Livestock Motivational Posters

As you have noticed, each Wednesday we post a new livestock motivational graphic on our facebook page, and week after week everyone seems to love them. We have gotten many requests to make these in a poster format. So guess what, we did.

The posters are available for $7.99 each or you can buy a pack of 7 posters for $29.99 each. These posters are 11 x 17, poster weight, and coated in gloss laminate. They would be awesome for room decorations, bulletin boards, classroom decorations for ag chapters, Extension office decorations, and more.

We have made available all of the graphics we have done so far, and will be adding more weekly. So check them out at http://ranchhousedesigns.mybigcommerce.com/categories.php?category=Posters!

Megan's BACK!!!

Look who's back at the RHD office for the summer!!!

Megan Cullers, the best intern ever at RHD!

Last summer, we were able to hire Megan for our summer intern, since she was home from attending college at Abilene Christian University. She was simply amazing. (See former post - Megan Cullers = Awesome) Everything she did was amazing. We were so sad to see her go. As she was heading back to college, we all said, PLEASE come back next year and help us again.

Throughout the year, we always see Megan at shows, because her family owns Heritage Cattle. That's her and her dad Judd in the picture above. I forgot to mention that Megan is a brainaic. Like smartest girl I know style. She had told us that she was going to be applying for a very prestigious internship program over the summer for a nursing program, which was her college major. WAS being the keyword. We all knew that if she applied for this internship, she would obviously get it. And then there goes her coming back to RHD for the summer.

BUT....at the Brahman Elite sale, she gave us some good news for us! She had changed her major, and career direction. Instead of aiming for a career as a nurse, she is going to change her major to study to be a physicians assistant. Which means, the prestigious nursing internship would be a waste for her. ENTER RHD.

We jumped on this opportunity, and basically pleaded with her to come back to work for us for the summer as our intern again. She came back last week, and is already busy working on projects for junior nationals, state fairs, a Brahman catalog for World Brahman Congress, and a big Hereford website. (You'll have to wait to see what Hereford client it is, but it's big!)

So welcome back Megan! We are SO GLAD to have you!

WHR & V8 Ads for the July Shorthorn Country

This time of year we are always busy working with our many Shorthorn clients, either for the Texas Shorthorn Association directory or the July Shorthorn Country issue. Besides Brahman customers, Shorthorn is our biggest breed that we serve here at RHD. We have designed quite a few ads already for the July Shorthorn Country, including these recent ones for WHR Shorthorns and V8 Shorthorns.

Here is a sneak peak at the WHR ad...

This ad shows off Mr. Rasor's gorgeous cow herd as well as his mad photography skills. Mr. Rasor is one of the top cattle photographers and we always love seeing the photos he sends in for his ads. This ad features two of his herd bulls, DF Waco and WHR Ft. Worth.

Another sneak preview at the V8 Shorthorn ad. This ad was whipped up in a matter of hours. Joelynn rushed out to the ranch to take some scenic pasture pics (while trying to avoid copperhead snakes) and Rachel designed this one just in time to meet the early bird deadline. 

Look for these ads plus others coming out in the July Shorthorn Country.

New Web Site: K&G Contracting!

We are extremely excited to introduce our newest web site client – especially given recent shifts in gas prices – K&G Contracting!

Located in Houston, Texas, K&G Contracting Services is the premier company for gasoline pump instillation, removal or servicing. Whether your business is a retail convenience store, travel center, truck stop, family-owned service station, corporate fleet or municipal fuel facility, K&G wants to keep your fuel system in service.

With a large, knowledgeable staff, K&G went from a small fuel supplier to one of the largest contracting companies in the Houston area. They offer installation which includes construction permits and agency compliance, underground and aboveground storage tank instillation, driveways and curbs and much more! In addition, K&G technicians are available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to meet your needs.

However, they provide all of these services with a creative, easily navigable site with colored images showcasing their works. For more information on K&G, give them a call. They would love to work with you!

Meet Happ Herefords!

Meet one of our newest web site clients: Happ Herefords!

Located in Mendota, Illinois, Happ Hereford prides themselves in the production of Hereford cattle that are built for soundness and longevity. In 2007, Chris and Janell Happ purchased a small herd of Hereford cattle from a neighbor in efforts for diversity the grain farm that has been in the family for 5 generations. After the first year of calving, Chris set out in search of sound, attractive, and maternal females to serve as the foundation of his own herd. Five years later the two still place emphasis on those three qualities on their current herd.

