Thursday, June 28, 2012

Bonham Show Cattle :: Newcastle, OK

One of our newest sites to go up is a new website for Bonham Show Cattle of Newcastle, OK and Hempstead, TX, www.bonhamshowcattle.com.

Bonham Show Cattle is actually a firm that began as a client of RHD in 2003. Through the years, the firm decide  to work with other individuals or firms for various reasons or another. Earlier in the year, the firm began visiting with RHD again and realized that they wanted to bring their business back to Ranch House Designs, Inc.

Now we have to be honest, sometimes when this happens, we tell people to go take a hike. But in most cases, we find all of our clients to be pleasant to work with and we were happy and excited to begin working with the Bonham team once again.

One of the nice things about their website was the decision to separate their winners pages into two groups: Slick winners and haired winners. This was Steve's suggestion personally...not that he knows anything about marketing cattle ha ha! :) He pointed out that slick steer winners are different than haired winners, and that it made better since to have them displayed separately. We totally agreed, and honestly thought why hadn't we thought of that before! So we thought it will be interesting now to see how many other firms began to separate out their website pages to have separate pages for haired and slick cattle. Great idea there Steve!

So we invite you to check out the new site, and to always keep Bonham in mind for your show steer and club calf needs.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Flycatcher Farm :: Brownsboro, TX Angus & Simmental Breeder

More websites going up, and this one is a great one!
Flycatcher Farm is owned by Joe and Kathy Smith of Brownsboro, Texas.

Suprisingly, before we did this website I had never heard of Brownsboro, Texas. Brownwood, yes. Brownsville, yes. But not Brownsboro.

So where is this town? It's a small town located in East Texas located on Highway 31 about halfway between Athens and Tyler. And if you're an Angus and Simmental person, you'll probably be getting more familiar with this name because it is the home of Flycatcher Farm!

This farm has established a top notch set of donors, including Simmental donors from Hudson Pines and Texas A&M University and Angus donors from top herds.

We really enjoyed working on this project because it gave us an opportunity to work with Paul Maulsby, who is their herd consultant. Paul is a very talented individual in the beef industry and it is always a pleasure to bounce around new ideas with him! We are excited about working with Paul to use our mutual expertise to help promote the Flycatcher program.

So we invite you to check it out at www.flycatchercattle.com!

On a side note, this makes our 32nd Angus website that we have designed. Idk if the Angus people are just now hearing of RHD or what :) But we have more Angus websites on our lists to be designed than any other breed. Maybe it's all those Angus burgers we've been eating lately from McDonalds that's giving us good karma. Regardless, it's always fun to do websites where we see those lovely Angus donor females and to work with Angus breeders. Thanks y'all!!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Crafty Cattle : Cattle Gifts

Get out your credit cards, because after reading this blog I'm  pretty sure every one is going to want to order one of these awesome "Crafty Cattle" wooden cutout gifts.  

Crafty Cattle is a family owned business that offers custom wooden cattle cutouts to show the pride of cattlemen. They look great as home decor, desk decor, or home decorative accents. Crafty Cattle is a partnership between father-and-son Michael and Cody Bond. They were referred to us by their relative Levi Bond, who has been a longtime client of RHD. 

If you visit their website, you can see all of the great items they offer, ranging from business card holders to clocks to wooden cutouts. 

To place an order, call Mike Bond at 580 231 2257 or email mikebond00759@yahoo.com.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Livestock Motivational Quotes for Pinterest







Bush Show Goats : San Juan Bautista, California

RHD is cranking out the new websites, with 10 new sites going up in June so far...and more to come! As the world's best livestock advertising agency, we are proud to be the web designer for not just cattle producers, but horse enthusiasts, rodeo professionals, showpig breeders, and show lamb and goat breeders.

Our newest website to go up is Bush Show Goats from San Juan Bautista, California....better known as the home of Maximus.

