English walnut tree

I was surprised to find a few walnuts growing on my English Walnut tree.  I know this sounds like a strange statement, but I've had this tree for a real long time (I planted it 12 to 14? years ago) and never had walnuts before on this tree.

Over the years I've struggled to have the tree grow.  This is the small tree where I learned that cattle liked to eat tree leaves.  They didn't quite kill it and I nursed it back.  Lost a year of growth.  Then a few years later I realized horses are taller (duh!) and they also like some tree leaves as they reached over the fence protecting the tree from the cattle.  Another year of growth pretty much lost.  A few other times the tree had parts eaten.  And the leaves were very sensitive to frost when the tree was younger.

But it is growing nicely now.

I just figured the tree had to be bigger or older to produce walnuts.  I guess not.  So far I found only four walnuts growing.  There may be a few more as I didn't search the whole tree.

I am very curious to see if the English Walnuts from this tree are the same as the ones bought in a store.  Or if they are some other variety.

Even with wire protection the cattle get their tongue through and eat some leaves.

In the following photo is another English Walnut tree I planted back (I believe...) in 2009.  So it would be 10 years old.  It also has been set back a few times by the cattle eating the leaves.  Last year almost 90% of the leaves were eaten by Speckles. (https://tallpinesranch.blogspot.com/2018/07/cattle-in-yard.html)