“When Wilton Wilton gets an idea in his head, he usually does what he wants,” Carolyn said not too long ago as she reflected on the almost 20 years she and Wilton have been raising Registered Texas Longhorn cattle. Wilton and Carolyn have cattle on their 20-acre home ranch at Coupland, Texas where they develop their show calves and on their almost 300-acre working ranch near Bryan-College Station where they keep the seed stock for the business. “We started with two bred cows, one with a heifer calf, in 1987, on 50 unimproved acres,” Wilton said.

Two of the warmest smiles you’ll ever find around a show barn will be those of veteran Longhorn ranchers, Wilton and Carolyn Wilton. Whether it’s exhibiting their own cattle, running the show ring, or helping others learn the ropes on the show circuit, Wilton & Carolyn have been top leaders and avid supporters of the TLBAA and STLA for many, many years.

They wanted to start with a heifer Betty Lamb and her manager, Bob Ferguson, had recommended on a tour of Betty's ranch early in 1986, but the calf, which turned out to be Lamb's Miss Bar M One Step, was a little more than they wanted to spend. However, they did leave the ranch tour with two friends and mentors that would turn out to be invaluable to their ranch endeavors. “Betty was a great friend and more than that, a truly wonderful person,” Carolyn said. “She introduced us to the old Longhorn bloodlines and some of the foundation breeders of the business. We still have some of those great bloodlines in our herd.”

“Like most every other Longhorn breeder,” Wilton says, “our initial goals were to have a few Texas Longhorn cattle to enjoy and be part of the Texas Heritage.” They joined the TLBAA and STLA, went on numerous ranch tours, and attended sales. They found the friendships they made and the lifestyle of these ranchers to be appealing. Also, they found they needed to have a name, a ranch brand, and a focus. “Focus and plans are a big part of me,” Wilton goes on. “I can't just put a couple of cows in the pasture to watch. I have to have a purpose. So we sat down and developed a direction.”

The name for the Astera Meadows Ranches came from the condition of the land when the Wilton's started. There were meadows of wildflowers of the asteracae or star family. Their brand uses the first letters of these three words combined. Anita Wappler gets the credit for a big part of their breeding plan. “You need to show,” she said. “It's enjoyable and you meet a lot of great people.” They chose a heifer they thought met the show criteria, hired a fitter, and jumped in “over our heads,” Carolyn says.“We've experienced all the emotions of showing. It just comes with the territory.” Now showing is just part of the business. It's the promotion side— along with newspaper classifieds, a web site, ads in selected issues of the Trails, show banners, and class sponsorships.

Wilton and Carolyn raise cattle with strict show quality and conformation. “We subscribe to the published traits of the TLBAA,” Wilton says. He believes the Texas Longhorn is a beef animal and should have the ability to put meat on its bones and raise a calf. He went to every school and seminar he could find, read every book and sale catalog and recommends that anyone starting in the business do the same. Wilton adds, “I still think I made every mistake possible starting out. And these wonderful cattle are still teaching me a thing or two. An old rancher repeats often to me, 'It's always something. You better look for the lesson in every ‘something.’ ”

“Bob Kropp told me once that you're making decisions today for results four years down the road,” Wilton goes on. They use five bulls, each bull for his own purpose. They designate a junior herd sire for selected first calf heifers because of size matching. They use an aggressive, small frame typical Longhorn senior sire for difficult breeding heifers; he shows them what it's all about. Wilton thinks there is no perfect animal and plans his matings after careful study of the bloodlines, advice from colleagues, and years of watching Longhorn history. A great cow will work with most any bull, but sometimes there is a mismatch; and you must learn from it. While a great bull will improve a whole herd, a great cow with the right bull produces winners in the show ring and a strong foundation family within your herd. “We have several strong foundation families,” Wilton says to illustrate.“Our ‘Joyful’ family goes back to ‘Stonewall’s O-Be-Joyful.’ We are, today, producing class winners from cows in this family.” However, he insists on maintaining the great bloodlines: Each of their three senior bulls has the bluest of blue ribbon bulls in their pedigree. He adds that artificial insemination also plays a big part in their program, “We don't want to become too stereotypical. Using A.I. is how we bring horn to these show cattle.”

They subscribe to good record keeping with a daily journal for referencing years down the road. “I can tell my customer information they need for registrations and transfers,” Wilton says. Their records were computerized before LonghornMax came along; and they easily imported their records to the LHMax application. In addition, he still has a library of almost every longhorn publication, show, and sale catalog ever printed. “I needed this information to fill out my LHMax pedigrees,” Wilton says. He believes the information is invaluable to research an unexpected result of a breeding. He documents the calving results with photographs each year for backup information.

They are proud to say they have introduced over 50 breeders to the cattle and the TLBAA. Their support of the youth of the TLBT and FFA groups is evident from the AMR brand on cattle shown by Gold Merit winners, Ferris HS FFA, and Katie and Kari Dennis over the years.

“All I can say is,” Wilton concludes, “I have the best partner in the business with Carolyn, the best cattle to raise with Texas Longhorns, the best climate (you may think I'm lying but just look at Iowa and Nebraska), and the best copilot with God steering me when I stray. You are welcome anytime. Come see us and I'll show you what I mean.”

You can visit Wilton and Carolyn Wilton at the
Astera Meadows Ranches in Coupland or find
them online at www.asterameadows.com.
Their phone number is (512) 856-2230.