Corriente

The Corriente descends from the Spanish cattle landed in the Americas in the fifteen hundreds. That stock multiplied so fast that by 1529 Spain no longer needed to ship cattle to its colonies at all, and by 1539 the herds had reached what is now the border with Mexico. In 1586 a single herd was recorded at more than 130,000 head, with 33,000 calves branded in one year.

What came out of four centuries of running semi-wild on the Mexican plateau is a small, horned, hard-footed animal that raises a calf on feed other cattle refuse.

Today most of them work in an arena. Corrientes are the standard cattle for team roping, steer wrestling and team penning, because they are quick, they are honest about running straight, and their horn shape holds a loop.

The Livestock Conservancy added them in 2023 as Threatened, with a breeding population under 2,000. That figure surprises people who see them at every rodeo, and the reason is that the arena market wants steers rather than breeding stock.

The trade is carcass. They finish light and slow next to a commercial beef breed, and they are bred for athleticism and horn rather than for weight.