Round ‘em Up!

Cattle Drive attendees lined up along Main Street in downtown Immokalee got a thrill when the herd of 80 cattle decided to make a break for it during the Immokalee Cattle Drive Saturday morning. The Immokalee Cowboys and their trusty Florida Black Mouth Curs quickly got the herd under control with no injuries to spectators.

“I heard they got away for a minute,” said Amanda Townsend, director of Collier County Museums. Townsend gives the dogs all the credit.

"The dogs do all the work,” Townsend said with a smile. "When you think of a cattle drive, a lot of times the vision is of the cowboys riding behind to herd the cattle. But in fact, in a Florida style drive, the cowboys ride in front and lead the herd and the dogs are the ones who keep the herd contained and heading in the right direction.”

Police had all of the downtown roads blocked. But about halfway through the cattle drive the herd suddenly veered off Main Street into a large vacant lot.

The cowboys and their dogs calmly - and quickly - got the herd under control and back onto the route.

“The Florida Black Mouth Cur is a breed unique to our geographical area,” Townsend said of the cattle dogs. “They’re especially suited for this kind of work. And of course they’re raised and trained to do that kind of work."

Two storied Immokalee families were honored during this year’s cattle drive. 

"We really appreciate both the Roberts family as well as the Raulerson family,” Townsend said. "Clint Raulerson was our cattle boss in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Heather Cleckler, who is a descendent of the Roberts family, was our cattle boss today.”

The cattle drive had a two-year hiatus in 2020 and 2021.

Townsend said the cattle industry is a big deal in Immokalee - and Florida in general.

"The interior of Florida is still heavily agricultural,” Townsend said. "And Florida is the largest cow-calf state east of the Mississippi. We don’t butcher our cattle here, but we raise them up and ship them out west.”

Florida beef producers own over one million cows, heifers and bulls generating a calf “crop” which exceeds 800,000 calves annually.

"Before fence laws,” Townsend said, "rounding up the cattle and driving them to port was a really important activity and a way that folks could really amass wealth. Since fence laws, around mid-century, changed the cattle industry quite a bit. But it remains an important part of the state - and Collier County economy.

Want to learn more about some of Immokalee’s founding families? View the current exhibit titled Cultivating Community, stories of Immokalee’s African American Pillars and Pioneers, on exhibit through April 29, 2023 at the Immokalee Pioneer Museum at Robert Ranch, 1214 Roberts Avenue, in Immokalee.