I have to admit, I was really excited to do this website when I saw it come across our production calendar. Here at RHD, the way our production process works is that usually Tricia is the first contact for people. She does all the initial organization, legwork, pricing, etc. When the project is booked and ready to design, it goes in our project bins and is assigned to a designer. So for me, I'm a designer, and lots of times I don't know what project I'll be working on that day until I pick up my project from our bins.

So when I saw Bush Show Goats, from California, I thought...is this the same Bush family that judges Shorthorn shows? I looked on the folder and saw that the proofing contact was Dustin Bush. So I worked up the design, and asked him if he was related to Dan Bush from California. Turns out he was! I was so excited because I have shown under Dan Bush several times with our Shorthorns, and always find it a pleasure. So I was really excited.

I had no idea that the Bush family even raised show goats. I just knew Mr. Bush was a cattle judge so I thought cattle was their main focus. Turns out they have some great goats too! Just check out Maximus!

The Bush family is one of the many clients from California that we are excited to meet when we head out to the California State Fair later this summer. We think they are a great family and we are honored to be working with them.

Website: http://www.bushshowgoats.com
Project Team: Tricia, Liz, Stacey, Jessica

Friday, June 22, 2012

Livestock Publications Council :: Code of Ethics

RHD, along with many other professionals in the livestock advertising business, is a member of the Livestock Publications Council, better known as LPC. LPC is a professional organization for livestock communications professionals, both as service professionals and publications. Businesses like RHD fall under the "Service" division and then magazines like "Drive" or "Angus Journal" fall under the publication division. Dues are $150 per year.

You can see a full list of members here: http://livestockpublications.com/membership_directory.php
It's interesting to me to notice what individuals / magazines ARE members....and which ones are not. To me it is very important to be part of this organization because it sets the standards that professionals like me should follow. Also, I feel it is important for producers to do business with those who are members of LPC, because these are the true professionals of the business.

Enough background on LPC.

This morning I got an email asking me to participate in a survey for LPC regarding an update to their Code of Ethics. As I got into the survey, I noticed that photo editing was a major point of the survey. The survey asked very specific questions about what is ethical and what is not. For example, is lightening or darkening a photo ethical? How about cropping? What about removing dirt and manure? How about combining two photos into one?

One of the suggestions brought out in the survey was that photos that are edited should be labelled as a "livestock illustration" in fine print.

Another big part of the survey was the role that publications play. Here were some of the statements we had to evaluate either agree or disagree:


  • Any personal opinions reported in a livestock publication should be labeled as such to avoid connection with the publication as a whole.
  • Livestock publications should avoid publishing editorial content based on the wishes or benefits of advertisers.
  • A responsible livestock publication should present several sides of an issue and provide objective reporting when disseminating information.   
  • Livestock publications should consider the potential impacts on privacy and rights of all persons before publishing material. 
  • Livestock publications should not publish any details that serve no useful purpose or may harm individuals. 
  • If harmful material is reported, a livestock publication should seek and publish responses from those individuals involved.

Other changes addressed in the survey discussed ethics in social media. Again, applauding LPC for being so proactive in this.

I was so happy to see LPC addressing some of these issues that are negative plagues to the industry. I'm excited to see what they have in store for updating and revising the Code of Ethics. 

You can view the current LPC Code of Ethics here: http://livestockpublications.com/codeofethics.php

And if you are a professional in livestock publications and aren't a member, I highly recommend joining. It's a great organization.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Curtin Land & Cattle :: Blue Mound, IL

Don't you just love the family pride you get when you visit the new website for Curtin Land & Cattle? One look at this classy and elegant site and you can tell that the Curtin family loves being a family business and loves Angus cattle!

The Curtin family runs about 200 head of registered Angus cattle and also maintain a corn and soybean farm. They have been in the Angus business more than 75 years.

During this time, one thing is for sure, they believe in 'The Business Breed.'  John Curtin, Fred Curtin, and T.J. Curtin have all served the Angus associations in various leadership roles, with T.J. serving as president of the Illinois Angus Association just last year. They love the breed and it shows.

We always love working with family businesses. To us, the picture down at the bottom of their website is just amazing. We love seeing father-and-son gazing out into the pasture of pretty Angus cows. That's what it's all about!!

