Cowboy Dreams Become Reality

Huey P. Howard was a young man with a dream in 1953 when he left Mississippi, where he was born and raised, to seek his fortune in Florida – Immokalee, to be precise. 

Flash forward 70 years, and Howard can reflect with pride and gratitude on what that dream has wrought for himself and his family. It culminated in success in a field where African Americans are a comparative rarity nationally and in Southwest Florida – cattle ranching.  

Now 87, Howard, and his sons, Huey, Jr. and Ivan, raise beef cattle on about 7,000 acres of grasslands around Immokalee and nearby Felda. Along the way, he’s garnered the respect of his neighbors and the local agriculture community. That sentiment has led to him being recognized with an impressive list of awards over the last decade. 

The Immokalee Pioneer Museum at Roberts Ranch honored Howard and his family during the community’s annual Cattle Drive and Jamboree in 2020. In 2021, the Collier County Farm Bureau, where he’s been a long-time member of the board of directors, selected him as the inaugural recipient of its Floyd Crews Legacy Award. Protect The Harvest, a national agricultural advocacy group, named Howard its Friend of the Land for February of 2022. 

Raising commercial beef cattle could be thought of as a natural progression for Howard, given his background. Growing up, his family worked for a farmer in Mississippi, who also raised livestock, including horses and cattle. 

The experience with cattle created an interest that grew into a career goal after arriving in Collier County in his late teens with some buddies, all of them lured by the area’s reputation for solid employment prospects. 

“People said, ‘You know, if you go to Florida, you can make plenty of money,” said Howard. “I had a bunch of friends who wanted to come to Immokalee, so we all got together and we came to Immokalee.”

Southeastern Collier County offered plentiful work for the railroads, cutting and milling timber, vegetable picking and more at the time. As a result, it had become a magnet for people throughout the South who were looking to improve their lot in life. 

After arriving, Howard spent years working for a Standard Oil gas station in Immokalee and later, as a contractor for A Duda and Sons, Inc., for produce harvesting and trucking services. All the while, he was squirreling away funds to begin purchasing land and stock for a cattle ranch. 

By 1963, he was finally ready to make his start. But that quest was almost stymied by the racist scourge of Jim Crow and segregation that pervaded the South at that time. 

“Back then, they wouldn't sell me any land, so I had to get a white fella to pay for 20 acres for me. And then we went to the bank and changed it over into my name,” Howard said with a chuckle but without a trace of bitterness.

Race was also a barrier when it came to buying cattle from Whites. 

“But back then, it was hard to buy anything, if you know what I'm saying,” he said. “Back then, you couldn't buy land. You couldn't lease land if you had this color on you. It was hard back then to own anything, I guess you could say.” 

Howard believes that the difficulty in acquiring land and purchasing stock in that era is a chief reason why there aren’t more Black people in cattle ranching, which has historically been an important part of Florida’s economy. He said he’s never been aware of other, large-scale, Black cattle ranchers in Southwest Florida. 

But he was quick to say that on the whole, he’s met with decency since arriving in the Immokalee area.

“The people I’ve worked with have all been good people,” said Howard. “I can't say a bad word about them at all because they were all really good people. We’ve got some prejudiced people in the world and as long as we live, we're going to have some prejudiced people. But I don't have a problem. In fact, I'm tickled to death to be so friendly with people and that they’re so friendly with me.”

Raising dairy cows was Howard’s focus initially, but he eventually decided to make the switch to raising beef cattle. His first beef cattle came from a well-known Black rancher in Osceola County near Kissimmee, Lawrence Silas, who was one of Florida’s most famous black cowboys, as was his father, Tom Silas.  

“I went up and talked to him and he said, ‘Oh, yeah, I'll help you get in the cow business,’ said Howard. “So he started selling me a bunch of cows. I'd go up there and get them, bring them home and put them out. And then I'd sell about half of them and go back and get another load and pay for the ones I already had. I kept doing that until I got a big herd.”

Howard’s late wife Dorcas helped influence his decision to switch to beef cattle. Before passing away four years ago, she spent more than 50 years as a teacher in Immokalee schools, eventually becoming a principal in the Collier County School District.

“I loved her to death,” he said. “I tell you, I didn't think a person could miss a person so. She was everything to me. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be where I am today, owning land and cattle. I wouldn't have any of that. I don't believe I would.”

The couple had three children: Kelvan, Twana and Ivan. Ivan and Huey L., a son from a relationship that preceded that marriage, followed in their father’s footsteps and have taken over the business’ day-to-day operation. 

Huey Howard handles such tasks as hauling cattle, building and repairing fences and ensuring their integrity, while Ivan works the steers and uses his veterinary medicine background to care for any that are sick. 

The brothers use horses and cattle dogs to herd their collection of hundreds of Black Angus, Charolais, Herefords and Beefmaster cattle. But they insist their father no longer join them in the saddle. 

“They won't even let me get on one,” he complained. “They won’t let me own one. They tell me, ‘Oh, you might fall off or the horse could fall and hurt you.’ I had a horse up to maybe 15 or 16 years ago and they won't let me buy another one.” 

Even after entering ranching, Howard continued working away at nine-to-five jobs. After ending his produce harvesting and trucking business, he began managing farm laborers at the Bayer Laboratories crop sciences research station in Felda, which is located in Hendry County.

Not one to remain idle, he still works there today. 

Tomorrow can carry many uncertainties, but Howard is definite about one thing where the future of the family enterprise is concerned: he wants it to continue. 

“I want Huey and Ivan to be in the cattle business as long as I’m here,” he said with one of his frequent laughs. After I'm gone, I want them to continue being in it. “I don’t know what's going to happen when I'm gone, but right now we're going to try to keep the cattle business and everything going. We're not going to change anything there at all.”