Hey, don’t blame me it was my wife’s idea! Well, I do have to admit that despite being born and raised in suburban Houston, I really did enjoy going to my Great Uncle Ed’s ranch in Paige, Texas, the E-L (that’s E bar L) in my formative years. At the drop of a hat, it was off to his 1100 acres between Giddings and Bastrop with my younger brother, my Dad at the wheel of Uncle Ed’s high finned Cadillac, and Uncle Ed himself puffing away on a big cigar. We learned how to hunt, the basics of ranch life (like not stepping on that snake) and how to behave around jumpy cattle. Fond memories of my Dad cooking, a big fire in the fireplace during the winter, and the old transistor AM radio with news and weather fading in and out during the night. Dominoes on the ranch dining table in that old pine paneled ranch house are the best of memories a city boy can have.
Uncle Ed passed away in 1984, the ranch became part of the estate, and visits were few, as things weren’t ever the same. The property and house were sold later on and my brother and I were fortunate to salvage most of the household furniture and wares. That was truly a sad day as we guided the rental truck out of the gate for the last time.
Fast forward to the fall of 1992 when my wife expressed a deep desire to get back to the country. She was born in north central Ohio, where her grandfather ran a dairy operation. She grew up with cows and was fond of riding and showing horses. I had her transplanted to Austin, from Houston, in 1989 when we were married, but we were still living in suburbia. You didn’t need to twist my arm too much to get me interested in the ranch life, given my previous memories. So she went into high gear on a five county real estate search. As luck and fate would have it, we contacted an acquaintance of ours in Austin who sold ranch and farm land, and lo and behold, there just happened to come on the market a nice little parcel in northeast Burnet County, the product of an estate sale.
The rest, as they say, is history, and in November of 1994, the Lazy S Ranch came into being. I am not sure how we derived the name as we are anything but lazy, but I do know my father had a hand in designing the brand, as he probably drew inspiration from his similar love of Uncle Ed’s Ranch. The newly purchased ranch bore a striking resemblance to TV’s “Green Acres “, but a lot of sweat equity changed that.
Now for the cattle. Our first stock were some cross bred calves that were good cows and one still resides with us as a very good momma. Our first Longhorn was a surprise birthday present to me in the form a 3 year old dark red speckle named “Honeycomb” with baby “Bee” at her side. She came to us from our good friends, Gordon and Barbara Johnson, just up the road. We added other quality Longhorn stock from our longhorn friends, including Charlie and Walter Schreiner at the YO ranch, and from the wonderful consignors that they have at their annual Spring Invitational Sale. We were very fortunate to have as our 1996 herd sire, the remarkable TC Star, son of Texas Ranger JP. A massive bull with a head the size of a buffalo, but with a calm and gentle demeanor that would find him eating range cubes out of our hand as we sat on the tailgate of the ranch truck. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1998, but his direct legacy lives on at the Lazy S in his son, Senor AB, our herd sire, whose handsome brindle image is featured on our home page. Like father, like son, there be no mistaking in this lineage of Longhorns. Why the name “AB”? As he was calved, he landed in a mound of fire ants and the poor little fellow was fairly well chewed up by them, thus landing the moniker of “ant bite”. It is safe to say he survived that misfortunate start of life and had developed into a very remarkable, prototypical, and handsome legacy of the Texas Longhorn Breed.
Our mamma cows hail from the likes of Senor YO, YO Classic Whirl, WR2935, Toro Negro and RM Whirlwind WR 7/7, among others. Our 2007 calves will start hitting the ground in mid August and it’s always a surprise what you’ll find in the pasture. We also have a few good quarter horses, barn cats, jack rabbits and our black lab, Leroy.
Come and see for yourself what good land, fond memories, gentle water, and thoughtful breeding have produced for the Lazy S Ranch and the Texas Longhorn Breed! And, you might just find us sittin on the porch being “Lazy”.