America’s Oldest Cattle Legacy Lives On With the Seminoles

Pop quiz: Where did cattle ranching start in the United States? Cattle were brought to North America with early European settlers, but where? And when?

If you’re thinking New England, or maybe Texas, those are good guesses. Both the Pilgrims and the Conquistadors brought cattle with them into those areas in the early 1600s. 

But, both are wrong. 

Nearly 100 years before those early settlers herded cattle in what is now the U.S., there were already cowboys and cowgirls in … Florida! Seminoles Native Americans began raising cattle in the 1520s, just 30 years after Columbus first sailed to the New World.

The Seminoles are still there, raising cattle today. Some can even trace their ranching ancestry to that beginning. Talk about a Century Farm, this is a 500-Year Farm! 

Seminole History

The story of the Seminole Tribe’s cattle production is best told by someone like Alex Johns, a Seminole cattleman whose ancestry goes back to those early times.

Johns, 50, is past president of the Florida Cattlemen’s Association – the first Seminole to hold that office, in 2018–2019. He tells how the Spanish Andalusian cattle first got to Florida around 1521 and became a part of Seminole culture and history.

“Ponce de Leon, the fountain of youth explorer, came to the east coast of Florida with the intent of starting a colony,” Johns said. “He brought cattle, horses, and other livestock, but he didn’t get very far.”

The Natives fought him off and kept him from landing his boats, Johns said. Ponce de Leon was badly wounded but managed to escape back to Cuba, where he soon died of his wounds.

“About 15–20 head of cattle and some horses survived the battle and swam to shore in Florida, where they were herded up by the native people,” Johns continued. “Thirty years later, when the next colonists came to Florida, they found cattle, descendants of those that swam ashore, being raised there by the Native Americans.”

There were buffalo in Florida at that time, but they had been hunted to near extinction. The natives celebrated the cattle as the re-coming of the bovine species, Johns explained.

“They immediately took to raising them and the cattle did really well,” he said. “It was just great cattle country, with lush grass and warm temperatures. Those Native Americans were my ancestors, and we’ve been raising cattle here ever since.”

An Entrepreneur, and a Tragedy

In the 1700s, a Seminole cattleman named Ahaya became famous when he assembled a herd of several thousand head in central Florida. The Europeans called him “Cowkeeper” in respect of his vast herds, and he may have provided meat for one or both sides of the American Revolutionary War. Even today, some Seminole cattle producers refer to themselves as Cowkeepers.

Tragedy stuck the Seminole and their herds in the 1830s, in the form of the forced deportation known as the Trail of Tears. As more European settlers arrived in the southeastern U.S., the federal government decided to resettle the Seminole and other American tribes to Oklahoma. Federal troops forced them to walk there in what became a death march marred by disease, starvation, and fatigue. Thousands died.

At least 250 Seminole refused to leave Florida, and stayed in hiding to tend their herds and lands, Johns said. “The cattle and the horses are the reason we are still here,” he said. “With our horses, we were better at evading capture. And the cattle were a mobile protein source to sustain us through those years.”

Over the next few generations, some Seminoles returned to Florida to join those who had stayed behind, and to take back their old land and life. Their descendants are the Seminole Tribe members in Florida today. While they are involved in multiple agricultural enterprises, the cattle business has best prospered. Several hundred Florida Seminoles are active in it.

Modern Cattle Upgrade

In the 1920s, Seminole members began upgrading their cattle operations. The Seminole Tribes of Florida co-op was formed for cattle production and other agricultural enterprises. Today, 68 families have cattle in the co-op, with about 10,000 cows in total. 

Over half the co-op members are women, Johns said. “We’re a matriarchal society; we go by our mother’s ancestry,” he noted. “Part of that is because of all the wars we fought. The men didn’t live very long.” Female co-op members remain active today in working the cattle and farmland.

Johns, who serves as the executive director of the entire agricultural side of the Seminole Tribe, has about 150 cows himself in the co-op herd, and another 350 cows he keeps on leased land apart from the co-op.

While there are several Seminole Reservation properties, most of their cattle graze on 91,000 acres of pastureland in the Brighton and Big Cypress reservations.

Originally, the Andalusian cattle were raised in Florida for meat and milk production. Today, the commercial cattle the Seminole raise are modern genetics-focused on growth, meat, and heat tolerance. 

“Most of our cattle are Brangus-type,” Johns said. “That’s ⅜ Brahma, for the heat, and ⅝ Angus, for carcass. They’re usually black or red. They will qualify for Certified Angus Beef, and usually grade 80% Choice or higher at market and get quality premiums.”

With limited feed resources in Florida, outside of grass, the Seminole Tribe’s calves are usually shipped west to Great Plains feed yards for feeding out.