When Bertha Palmer came to Sarasota Bay in response to an ad in a 1910
Chicago Tribune, the Florida scrub cattle, which were small, tough descendants from Spanish explorer and English settler livestock, lived on unfenced open ranges that were deficient in minerals. Thomas Edison had said not only was the meat tough as belting, but even the gravy required hacking.
Palmer, a world-renowned socialite, art patron, and businesswoman, bought 80,000 acres in the Sarasota area. She devoted 15,000 acres to ranching in the Myakka River area, and called her model ranch Meadow Sweet Pastures. She began her herd by purchasing Garrett "Dink" Murphy's cattle. Then she brought in 1,000 cattle by rail from Texas and imported seventeen Brahma bulls. Brahmas are heat tolerant and insect resistant. The Hereford bulls she brought in all died of cattle tick fever.
Palmer was one of the first ranchers in the state to dip cattle to eliminate the ticks. Cattle dipping would be mandatory by 1932, part of a statewide cattle dipping program funded by federal and state funds. Florida would be declared free of cattle ticks in the 'Forties.
Palmer corresponded with state agricultural agencies and university agricultural departments and launched pasture improvement programs. In addition to the ranch, she had 1,300 acres of citrus groves and produced honey. Her experimental farms had crops that included celery and watermelon. She became interested in the rich mucklands east of Fruitville, but was unable to complete her innovative agricultural plans because she died only eight years after that first visit to Sarasota.
In the 1930's, her friend A. B. Edwards negotiated the purchase of Meadow Sweet Pastures to help create Myakka River State Park.