The Pineywoods, like other
Criollo cattle, derives from cattle brought to the New World by Spanish
conquistadores from the time of the
Second Voyage of
Christopher Columbus until about 1512. These cattle numbered no more than 300 head in all, and were brought to La Isla Española (now known as
Hispaniola) and other Caribbean islands. The first of them were landed in 1493 on Hispaniola to provide food for the colonists. Cattle from
Cuba were landed in
Spanish Florida in 1565, and there was another shipment from the same source in 1640. By the beginning of the eighteenth century the total number of cattle in the Spanish part of what is now the United States – Florida and parts of modern
Alabama,
Georgia and
Mississippi – was estimated at between and head. These were triple-purpose cattle, reared for meat, for milk and for
draft work. They were managed
extensively, living in
semi-feral conditions for much of the time. A
breed association, the Pineywoods Cattle Registry and Breeders Association, was established in 1999. In the twenty-first century the Pineywoods is an
endangered breed; in 2023 its
conservation status was listed by the
Livestock Conservancy as 'threatened', the second level of concern of the association.. == Characteristics ==