Named for a real spring — once shared by buffalo, mustangs, and Comanche hunters — and long the center of one of West Texas's biggest ranch empires.
Big Spring is the Howard County seat, population around 27,000, and the largest town between Midland and Abilene. The city takes its name from a literal "big spring" — once a watering hole for buffalo, antelope, mustangs, and wolves, and a campsite shared by Comanche and Shawnee hunters long before there was a town here.
After the Civil War, cattlemen and railroad crews followed the same water that everything else did, and Big Spring became a major agricultural center for the eastern Permian.
Among the early cattlemen here was C. C. Slaughter, whose Long S Ranch was at one time second only to the XIT in West Texas size — covering a large part of Howard, Dawson, Borden, and Mitchell counties at its peak. Droughts, falling cattle prices, and rising land costs eventually forced Slaughter to sell down; by 1919 he was at 500,000 acres and the great open-range era was ending.
Cotton took center stage as the ranches broke up. Howard County farmers went from 2,848 bales of cotton in 1900 to 28,014 bales by 1926, making the county one of the region's cotton leaders. Today Howard County is still a major dry-land cotton, wheat, sorghum, and beef-cattle country.
From our fields in Saragosa to Big Spring is about three hours east on I-20 — the farthest town on our regular delivery map. We're happy to make the trip when the load's right and the schedule works.
Whether you're running cattle, keeping a barn full of horses, feeding a 4-H project, or just wanting quality alfalfa for a small herd, we can set you up with premium custom hay from our Saragosa fields. Multiple cuttings, mid-sized square bales, forage testing on request.
Give Ray a call or drop a note. For the three-hour haul we usually schedule ahead — tell us what you need and we'll work out a run that makes sense.