Y.O. Ranch

Charles Armand Schreiner (1838-1927), a native of Alsace-Lorraine, immigrated to Texas with his family in 1852. He joined the Texas Rangers at age fifteen, and in 1856 entered the cattle business at Turtle Creek in Kerr County. He left to serve in the Third Texas Infantry during the Civil War, and returned to Kerr County in 1865.

Moving to Kerrville in 1869, he opened a successful mercantile business. The threat of Indian raids in the area soon prompted the formation of the Kerrville Mounted Rifles, and Schreiner was appointed Captain by Governor Richard Coke in 1875. In 1880 he bought the Taylor-Clements Ranch and its Y.O. brand.

Texas longhorn cattle became Captain Schreiner's primary concern, and over 300,000 head were driven from this area to Kansas railheads. Because of Schreiner's venture in raising sheep and goats, Kerrville was known as the "Mohair Center of the World". The last cattle drive from the ranch was held in 1941, the stock being moved to Kerrville for shipment to Fort Worth.

The Y.O. Ranch has also become known throughout the world for its Texas longhorn cattle and its native and exotic wildlife conservation programs. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986