Happ Herefords herd currently consists of 30 registered Hereford cows, with about 30 commercial cows involved in our progressive embryo transfer program. As you can see by looking through their site, their sires and females bring forth nothing but quality.

For more information on Happ Herefords, contact Chris and Janell at any time. 

Scholarship winner, Kass Click!

We are always excited to help students who are interested in pursuing their education or who are interested in Ranch House Designs. So, when we sponsor a scholarship award through Texas A&M University and the College of Life Science, we get to do just that: Helping students who love RHD.

At this year’s scholarship award recipient is no exception. Kassadi Click is an Agricultural Communications and Journalism major, Animal Science emphasis, at Texas A&M. Kass, who reigns from Muldrow, Oklahoma, is currently a member of TAMU’s Livestock Judging Team. She received her Associates Degree of Science in Agriculture from Conners State College where she was an active member of the school’s livestock judging team.

On a more personal note – Kass is an absolutely wonderful person. She never sees a bad day and makes it her personal passion and goal to make she everyone she comes into contact with is a friend. As on of Kass’s friends, I can say this with 100% truth. There is no more deserving young lady than this southern bell.

Past her fun personality, Kass is extremely talented outside of the classroom. She has taken her love for photography and began her own business, Kass Click Photography. Additionally, she is an awesome freelance writer, who has had her work published in numerous industry magazines.

To a wonderful person and wonderful friend, the Ranch House Designs crew says congrats to Miss Kassadi Click and best of luck in the future!!  

Liz Talks about Invitations

Check out this short video clip featuring Liz Wilcox discussing our Invitation designs

The Tusa Yearbook

Funny how some ads take shape.

On Monday, Joelynn was fervently trying to prod along the Tusa's to get all of their material for their ad which is coming out in DRIVE magazine this month. Joelynn had been working with Tiffany at Tusa Show Cattle and the rumor around the RHD office was that the ad was going to have about 12 pictures and be a 1 page ad. We had the deadline down as the 15th, and considering it was the 7th and we still didn't have the material, we were getting nervous.

So, I told Joelynn to call DRIVE and ask if we could get a few more days extended on the deadline. That's when they told us that the deadline was actually the 10th...not the 15th. PANIC SETS IN. That's a 3 day deadline. 12 pictures on a 1 page ad is very difficult. We're both nearly in tears.

So Joelynn then frantically calls Tiffany, explains the urgency of the moved up deadline, and the two ladies get everything squared away. I go in for a meeting with Joelynn and she says to me that it is a 1 page ad, 20 pictures, and a paragraph of text for each picture caption.

Now panic REALLY sets in for me, I literally said, I can't design this. I call in Liz, and call an official pow wow between me, Joelynn, Liz and Stacey. We have to try to figure out a plan.

Again, nearly in tears, I'm begging Joelynn to see if she can get Ingrid to extend to a 2 page ad. And that's when Joelynn says, they don't need a 2 page ad, they need their own Tusa Show Cattle Yearbook!

As soon as she says the word "Yearbook" I was like - I've got it! I run back into my office, and in about 30 minutes, have the ad layed out and ready to proof.

As we sent the proof out, Tiffany and Ingrid loved the ad, and so did we! Deadline was met, everyone was happy, and we just created one of our all time favorite ads of 2012! So as they say, two three four heads are better than one!!!

Tri-Star Chemicals!

We are continuous beating the stereotype that Ranch House Designs only handles cattle accounts. We recently just finished a site for our friends at Tri-Star Chemical.

Tri-Star Chemical is an independent retail/wholesale farm chemical dealer. Their mission is to provide the highest quality products at the lowest possible prices. They pride themselves in providing competitive pricing, timely service, and a knowledgeable sales staff.

By selling the highest quality products at the best price, Tri-Star Chemical serves much more than the Texas area. With two locations in Plainview and Wolfforth, Tri-Star is the primary source of chemicals for crop producers, providing the answer to their weed, disease or insect dilemma.

With a bright and informative site, viewers can see what Tri-Star has to offer and read sample labels. We love working with this crew and hope to continue to build our general agriculture cliental.

Graduation is in the Air!

