Talk:King Ranch

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Amazing piece of heritage and history. I admire the strength and determination of such a hard working family and thier ties.

Contents

[edit] Details in flux

I think I am going to have to change some details. My source is Tom Lea's book. Please jump in if you have other citations. Ancheta Wis 15:21, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Ancheta, please do. I don't have any printed sources available to me, only what's on the Web from the King Ranch itself, Handbook and other primary sources. Go nuts. · Katefan0(scribble) 15:23, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

====Politically correct stories ==== Some of the stories of the Ranch in the early days are quite thrilling, authentic stories straight from the American Old West. But the principals are stereotyped as white hats vs black hats (fill in the blanks, it would be viewed as racist/incorrect today: Cowboys and Indians, Texans and Mexicans, Northerners vs Southerners etc.). What do I do? I should leave out the stories?

For the moment, I will put in only that which appears to be in tune with today's sensibilities. It is easy to add them it if there is demand. Ancheta Wis 21:18, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

I think it's fine to include some of those sorts of stories, as long as we are careful to note that they are couched in the spirit of the times. Maybe create a section of "Mythos and legend" or something, similar to the way it's handled in Texas Ranger Division. · Katefan0(scribble) 21:54, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

There is a theme here, it is clear that running a business is hard, even killing work. In management terms, the King Ranch has a succession problem:

  • 1883 Henrietta is distraught over the death of her second son, Lee, and remains in St. Louis, Missouri. Alice tends to her father in her mother's absence.
  • Robert Justus Kleberg, King's lawyer, marries Alice Gertrudis King. Alice, Texas is named for her.
  • R. J. Kleberg, Jr. (1896-1974) developer of the Santa Gertrudis breed of cattle and CEO of King Ranch.
  • King Ranch is currently an operating division with the CEO residing in Houston.
If the stories are true, interesting, and relevant, they should be included without disclaimer. Superm401 | Talk 01:02, 13 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Illustrations wanted

This cow (not a Santa Gertrudis) has the color of the Santa Gertrudis cattle and horses
This cow (not a Santa Gertrudis) has the color of the Santa Gertrudis cattle and horses

Tom Lea remarks that some of the livestock of the King Ranch are color-coordinated, especially the Santa Gertrudis breed of cattle and the King Ranch-bred sorrel horses. The fact that the Kineños, expert horsemen as part of their culture, the cattle, and the horses have kind of risen up with the ranch, and that their lives are coordinated, is a point Lea makes in his book (p.659). The fences are augmented by prickly pear stands, so the colors of the Ranch are harmonious. It should be noted that the cattle were bred (from Shorthorn and Brahman) for the region, for the warm temperatures of South Texas.

I am searching for images to use with the article. Ancheta Wis 03:12, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Advice wanted.

From a literary POV, the article has an arc, right now. But there are some subplots, which if I introduced them, would break the arc.

Ancheta Wis 23:23, 8 October 2005 (UTC)

I think I have a solution: the next section should be Family (Both King / Kleberg and Kineño. Ancheta Wis 02:56, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Very extended section

Even without reading the article, the History section struck me as possibly too long. The number of subheadings seems a bit unwieldy. I just joined the Texas Collaboration project and will look at this article more later, but I was wondering if anyone thinks there is a way to break up the large section or pare down the number of subheaders. Thanks. -Scm83x 23:21, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] King ranch subjects worth covering

Some items from the modern history of the King Ranch, worth a writeup by Texas people. As a Californian, it would be presumptious for me to write about the Ranch.

The "root plow", two large Caterpillar tractors connected together by a heavy steel frame, designed to push a big cutting blade into the ground. When driven forward, the root plow would cut off the roots of undesired scrub brush. Rocks in the way became smaller rocks. First version, 1935, but got really big after WWII. First Really Overpowered Farm Machine.
The King Ranch was at one time the biggest supplier of beef to McDonalds. The Ranch also had subsidiary operations in Australia and South America in the 1980s.
How the King Ranch trains young quarter horses is an fascinating story in itself. Nobody else does it their way.
King Ranch construction standards, or "We don't fix fence, we build fence". The Ranch builds for eternity. King Ranch wire fence has its own story.
Texas Monthly has had some good King Ranch articles. In the 1990s, it wasn't making much money. A figure of $3 million in profit for a good year was mentioned, which is tiny for an operation of that size. And that was mostly oil, not beef. There's been a turnaround.

Useful link: 1992 Beef Magazine article on the King Ranch. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Nagle (talk • contribs).

Hi Nagle! It's not at all presumptuous; your contributions are most welcome. Please feel free to incorporate any information you think would benefit the article, and welcome to Wikipedia! Also, please remember to sign your talk page posts, otherwise it gets confusing figuring out who has said what. It's easy to do this -- just type four tildes in a row (like this ~~~~) and when you hit save, the software will automatically fill out your name, and a time and date stamp, like this: · Katefan0(scribble)/poll 16:05, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Deseret Ranch

the Deseret Ranchis listed as the largest cattle ranch in the US. I do not know enough to determine if this is a mistake.--Counsel 20:27, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Historic Place

Does this mean it is protected and can never be developed or split up? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 209.206.165.40 (talk) 02:50, 30 January 2007 (UTC).

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