Mission and History
Mission Statement:
To provide timely information in order to enhance the overall health and profitability of the cattle business in the Texas Panhandle and surrounding region by increasing communication among member producers as well as state and national industry groups.
The Panhandle Livestock Association: established 1915.
On December 12,1915, eighteen prominent Panhandle cattlemen organized the Buyers and Sellers Livestock Association which soon changed its name to the Panhandle Livestock Association.
J. H. Avery organized that first meeting in 1915 to represent the cattlemen's interests when Santa Fe Railroad began rail service to Amarillo. Mr. Avery wrote, "From 1901 to 1909 the livestock shipments over the Santa Fe Railroad from West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Oklahoma was in a deplorable state, and most cattlemen were held up from a few days to two weeks at shipping points, waiting for stock cars, and a small percent were unable to get shipments out and had to return to their ranch, resulting in a long list of lawsuits."
In 1916 Foot and mouth disease broke out in the northern states during the first year of the Association. J. H. Avery, who was both general manager of Buyers and Sellers and chairman of the Livestock Sanitary Board of the State of Texas, issued a quarantine for Texas. As a result, Texas spent $147 and did not have one case, while the disease cost northern states cattlemen $225 million dollars.
During the depression of the 1930's the Association, represented by its president Jay Taylor, requested that the federal government fund monies to relieve the plight of the cattleman.
In the 1960's, the Association implemented a drive to limit imported beef and to ensure that these imports were inspected and graded by the same standards as American beef to ensure cleanliness, freshness and quality.
In the 1970's the Association more than doubled its membership. Richard P. Klein, who was president of the Association in 1974, wrote that "we now have 257 dues paying members and are in a strong financial position." At the 60th annual meeting in 1975, speakers topics included "Land Use Planning" as well as “Economics of the Cattle Industry in 1975." That same year the Association offered rewards to prevent theft and vandalism of ranching and farming property.
In 1981, the Association adopted a set of by-laws, then obtained a Corporate Charter as a Nonprofit Organization in 1982 under the leadership of C. C. Burgess. During the 1980's and continuing to the present, the Association has adopted resolutions at the annual meetings in February. These resolutions have represented the interests of the Panhandle cattlemen and have been forwarded to members of the Texas and U. S. Legislatures, as well as other organizations promoting the cattle industry.
In 1991, Nancy McIntyre became the first woman to hold the office of president of the Association. With her innovative ideas membership increased.
In 1992, the Panhandle Livestock Association began raising funds to endow scholarships for students pursuing careers in the cattle industry. To date the Association has four scholarships. Two scholarships each at Clarendon College and West Texas A&M University. Each of the scholarships is endowed in the amount of $30,000.00.
Since 2000 the PLA has addressed water rights issues, passed a resolution recommending that the FSA stop planting introduced tree species that are becoming invasive, and kept abreast of issues that are relevant to the cattle industry at large while keeping an eye on regional issues to be brought to the attention of government representatives and other industry organizations.
We encourage you to join and assure that our region and your business have a voice concerning the future health of our industry.
Origin:
PANHANDLE STOCK ASSOCIATION.
During the late 1870s, as more settlers and cowmen moved into the Panhandle, cattle rustling became a constant menace despite the efforts of Capt. George W. Arrington and his company of Texas Rangers. In addition to outlaws, Texas fever, brought on by ticks carried by cattle driven from downstate to Kansas, decimated many Panhandle herds. To combat these problems, Charles Goodnight discussed the idea of organization with other large cattlemen, including Thomas S. Bugbee, Orville H. Nelson, and H. W. (Hank) Cresswell. Employing cowboys as messengers, they sent word of their proposed meeting to various area ranches as far south as the Matador. In March 1880 the ranchers convened at Mark Huselby's hotel in Mobeetie and elected Goodnight president. Within the following year the Panhandle Stock Association of Texas had been formally organized and its by-laws drawn up after a three-day session. As Goodnight remarked, its purpose was for the mutual benefit, cooperation, and protection of the ranchmen. A $250 reward was posted for the apprehension of anyone stealing cattle belonging to association members, and as it grew the organization hired inspectors, detectives, and attorneys to arrest and prosecute rustlers operating against area ranchers, both large and small. Whether he had one cow or thousands, any Panhandle settler was welcome to join the association on an equal footing. Membership guaranteed him the use of association lawyers for legal battles and its inspectors for keeping tabs on his cattle brand everywhere, even at distant markets and shipping places. In 1881 the association sent John W. Poe to join Pat (Patrick F.) Garrett in tracking down Billy the Kid (Henry McCarty), whose gang had been rustling Panhandle cattle from their base in New Mexico. Not even large cattleholders, whose drovers sometimes killed association beef to eat as they passed through on drives, were immune to prosecution. In 1882 John F. (Spade) Evans and other association leaders lobbied for formation of the Thirty-fifth Judicial District. Temple Houston, as its first attorney, gained the first conviction on behalf of the organization.Besides protection from rustlers, the Panhandle Stock Association was responsible for building the great drift fence across the northern Panhandle in 1882, and it also imposed the "Winchester Quarantine" to control the movement of tick-infested herds from south Texas. Furthermore, it played a primary role in the organization of Donley County in 1882 after Goodnight suggested Clarendon as a more central location for meetings. When Benjamin H. White, the first county judge, mentioned the need for a school, the association, spearheaded by its secretary, T. R. Dickson, provided necessary funds for the establishment and maintenance of the Panhandle's first public school, primarily for the benefit of poor nesters' children.During its six years of separate existence, Spade Evans, O. H. Nelson, and Robert Moody succeeded Goodnight as presidents of the association. These men, in addition to Nick T. Eaton, T. S. Bugbee and Hank Cresswell, also served intermittently on the executive committee. As more counties were organized, the activities of law-enforcement units like Pat Garrett's LS Home Rangers, plus the election of responsible public officials, served to lessen cattle theft considerably. Rustlers increasingly found their occupation hazardous, and were compelled to either flee the Panhandle or operate on a much smaller scale.In 1886 Charles Goodnight left the association to join the Northwest Texas Cattle Raisers Association, founded at Graham in 1877. This association eventually became the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, whose field and market inspectors continue to render effective service in the war against cattle rustling. The loss of Goodnight, combined with drought, depression, and the close of the open range, led to the demise of the Panhandle Stock Association by 1889.BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Evetts Haley, Charles Goodnight (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1949). Willie Newbury Lewis, Between Sun and Sod (Clarendon, Texas: Clarendon Press, 1938; rev. ed., College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1976). John R. Wunder, At Home on the Range: Essays on the History of Western Social and Domestic Life (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1985).
Source: Texas State Historical Association website, www.tshaonline.org
