Spanish explorers introduced sheep to the Southwest in the 1500s, and Spanish missions depended on them for food and clothing. The first Angora goats in Texas, valued for the beauty and strength of their mohair, were brought there in 1853 by Col. W. W. Haupt. From 1857 to 1867, George Wilkins Kendall pioneered modern sheep ranching in Texas, encouraging others with glowing reports of the industry’s future while improving his own flocks. He was among the first to crossbreed coarse-wooled Mexican Churro sheep with fine-wooled Merino sheep brought by European settlers. The land, climate, and vegetation of the Edwards Plateau were especially suited to raising sheep and goats. After 1870, abundant land and new markets helped the industry boom, though ranchers had to contend with disease, predators, deadly plants, and droughts as they built their flocks. Texas later became the nation’s leading producer of sheep and goats, with San Angelo as the major market center for these animals and their wool, and research facilities including the San Angelo Research and Extension Center, built in 1969 through the efforts of Gen. Earl Rudder, then president of the Texas A&M system, supported the industry’s continued prosperity.