by Terry Lidral
Primarily sports cattle that are brought in from Mexico and Central and South America, the Corrientes are a breed that has withstood the test of time. Arriving in the Western Hemisphere with the Spaniards in the late 15th century, these cattle were chosen for their survivability during the ocean voyage and their ability to adapt to the foreign land.
Corriente cattle are a hardy breed that have survived the harshest climates of the American Southwest and are popular as a cross-breed in areas where the weather is extreme.
Corriente cattle were brought to Florida and Central and South America and eventually spread across the southern United States. In the late 1800’s Corrientes were crossbred in the United States with a number of different cattle types until the original Corriente nearly disappeared.
Direct descendants of the original Spanish Corrientes can be found in parts of Florida and the swamps of Louisiana.
If not for a few stragglers managing to survive by foraging in the wild, the original breed would have been wiped out in the United States. Today the descendants of those wild Corriente herds are known as Scrub and Cracker Cattle in Florida and Swamp Cattle in Louisiana.
