Fort Worth Herd celebrates 20 years of cattle drives with 20 longhorns

The cowboy wove back and forth in front of the cattle, working to keep them in line. Behind him, 20 longhorns swayed their heads as they walked on the brick road past hundreds of people.

Every day, the Fort Worth Herd makes its twice-daily appearance along East Exchange Avenue, but Friday’s drive was extra special — the 20 cattle represented 20 years of the drives.

The herd is part of Visit Fort Worth and made its first cattle drive on June 12, 1999, in front of 15,000 spectators as a part of the city’s sesquicentennial celebration.

In the past 20 years, 9 million spectators have watched 14,148 cattle drives. The herd has also made special event appearances in New York City, Galveston and Austin.

The Fort Worth Herd cattle drive occurs at 11:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily at the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District.

This story was originally published May 10, 2019 at 4:33 PM with the headline "Fort Worth Herd celebrates 20 years of cattle drives with 20 longhorns."