Wexford Ranches are seven diverse properties across seven Texas counties. Collectively, they showcase the O’Connor family’s commitment and devotion to the unique ecosystems and wildlife found in the Lone Star State. 

Thomas O’Connor came to South Texas from Wexford County, Ireland and established a ranch in 1836. Ever since, generations of O’Connors have acquired and stewarded river bottom forests, thorn shrublands, oak mottes, and one of the largest swaths of intact Coastal Bend prairie along the Gulf Coast, known as Duke Prairie. 

The Duke Prairie spans 14 linear miles with several lakes and waterways that host thousands of migratory birds. Thanks to decades of management to enhance and establish habitat for the critically endangered Attwater’s Prairie Chicken there has been an observed population of more than 50 birds over the past five years. 

Quail populations have also flourished thanks to increased nesting structure from targeted control of huisache and increased native grass cover. Abundant native grass cover has stabilized topsoil which increases water infiltration in a semi-arid region. 

Louise O’Connor is Wexford Ranches’ fifth-generation owner. She authored a historical memoir Cryin’ for Daylight: A Ranching Culture in the Texas Coastal Bend. The book documents the lives of fellow ranchers, cowhands, and camp cooks, chronicling more than 155 years of history of the Mexican American, Anglo, and African American families who ranched in Goliad, Refugio, Victoria, and surrounding counties.

For more than four decades, Louise has relied on the leadership of ranch foreman Kai Buckert in bringing new technologies and innovative conservation practices to the Wexford Ranches in South and West Texas. Their overarching goal across each property has been to collaboratively restore habitats that protect and increase wildlife populations. These efforts earned Wexford Ranches a Texas Parks and Wildlife Lone Star Land Steward Award, representing the South Texas ecoregion in 2012.

Conservation practices at Wexford Ranches have led to increased water flow across its natural streams and other waterways. Well managed grazing practices have put less stress on their pastures and reduced parasite loads which in turn reduced worming costs for cattle and have led to a resurgence of native grasses. Beef cattle are calved year-round, which provides a market advantage for the family. In addition to cattle sales, the South Texas Wexford Ranches generates income from hunting leases and rent from cotton fields. 

Wexford’s Lado Ranch, located 10 miles from Van Horn on the north end, borders the Rio Grande on the south end and features expansive desert grasslands and the Van Horn mountain range in between. This property when purchased by the O’Connor family was cross fenced into smaller pastures by sheep wire limiting wildlife movement by pronghorn and bighorn sheep.

Since then, livestock and fencing were removed to facilitate wildlife movement and allow native grasses to recover and quickly reestablish in this arid environment. Prairie dogs were reintroduced in grassland areas to restore the ecology and serve as a food source for predatory birds. 

Despite being livestock-free, the Lado Ranch is profitable thanks to income from hunting leases which support ranch employees, property taxes, water distribution work, and supplemental wildlife feed. Desert bighorn sheep, mule deer, Aoudad, mountain lions, and multiple species of quail have been collared and studied by university researchers. Two decades of tracking data helps researchers learn more about the wide-ranging movements of native desert species.

A cell-phone-controlled game camera system is maintained to monitor wildlife and water sources throughout the ranch, capturing images of insects, birds, big horn lambs, and predatory animals. Cameras helped determine where to move watering stations to ensure a maximum number of wildlife species could benefit in this water limited landscape. 

In addition to the many conservation partners welcomed to Lado Ranch, local FFA members have conducted plant identification field trips there. University students tour it for geology and anthropology field trips.