FORT WORTH -- Sancho, the last original member of the Fort Worth Herd, has retired, and at the same time, the Herd is welcoming two new 5-year-olds, Joel and James, donated by a Missouri rancher.
Sancho, 18, a red-and-white-speckled steer with a 90-inch horn span, retired a week ago to the 100-acre ranch in Parker and Tarrant counties of former Fort Worth City Councilman Jim Lane, who headed up the formation of the Herd in 1999 to honor the city's heritage.The longhorns take a twice-daily stroll through the Stockyards and are a popular tourist attraction. Sancho made the eight-minute amble from his barn down Exchange Avenue and back an estimated 9,000 times.He was a "model city employee," Lane said. "Never called in late, never called in sick."Sancho's been getting used to his new home and managed to startle Lane's herd of Angus, which had apparently never seen a Longhorn."He's been eating, sleeping and lying around, doing what retired Longhorns are supposed to," Lane said.Meanwhile, back at the Stockyards, Joel and James, who arrived by truck Thursday, have been getting used to their new digs. "They've never seen a horse before," the herd's trail boss, Kristin Jaworski, said Monday, as the black, brown and white James moved in close to study Jaworski's horse.Jaworski said Sancho had been dropping to the rear of the Herd on the "cattle drives.""We decided to retire him while he's still got several years left," Jaworski said. "Nothing was particularly wrong with him at all. He just served us well, and we thought the reward was going out to pasture."The first Herd had 15 steers, each representing one of Fort Worth's decades. The herd expanded to 16, donated by breeders as far away as Washington state and Florida, Jaworski said. Sancho came from the El Coyote Ranch in Kingsville, where he was born in 1994.Joel and James came from a ranch in Mansfield, Mo., near Springfield.Janet Olmstead, their owner, said her husband has taken a job in Arkansas, and the family is moving and selling their farm.James and Joel were the last of their herd. Olmstead said she didn't want the two -- who aren't siblings, but have grown up together -- to go to slaughter."I just bought these steers with the intention of keeping them forever," she said Monday from her farm.Through a friend, she learned about the Herd, which sent a handler to pick up the steers. "It was a perfect fit for us," she said.The steers are different, Olmstead said."James is a little heavy," she said. "He lives to twist his horns at you and make you think he's going to do something, although he never does. Joel is tamer.""James is especially regal," she said. "He's always held his head high. Joel is more of a great big puppy dog."Joel and James will likely join the Herd's Stockyards stroll sometime in the next three weeks, Jaworski said. In the meantime, Olmstead has called every day to check in."I plan on seeing them once a year," Olmstead said. "I can't wait for them to get to where they can walk with the Herd. I intend very much to come down."Scott Nishimura, 817-390-7808Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
