About Candy Mountain Ranches

The Candy Mountain breeding operations have grown to include three ranches: Candy Mountain, Babyhead, and Castell, all located within 15 miles of the city of Llano in the beautiful Texas Hill Country.

Candy Mountain Ranch

Candy Mountain Ranch, situated west of Llano on Hickory Creek, is the location of our first longhorn breeding operation. Between 1850 and 1853, it also served as the camp site of John Russell Bartlett, the commissioner appointed by President Zachary Taylor to run the US-Mexico boundary survey. Bartlett followed Hickory Creek north to its confluence at the Llano River and stated “the Llano is the finest stream we have yet met in Texas, the Guadalupe alone excepted” (Pg. 65 Bartlett Personal Narrative)

Castell Ranch

Castell Ranch is the primary winter grazing site for Candy Mountain Longhorns, and is located on the outskirts of the town of Castell. The site of a historic Comanche crossing on the Llano River, the town of Castell also became the first permanent German settlement in Llano County in 1847. The town’s namesake, Count Carl Frederick Castell-Castell, served as business manager of the Adelsverein, the German society that promoted the settlement of Central Texas by Germans in the nineteenth century. Today visitors enjoy Castell for the canoeing, kayaking and fly fishing found in the area.

Babyhead Ranch

Babyhead Ranch is centered in the historic Babyhead mountain range. According to local oral tradition, the name “Babyhead” originated in the 1850s when a small child was reportedly killed by Native Americans and her remains left on the mountain. A creek carried the name Babyhead, as well as a pioneer community founded in the 1870s. A cemetery in the area is the last physical reminder of that community, which once boasted numerous homes, farms, and businesses.