Living Links to Florida's Past

Living Links to Florida's Past. . The Spanish explorers brought cattle and horses to Florida when they visited in the 1500s. When the Spanish left, the cattle and horses stayed. Today's cracker cattle and horses are direct descendants of those animals. They are a link to all of the men and women who earned a living on this hard land and are an important part of the cultural landscape. , Cracker Cattle , Also known as scrub cows, Florida cows and piney woods cattle, cracker cattle are descendants from the Andalusian cattle brought to Florida by the Spanish in the 1500s. This small, nimble cow lived wild in the harsh Florida landscape, and the breed was shaped by survival of the fittest. Only small cows with low maintenance requirements survived winters without supplemental feeding. It is likely that the wildest of the bulls escaped capture and castration, and as a result were more likely to breed. , Cracker cattle were ranched at the prairie by the Spanish, Seminoles and cracker cowmen for 500 years. In the early 1970s, the Florida Park Service began managing two herds of cracker cattle at Paynes Prairie Preserve and Lake Kissimmee State Parks. The cows were selected to maintain the historical size, coloration (below), and horn shapes of the cattle of the 1800s. Horns typically turn upward, a likely benefit as the cattle ran through the brush where wide horns would have been an impediment (above). Today, the Florida Park Service continues to manage a small but significant herd of cracker cattle to maintain this rare breed and our cultural heritage. , Cracker Horses , Like cattle, the Spanish introduced horses to North America. Though a now extinct paleo-horse lived here around 12,000 years ago, the modern horse did not arrive until the 1500s. Similar to the cracker cow, the cracker horse or Spanish horse, is an agile, sturdy breed with unusual strength, quickness and a distinctive, fast-walking gait. They are many colors with solids and greys most common (below). The Florida Legislature adopted the Florida Cracker Horse as the Official Heritage Horse of Florida in 2008. Today, the Florida Park Service maintains a small herd of wild cracker horses at Paynes Prairie as a cultural resource. , American Bison , Historical records indicate the plains bison occurred in small numbers in north central Florida for about 200 years. Bison were hunted until none remained by the late 1700s. In 1975, ten bison were brought to Paynes Prairie from the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. Since then, several others have been added to the herd. A managed herd continues to roam the prairie basin east of Highway 441. , Funded in part by a Tourist Development Tax Grant from the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners in conjunction with the Alachua County Tourist Development Council, and assistance from Friends of Paynes Prairie, Inc..