and Spanish ancestry), mulattoВ (of Spanish and African ancestry), American Indian, or African. V aquerosВ were the first cowhands on these early ranches. By the mid-18th century, these were joined by competing private ranches. The earliest ranches were those of Spanish missionaries. By 1680, there were several thousand cattle recorded in the El Paso region. The first cattle raising in Texas appeared in the Rio Grande Valley. Through the 16th and 17th centuries, cattle ranching continued to spread north through Spanish Mexico and into the land now known as Texas.

He brought with him the first Spanish cattle and the precursors of the famed Texas longhorn. In 1493, Christopher Columbus made his second voyage to the island of Hispaniola. The early roots of Texas ranching began with colonial conquest.

The cattle industry became big business