For the past few days, we have been cranking out lots of senior graduation invitations, with nearly 1 invitation order coming in each day! It is so fun to design these invites for the great seniors in Wharton county! Here are a few of our recent designs. This month we have done invites for graduating seniors in Wharton High School, Faith Christian Academy, Boling High School, and East Bernard High School.

Here is a double sided design for East Bernard senior Drew Vincek:

Another double sided metallic invitation for the seniors of Faith Christian Academy in Wharton.

And finally, a double sided special shape metallic invite for Lauren Hlavinka of East Bernard High School.

It's not too late to get your special senior invites ordered. Give us a call at 979-532-9141 if we can help!

A great compliment from Kris Vogel

We just got this email from Kris Vogel of Signature Signs and Awards and it made our day!

"I wanted to also Thank You so much for doing my new website this past year. My business is up 6 fold. Amazing what a new look and new search engine do for ya. Love all your work."

If you haven't seen Kris' site, it is www.signaturesignsandawards.com. It's no suprise that her business has skyrocketed because Kris does an outstanding job of providing unique and quality show awards at a great price. We use her at RHD all the time and would highly recommend her to anyone looking for show awards. 

Blog Saturation

I almost named this post "Should I start a blog?" because we get that question nearly daily at RHD.

So.....who do we have to blame for this.....MATT LAUTNER. I say that with the utmost respect. I have had a long-standing professional relationship promoting the Lautner brand since 2003, and I clearly acknowledge Matt as the best show cattle blogger in our industry. He has an extreme commitment to blogging and his success has inspired many to imitate his efforts.

I went through my files this morning trying to locate when Matt first started his blog. While we don't currently maintain his blog, RHD initially recommended blogging to Matt, and set up his blog for him. (Stephanie Steck currently maintains it.) He has always been one to look out for the "next big thing" and we had suggested a blog so that he could update his news from the road (hence the blog title) without having to send in everything as a web update. Because honestly, he was sending in 10-20 updates per day and it almost took a full time web updates team member just to work on his website.

We were using Blogger for our blog through RHD, and thus we chose blogger for Matt's blog. I've also thought to myself, Blogger should seriously consider paying me royalties because since Matt's blog went up, everyone and their dog uses Blogger for their show cattle blogs.  Which explains why I chose the title "Blog Saturation" because I often see all of the new show cattle blogs going up weekly - even daily - and I'm beginning to ask myself - "Is the show cattle blog thing being over-done?" 

With that said, blogging isn't for everyone. Starting a blog and posting funny text messages won't make you an instant club calf success just like getting Photoshop and trying to design a website doesn't instantly make you Ranch House Designs. 

Here are our tips to help you decide if blogging is for you, and how to improve your blog if you have one.

1. Be original. Imitations are never as successful as their original. While everyone loves News from the Road, Matt's blog is Matt's blog. Don't try to attempt to copy his style by posting text messages from people are posting funny pictures. Which brings me to point #2....

2. Provide relevant content. Zane Mai of ZNT Cattle does a great job at this. Zane's blog is popular because he often provides well written, educational, or thought provoking content. You don't have to write a novel, but a paragraph or two always makes for interesting reading. Tell stories. Share insights. Give opinions. People always enjoy reading well written, grammatically correct, interesting blogs.


3. Make a commitment to frequent updates. A good blog is updated several times a week, at minimum. Not everyone has the time to post daily updates, or even multiple updates per day like some of the more popular cattle blogs. But definitely, a blog should be frequently updated. If you feel like you aren't going to have time to update at least 3 times a week, a blog probably isn't for you.

With that said, don't feel pressure to update at a certain time frame. It is better to provide good content, than to write a blog like "Well, not much is going on here today." Nobody cares.

4. Be accurate. I have a M.S. in journalism and so accuracy in media is something I insist on. Don't post anything on your blog that is gossip, something you read on an anonymous message board, or hearsay. Always remember the old saying, "just because someone posts it on the internet, doesn't mean it is true."

A good post on legal guides for bloggers is here: https://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers/legal

5. Keep it positive, and for all audiences. If you have a show cattle blog, you will have readers from ages 8 to 80.  Keep your content clean enough for children. Never post profanity or anything that you wouldn't feel comfortable with your grandmother reading.

