LIVING HISTORY
19
be the first white woman to want to live that far out,’ ”
Bud said with a chuckle.
Bud brought his scientific know-how to Florida’s frontier.
Although he had never studied genetics in college, he read a
book on the subject. A professor gave it to him. “He said, ‘Read
this over, and if you don’t understand it, read it again.’ ”
Gifted with a quick mind, Bud comprehended the concepts
right away. He also grasped the intricacies of agriculture
and its markets, too. At the outset of his ranching career,
he realized that Florida cattlemen needed to up their game.
Although Spanish cows had adapted well in Florida for centuries,
they were comparatively small animals. They didn’t
produce the big tender cuts of beef that post-war, prosperous
American consumers demanded. Most of the Northern and
European breeds suffered significant ailments because of our
semi-tropical climate. The Cuban market, once the focal point
of regional sales, had become a thing of the past. The route
to keeping the cattle industry viable in Florida meant Bud
would need to create a new breed altogether. He envisioned
an animal that could tolerate the sweltering conditions of the
swampy South and still grow beefy enough to meet market
demands, so he began experimenting with cross-breeding.
“I made thousands of matings of Brahman and Hereford
cattle,” Bud wrote in his booklet, The Old Florida. “The ones
that worked, I bred. The others I culled. Gradually the cream
rose to the top and we had cattle that were heat tolerant,
heavy weaning and pretty good beef-type cattle.”
WORLDWIDE RECOGNITION
That’s how Bud made Adams Ranch world-famous. In
1969, the USDA recognized he had, in fact, created a better
kind of cow: the Braford. That was also the year that Bud
chartered the International Braford Breeders, now known
Robbie Adams
photographs the
ranch from a drone.
>>
ROBERT ADAMS
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