When Doyle Conner was commissioner of agriculture, he searched throughout Florida for a pure line of cattle that could be traced back to the original Andalusion herds that were brought here by the Spanish in 1521. He found 3 or 4 small herds that met this criteria.  One of these was owned by the Bass family in Fort Basinger. The cracker cattle in these pictures at Strickland Ranch were purchased from the Bass family, and are direct descendents of the first cattle brought to North America by Juan Ponce de Leon.

They were left behind by Ponce de Leon in 1521 along with some horses and pigs and probably other animals.  they were Spanish Andalusian cattle which are quite a bit smaller than the commercial cattle we raise nowadays.  These were the first cattle to the north american continent!!!!  They roamed wild and multiplied for hundreds of years until the native americans and early american settlers started rounding them up and thus began the cattle industry in Florida.