THE GREAT CATTALO

COLONEL CHARLES GOODNIGHT

• Brought the first herd of cattle to the area in 1876
• Learned a lot about buffalo by ranching for several years
• Caught half a dozen buffalo calves
• He had his friend watch them, but his friend left
• Goodnight was stuck with the buffalo

CATTLE AND BUFFALO

• Goodnight's herd of buffalo was 200-250
• Began to believe that he could cross breed a buffalo with a cow
• In 1883 a half bred calf was found
• This encouraged Goodnight to keep trying
• He bred lots of buffalo/cow mixes and was not succesful

BREEDING

• Goodnight started breeding buffalo bulls with cows
• The cows and calves died at birth often but not always, some lived
• He eventually got it right by breeding a cattalo calf with a buffalo bull
• He said that the cattalo was more hardy and much smarter than cattle
• They were also much more tame,

END OF CATTALO

• Goodnight kept the cattalo for many years
• Eventually Goodnight died and his cattalo were given to people
• The eventually died off due to the expense it took to breed and feed them
• They were mostly a tourist attraction