The Curtin Land & Cattle site is just one of the many top Angus websites designed by RHD. We currently handle over 30 web sites for Angus breeders coast to coast, including many of the top Angus operations. If you're an Angus breeder, give us a call and let us give you a quote on designing your new website or giving your existing website a fresh new look. 

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Cyclone Trace Cattle Company : Clarion, Iowa

At RHD, one of the things we always say is that we have the honor of working with the best breeders in the business. And though it sounds cliche, it really is true. Cyclone Trace Cattle Company is one of these breeders that is known as "the best of the best."  Within the past 5 years, they have totally emerged as one of the most competitive and consistent Shorthorn show cattle firms in the nation. Based out of Clarion, Iowa, the CYT team knows what it takes to reach the top by raising outstanding Shorthorn cattle matched by a great team of customer service!

Cyclone Trace has been an RHD customer since 2007, making that 5 years of putting their confidence in our team. Earlier in the year, we began working with Sarah Hunter on a new look for the CYT website. It was a great project from day one. Sarah is a marketing professional in her own right and gave us great material and photos to work with. Stacey led the design team on this project and the design she created was fantastic. It really brought a whole new level tot he CYT marketing program, and especially gave an updated look to their website that was designed in 2007. 

For this site, we went with the best of the best. Lots of flash slide shows, great photos, and great content. We are so excited to publish this one for everyone to look at! Check out the new look at www.cyclonetrace.com

PROJECT TEAM: Sarah Hunter of CYT, Stacey Shanks, Jessica Hobbs



Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Matt Lautner Cattle Director of Marketing

Matt Lautner Cattle is now accepting applications for a Director of Marketing position. MLC has been a long-time client of RHD and as part of our friendship Ranch House Designs has agreed to facilitate the search committee on behalf of Matt. We will be accepting applications and reviewing applicants before presenting Matt with a short list of qualified candidates or agencies for his final selection and review. 


The position is open to both qualified individuals as well as agencies or design firms. It is a flex time position working from anywhere in the U.S.

The candidate will maintain and create all marketing materials for both Matt Lautner Cattle as well as country music artist Scott Shelby. 

The firm is looking for a creative thinker, who is going to be proactive in presenting fresh design concepts and ideas for the business. There will be a very heavy load of projects from January to April with seasonal sire promotions. The sky is the limit with this position! It is a great position for someone who is motivated, wants to be part of a fast paced and exciting environment, and who loves thinking outside the box.

Applications are due by July 6th or sooner. To apply, please send a resume and 3 low resolution design samples to rachel@ranchhousedesigns.com. To send a video sample, please email the YouTube link. 


Thursday, June 14, 2012

Ippensen Family Shorthorns :: Bowen, Illinois

When you visit the Ippensen Family Shorthorns website, the first thing you see says "Showing Cattle Is A Family Affair...And That's No Bull!"

And if you know the Ippensen Family, nothing could be more true. This family has been loving the Shorthorn breed and the cattle business since 1958.

As you can see from the name, the business is a family operation, owned by Darrell Ippensen and his wife Luann, along with their children Kyle & Christina.  Throughout the years they have travelled thousands of miles across the country with their Shorthorn cattle. The family's love for Shorthorns, and youth programs in general, earned them the Hancock County 4-H Family of the Year Award in 2005. They raised the 1978 National Champion Shorthorn Heifer, and were also inducted into the Shorthorn Breeders Hall of Fame in 1988. Daughter Christina is a former National Shorthorn Lassie Queen, and the family has served as a national voting delegate on many occassions.

A quick look at the site and you can see that family and Shorthorns rule the roost at Ippensen Family Shorthorns. We are excited to publish their new site!  On a side note, Christina will be representing RHD at several state fairs this summer as one of our photographers. She will be capturing candid moments at lots of different events in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. Look for her work on the RHD facebook page!

