LUBBOCK, Texas (NEWS RELEASE) – The following is a news release from the National Ranching Heritage Center:

Bob McCan, a descendant of a Texas cattle-ranching family that can trace its roots to 1877, has been named the 2019 National Golden Spur Award recipient in recognition of his accomplishments in the ranching and livestock industries.

“This award recognizes iconic industry leaders whose devotion to land and livestock has earned them the notable respect and admiration of their peers,” said Jim Bret Campbell, executive director of the National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock, Texas. “It is the most prestigious honor given to one person by the ranching and livestock industries.”

McCan will be honored during the National Golden Spur Award dinner at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21 at the Overton Hotel in Lubbock. He is the 42nd recipient of the award, which was established in 1978 and is jointly sponsored by the American Quarter Horse Association, National Cattlemen’s Foundation, Ranching Heritage Association, Texas Cattle Feeders Association, Texas Farm Bureau and Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.

McCan is co-owner and general manager of McFaddin Enterprises, a family-owned land and cattle company operating on three separate land parcels located in Victoria, Refugio and Bee counties. McCan has served as president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) and president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).

Since the early 1990s, the Victoria native has held leadership positions in state organizations and various conservation boards and advisory committees. Both his grandfather and great uncle were TSCRA presidents and his father was a TSCRA director.

Five generations of his family accumulated the lands that became known as the McFaddin Ranches. James A. McFaddin, a Civil War veteran, purchased land in Victoria County in 1877 at the confluence of the Guadalupe and San Antonio rivers. McFaddin saw his first Brahma bull at the Chicago Fair in 1893 and was so impressed with the animal’s ability to handle the oppressive Chicago heat that he decided to import the first herd of Brahmas to Texas.

McFaddin’s son Al and grandson Claude K. McCan began experimenting with Hereford-Brahman crosses to improve the quality of beef. They eventually developed the Victoria Braford breed, a high-grade beef animal that is especially resistant to the heat, insects and diseases of the Texas coastal plains. Bob McCan’s grandfather devised a planned, systematic crossbreeding system at a time when purebred breeding was the more accepted approach.

Because some of the family-owned land is only 17 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, much of the ranch consists of reclaimed, richly vegetated lowland on which the Victoria breed has thrived along with game birds. McCan oversees the cattle operations and recreational hunting and wildlife operations for his family’s company.

McCan grew up as a fifth-generation cow-calf producer in a family environment of advocacy for the cattle industry. He graduated from Texas A&M University in 1980 with a B.S. in Range Science. He is married to the former Julie Ann Hartman, and their children-Robert August (Augie) and Mary Isabel-are the sixth generation of the family to work on the McFaddin Ranch.

To register for the National Golden Spur Award dinner, call Vicki Quinn-Williams at (806) 834-0469 or register online at www.ranchingheritage.org/spur. Reservations are required by Thursday, Sept. 19. Tickets are $95 for RHA members and $125 for non-members.

(News release from the National Ranching Heritage Center)