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Show Mexican Cattle A New Career for P.C. Rancher , By John Harrington j Perhaps you have seen them, the scrawny, rangy, mangy cattle that have somehow learned to endure life on the skimpy range in 1 the deserts of Southern Utah. and he will hold a week of team roping clinics for non-ropers at his Woodland ranch in June. He'll also have jackpot ropings at the ranch. He sees the day when Somehow, he explained, no matter if any occasional non-Corriente gets in the stew, the Corriente genes take over and the steer is a runt with horns. "The cowboys really like n a iiiiiiiii hi if mm ii iiiiimiTiiiii ivi i i rTnii nnrnrrnmiinrnriiii to rope 'em," says Gibbs, "because they're small." And, of course, those horns aren't just a regular set of horns. If that were true, Gibbs says, you could use Long-horns, Long-horns, which are easy to come by in these parts. Corriente horns grow out and up at the same time. They are strong at the base and firm all the way out. And the horns grow fast, making it possible to get a full season of roping out of a steer that has very short horns at the time of purchase. It wasn't easy obtaining the 40 head Gibbs has. In fact, it was a spur-of-the-moment operation that could have turned into an expensive disaster. After neglecting to attempt to pick up a load of cattle for a trip to Texas, Gibbs and a partner deadheaded dead-headed in a semi with cattle trailer 950 miles to El Paso. The 40 steers were loaded and it was off they went toward a planned evening stop in Farmington, N.M. No such luck. The weather was getting downright nasty. The decision was made to go straight through. A few hair-raising moments were had dh Soldier Summit east of Spanish Fork when a ' full-scale blizzard eliminated visibility. Somehow the truck, cattle, Gibbs and his partner made it to the partner's ranch in Francis and the cattle were stashed in a barn. "They just came off the Texas range and, if we didn't get them inside for the first few days, that would have done them in," Gibbs said. So skinny were the beasts -that they have been gaining huge amounts of weight on "the moldiest, most rotten looking hay we could buy." If fed high-quality hay, Gibbs' says, the protein shock to the steers would kill them. Gibbs plans to run the steers through the upcoming roping season and then sell them by weight for the beef. Corriente cattle are only good for one season, Gibbs says, because they get too big living it up on the fattening American pasture. Then it will be back to El Paso for another load next year. Gibbs will summer the cattle on his Double Bar A ranch. He says he hopes that sometime he'll get the breeding stock to begin a Utah herd of Corriente' "saving a lot of driving to El Paso" for anyone who wants a good roping steer. So, if you have been longing to sit tall in the saddle, see that steer dash from the chute and light out after it, rope twirling above your head, you are in luck. Gibbs says the fliers on his team roping clinic in June will be out soon and you're all welcome to sign up. He'll be providing the horses, so if the words to that Willie Nelson song apply ("I grew up a dreamin' of being a cowboy"), go for it. . I ' ' IT f , fx. ' ""'-, ' ,... ' m""" . . t 7? w ' )l i ' I Y : i ' P J t' - M OfClx . i 1 i ir ' - ' '$ 4 , ' , s i - $ t '''J f --. ; " &f '.: : ''.-. . S -:. - . I v:-: :v: :o::i ''v:. .... f;- . '"-.is ' -'- J ''"; ( - 1 "'-'''' 1 ;,. t" X ' 2- , ; . r Ennis Gibbs: dishing out "moldy" hay to his favorite steers. They look wild as you drive past them on the way to Canyonlands, Arches and many other isolated, hot and r dry places. : But, for as played-out as ' - these beasts look, ypu can " v: get a hold of Ennis Gibbs and i he can show you 40 head of f cattle that make the afore- v mentioned types seem fat. They are Corriente Mexican Mexi-can cattle. But, unlike their scroungy American desert cattle cousins, cou-sins, these guys aren't J cheap. They go for $400 a ) v head and -they don't weigh much. ) ' ' So why did Ennis Gibbs K drive a semi-truck to El Paso, . ' ' Texas and shell out $16,000 . for these beasts? For their horns, which is ( something local cattle just don't have. These Mexican cattle are the stars of rodeos and jackpot ropings. They are tough, fast and they have heads that look good inside a rope. "They're survivors," lt Gibbs says of the cattle that I have become his newest enterprise. rv The lanky Park City cattle ci for rodeo events somehow he will get his hand on some breeding stock and start his own herd. Despite the lowly condition condi-tion of these cattle as they are brought across the border, the outfit that buys them is dealing with a Mexican government that knows the gringos don't want the steers for beef. "You pay an extra $100 in taxes to the Mexican government govern-ment on each head," Gibb says, "because they know these are rodeo cattle." And the government south of the border also knows a good thing when it sees it: you cannot get a bull or a cow out of the country to start your own herd. Over the years a few have made it, but you can count on one hand the Corriente breeding stock in the U.S. or Canada. The cattle are descendents of ancestors brought to the New World by the Spanish during the days of conquest. There aren't many breeds of anything that you can trace back 1,200 years. "Over the years the weak ones died and only the toughest survived, that's ' what's $006$ ;abbuf teVh cattle," Gibbs said. "", vr.T, 'crV v:v x ' f I X 1 k::, ': :f v ;v-y :4vWf;r 5 ill; -i |