PROJECT TEAM: Darrell Ippensen and Christina Miller of Ippensen Family Shorthorns, Liz Tovar, Stacey Shanks, Jessica Hobbs

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

A good reminder from Mother Theresa


I got this quote a while back from our friend and customer Carlos Guerra....I know you've probably seen it before but to me, this is always a good reminder.

A QUOTE FROM MOTHER THERESA


"People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; forgive them anyway.

 If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway.

If you are successful you will win some false friends and true enemies; succeed anyway.

 If you are honest, people may cheat you; be honest anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;

it was never between you and them anyway."

Schrag Shorthorns :: Marion, SD

This ad was so good we just had to share! Look for this upcoming ad of Schrag Shorthorns in the July Shorthorn Country and August show publications. Back in Louisville, Joelynn took this photo of Sammi Schrag "SERIOUSLY" showing her heifer in the junior show. The Schrag's loved the photo so much it inspired the name of their upcoming sale -- "SERIOUSLY SHORTHORNS!"

We love this family, we love this girl, and we love Shorthorns! Enjoy!


PROJECT TEAM: Tricia, Rachel, and photo by Joelynn Donough

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Calf Climate :: Cattle Cooling & Heating Solutions

Happy, satisfied customers is what we're all about here at RHD and so anytime we have a client who books a SECOND website with us, we're thrilled, because it clearly shows how much they enjoy working with RHD.

Matt Rohrbach is one of our many customers who have multiple sites with us, and we are so proud to launch his latest site, Calf Climate. Calf Climate is part of Innovative Livestock Concepts, a business that specializes in livestock services. Matt's other website with us is http://www.rohrbachcattlecompany.com/. We designed this site for him last summer. He had his Calf Climate website with another firm, but found it so easy and pleasant to work with RHD that he transferred his second site to us too. Matt had especially commented how pleased he was with the speed of updates, and the extra effort that RHD devotes to his account.

On this particular website, the project was taking over an existing website. When we got into the design phase of it, we found that the old website was, unfortunately, difficult to understand. The terminology was hard to follow, and the web site was missing some basic core info like describing what the products he was selling actually was. That's where the expertise of RHD's team came in. We had several phone consultations with Matt to learn the insides and outs of his business, then re-wrote and re-developed his content to help make it easy and clear for people to know how to do business with him.

We absolutely love the new site! When creating the project, we re-vamped his old Calf Climate logo, re-worked his written content, and created a site that is easier to follow and easier to place orders through.

So what is Calf Climate? Well, it's everything you need for cooling and heating your livestock. It's cooler equipment, cooler fans, portable fans, you name it. Then it's everything you need for heating your livestock. Heathers for your barns, clipping rooms, wash racks, and portable heaters for on the show road. We definitely recommed checking it out! Summer's heating up - we could all probably use some help cooling off!!! Visit www.calfclimate.com for information.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Law Office of Donato Ramos :: Laredo & Cuero, TX

 One of our newest websites to go online is the Law Office of Donato Ramos in Laredo & Cuero, Texas.

This project was actually a whirlwind project that started just about 3 weeks ago and flew by as a fast paced, exciting project.

Our first contact with the DDR firm began through Rachel's good friend, Andrew Abrameit, who is an attorney at the firm. The Ramos firm was looking for a professional agency that could capture their professional image, but also tie in the unique look to appeal to their south Texas clientele. The Ramos family also has a longstanding ranching heritage, so they felt like RHD was a great fit.

One of the things we loved about this project is the task to capture the look of south Texas. Andrew also informed us that the Ramos family preferred a classy and elegant look. To accomplish this, we chose a rich leather texture for the background. We LOVE the implementation of the Ramos family brand, shown here. We also used several unique photographs taken from both the Ramos land and other ranches in south Texas. Some of the photos we used were even taken by Rachel's dad, Jim, through his travels! The photos shown here in this swatch are uniquely "south Texas" and look great on the site.

Once the design was approved, we quickly began working to add the content because this is a site we were anxious to get online and showcase. As Andrew commented to Rachel-- we both felt like we were about to publish one of the best law firm websites in Texas!

