I love great literature and great football. The imagery of Young Bevo and Young Stud QB (as well as the other underclassmen) hasn't been lost this weekend by the Fans or the press. I think, especially with college football, that great symbolism equals motivation. I just wanted to make this point. Flame my emoting as you see fit.
Great post. I was just thinking about this same thing this morning. Youth. A fresh start, maybe a great new era of Texas Football beginning. I grabbed a few pics of young Bevo XV and wanted to put them somewhere so maybe this is a good spot. This last one was taken by @TheWalkingHorn’s dad, she posted it here earlier. Hope she doesn't mind the re-post.
It's going to be a lot of fun to look back at these pics and compare them to Bevo XV at the end of this season and the beginning of the 2017 season. Watch those horns grow!
That's a good looking animal. It was cool to see him after the game with people scratching his forehead - he's still got enough calf in him that he loves the attention.
The year we introduced the last Bevo in 2004, we started the big run that continued for 6 years. Maybe we will do that again! I don't know much about the growth of longhorn cattle, but do the horns naturally grow and curl up later?
The growth of the horns will just about double in size, just as the growth of this very young team will. It will be such fun to watch Bevo XV grow up and develop its personality right before I eyes. It's such a perfect fit---young Bevo, young team, young offensive scheme, young coaching staff, etc.
In an article published in Texas Longhorn Journal in December 1999, Malcolm Goodman suggested that Texas Longhorn bulls reach about 50% of their eventual tip-to-tip horn measurement at about one year of age (on average). By four years of age, they have reached approximately 95% of their maximum length. The horns of the average Texas Longhorn cow reach 50% of their eventual tip-to-tip measurement a little later, at about 15 months of age, and they reach 95% between five and six years of age. They continue to grow, but usually slow down considerably with age. These are just averages, of course, and there is a great deal of variation depending on the shape of the horns. The horns of steers continue to grow at a reasonable rate throughout life, because the low levels of testosterone in steers allow the growth plate of the inner bony core to remain unossified. Horns grow from the base, not the tips, and "growth rings" can be seen near the base of the horns of older cows. Cows produce a new ring in association with each calf they produce, although these growth rings can get quite close together on older animals. Horns consist of a bony core, surrounded by flesh and blood, and then an outer layer of keratin. On many animals (especially animals with light-colored, rapidly growing horns) one can see the reddish color from the blood supply beneath the keratin layer, particularly near the growing base.
Wonder if that's an additional reason (aside from the obvious) for using a steer instead of a bull. If the steers' horns keep growing, you'd think they'd typically be longer.
Good info. So I expect Bevo to grow about 50 to 60% more in length in the next 2 to 2.5 years and the horns to grow about that much too. It would be great to compare his picture now to 2.5 years later when he stands at the 2019 January NC game.