6. Make sure your blog identity matches the rest of your business brand identity.  This is where people like me come in. Your blog look and graphics should match the identity of your other marketing materials, like your website, logo, catalogs, etc. A good example of this is Wade Rodgers blog. In this blog, his designer Chris Rosa has done a tremendous job of making an eye-appealing graphics header, and using the same overall fonts and style for his blog, his semen catalog, and his banners. We are actually in the process of re-doing his website now to tie into this great look. If you need help with blog graphics, we can help you with this.

7. Avoid the ego.  It's easy to get a big head when you become a blogger, especially if people start telling you how much they enjoy reading. Don't become an ego-maniac through your blog. And don't start thinking of yourself as some overnight expert, authority figure or celebrity either. We're all just normal, every-day people and blogging is just one way to express our personal opinions.

8. Tie in your facebook and twitter accounts to your blog. Again, I have to give Matt as an example of great use of integrating all of his social media into his blog. Whenever he makes a blog post, he also tweets that the new blog is up and mentions people he thinks will be interested in the blog. This helps generate traffic and interest, and also makes people feel good when they get a @ mention on twitter, too.

9. Don't think that a blog will replace the need for a website. Matt is the only person I know who has successfully transitioned his blog into his website, but this definitely will not work for everyone. While it's tempting to think, 'I can eliminate that $600 I pay each year for a website and just use a free blog....' that's not the case.

 A professionally designed website lends credibility to the business. A blog is best used when it is one component of your marketing plan, and one segment of your website. A good example of integrating a blog into a website would be V8 Ranch's website, where you find the blog by going to the "News" page. This type of setup allows for the site owner to still have a professional look for their website, but the flexibility of updating their own blog too when they have news to post. It's the best of both worlds.

It's easy to start a blog, but sometimes hard to keep it going. Hopefully these tips will help you on your blogging road to success. If you are interested in doing blogging, we can certainly help you get on the right track.

Circle TC Cattle Company

We welcome our newest web site client, Circle TC Ranch andCattle Company. The herd started its genetic base with a core group of females that represents a select group of successful show heifers coming from the most elite programs in the Maine Anjou breed.

Circle TC is owned by Chic and Tracy Coonrod and is conveniently located in Katy Texas, just a few miles outside of Houston. The crew is committed to the success of their herd as well as the industry as a whole. Tracy grew up in the show cattle ring and knew she wanted to continue in the future. She and father, Chic, have been able to make the production of quality cattle their goal by the utilization of only the most elite cows and mating them to premiere genetics.

By looking through their site, it is easy to see how those genetics have fared in the show ring. With a quality donor program and a keen eye for show ring necessaries, Circle TC has been able to supply their customers with banner worthy cattle.

Stop by or give them a call. They would love to work with you!

Red Barn Events Center

One of our recent sites to go up is The Red Barn Events Center - www.redbarneventcenter.com.

We began working on this site several months ago through our RHD rep, KC Kinder and her client Dee Eschbach. Instantly we were in love with this great venue and we all found ourselves wishing we lived closer to Oklahoma so we could host some type of RHD bash here.

Red Barn Event center is located near Owasso or Tulsa Oklahoma and it is a great venue for all types of events...weddings, parties, even livestock sales!

The Red Barn is an 80 x 80 foot building, with a stage, livestock sale ring, kitchen, and an upstairs apartment. It can hold up to 300 guests. It was originally build by Sonrise Ranch to host their Angus sales, but has evolved into a multi-purpose facility that can accommodate just about anything.

If you're in the Oklahoma area, check it out at www.redbarneventscenter.com. The facility and the staff are great to work with and sure to help you have a perfect event!

A great poem...

I heard this poem yesterday on KSBJ (www.ksbj.com if you like to listen to radio online) and I thought it was really good. So I googled it so I could re-post.

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I’m not shouting, “I’ve been saved!”
I’m whispering, “I get lost!
That’s why I chose this way”

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I don’t speak with human pride
I’m confessing that I stumble -
needing God to be my guide

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I’m not trying to be strong
I’m professing that I’m weak
and pray for strength to carry on

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I’m not bragging of success
I’m admitting that I’ve failed
and cannot ever pay the debt

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I don’t think I know it all
I submit to my confusion
asking humbly to be taught

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I’m not claiming to be perfect
My flaws are far too visible
but God believes I’m worth it

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I still feel the sting of pain
I have my share of heartache
which is why I seek His name

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I do not wish to judge
I have no authority
I only know I’m loved

Copyright 1988 Carol Wimmer