J. D. Hudgins Ranch

Brahmans suited this coast for reasons ranchers learned by trial. The Handbook of Texas says the breed sweats through its whole body, sheds insects, ranges far from water and resists ticks, which carry Texas fever. Of the fifty-one cattle the Pierce estate brought from India in 1906, about eighteen died of surra in quarantine, and imports from India were barred until 1946. Hudgins bought from the Pierce herd and brought Brazilian bulls through Mexico, working toward the American Gray. The ranch is private land, with no public access.

What the plaque says

J. D. Hudgins Ranch Joel Hudgins (1800-1873) of North Carolina came to the Republic of Texas in 1839 and settled in the Hungerford area. He married Rachel Ann Northington McKenzie (d. 1903) in 1847. He was elected county commissioner in 1854. After Joel's death, Rachel and their four sons began to buy more land and expand the ranching operation. Josiah Dawson (J. D.) Hudgins (d. 1928) headed the family's interests. He also owned a store, cotton gin, sawmill, and grew rice. In 1897 the four brothers divided the family property and operated independently. In 1915 J. D. and his children purchased their first purebred Brahman cows, descendants of the herd brought from India by A. P. Borden in 1906. J. D.'s son Walter Hudgins (d. 1943) helped organize the American Brahman Breeders Association in 1924. The Hudgins Ranch acquired the bull "Manso" in 1933. Manso's descendants are the cornerstone stock from which the ranch's American Gray Brahman herd was developed, now one of the largest registered American Gray Brahman herds in the world. Cattle from this ranch have been exported to over 42 countries and 34 states in the U.S. In 1962 the ranching partnership was reorganized into five separate entities, with each division operated by descendants of J. D. Hudgins. (1985)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge — 22 mi
  Ten thousand acres of native coastal prairie northeast of Eagle Lake, kept for a critically endangered grouse, many of whose birds are hatched in captivity and released here.
• Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site — 31 mi
  A Brazos sugar plantation built by enslaved people for the Patton family, later leased convict labor and Hogg family oil, now told through Rachel Patton and Sarah Ford.

More markers nearby

• Site of Quinan Community — steps away
• New York, Texas & Mexican Railroad and The Community of Hungerford — steps away
• Site of Post West Bernard Station — steps away
• Texas Gulf Sulphur Company-Newgulf — 3.9 mi