I invite you to check out the site at www.donatoramoslawfirm.com. The firm provides experienced representation regarding oil and gas leasing, royalty division order and pipeline questions. They serve the entire Eagle Ford Shale region of Texas.

Thanks to the firm for working with RHD!




Friday, June 8, 2012

Carney's Feed Mill : Ohio




One of our newest websites to go online in June is Carney's Feed Mill, Inc., a family owned & operated feed mill serving the Cincinnati, Ohio area for more than 45 years. 

When you visit www.carneysfeed.com, you can't help but notice that family pride. Through the years, the Carney Family has seen the growing changes facing Ohio's countryside - familly farms turning into urban sub-divisions, and lots of changes in the nutrition technology.

Despite these changes, Carney’s has kept the old fashioned values that the founders, Tom & Katty Carney instilled back in 1967. Values like good old one-on-one personal service to every person that enters the door and having one of the most knowledgeable staffs in Southwest Ohio. 

I lived in Michigan for almost two years, and while I was in that area, I found that there weren't a lot of knowledgeable feed stores or ag stores in the area, since it was a primarily urban area. The same holds true for this area of Ohio... which makes Carney's Feed Mill one of the most unique feed stores in the region. They know the livestock business and they know the nutrition business. They can help you make a custom ration, mix your show feed, or give you nutritional advice for your livestock. They even hold educational clinics at the mill free of charge. And they deliver feed!


I hope you will check out http://www.carneysfeed.com to see the story about this great American business and if you live in the area, think about doing business with this family!



Thursday, June 7, 2012

B&B Showpigs - Friona, Texas

In the livestock sector, cattle are clearly RHD's biggest clientele area. However, we do enjoy occassionally working with showpig or lamb, or goat clients in the livestock sector to create their websites.

Last week, we designed a new website for B&B Showpigs of Friona, Texas, a partnership operation between Bobby Tyler and Brian Stewart (hence the B&B in the name).

This was a great project to work with first off, because they are AGGIES! (Had to say it!) But seriously, they were a great client to work with.

B&B Showpigs is located in the Texas panhandle in Lazbuddie, Texas, which is an hour west of Amarillo. The Tyler & Stewart families teamed up to offer the best quality show hogs that they can. By visiting their site, you'll see the females and boars they have selected in this effort.

This fall, B&B will have 15 litters born from July through September, including York, Hamp, Cross, Duroc, Spot and Berk. You name it, they have it.  So we invite you to check out http://www.bbshowpigs.com and see their operation and give them a call!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Register Sawmill

If this website doesn't make you want to move to Florida and raise Brahman cattle, I don't know what would!

Register's Sawmill is a Brahman cattle ranch located in Lake Panasoffkee, Florida. I don't know how to pronounce that either so don't feel bad if you can't read that!

The ranch is owned by Keith Register and family. In 1985, he bought a piece of property that was part of his grandparents old original homestead. He later added a sawmill to help generate income to pay for the land. Which was quite a job in itself, considering Keith had never worked at a sawmill, owned a sawmill, or even logged! But through the years, hard work has paid off, and the sawmill is a success!

Brahman cattle are a huge passion for the Register family. Growing up in Sumter County, Keith fell in love with the large Brahman herds owned by Herman Beville. He developed a friendship with legendary Florida Brahman breeder Marcus Shackelford and the rest is history. Today the Registers are proud of their herd of outstanding Florida Brahman cattle that are featured on the website.

While you're browsing the site, also check out the Register's page on Robert Butler Paintings. These paintings are amazing and showcase the natural beauty of Florida.

We are honored to do this website for the Register family and invite you to take a look!




Monday, June 4, 2012

Schilling Limousin

Last week was a busy week for posting new websites here at RHD, with 3 new sites going up on Friday alone!


One of these new sites was Schilling Limousin, a purebred cattle operation from Edson, Kansas. 


This website was a project coordinated with RHD Rep KC Kinder of Oklahoma. KC and Chance Schilling made initial contact and within a few weeks, the new site was up. 

When Chance originally visited with KC, he had mentioned that he had been working with another firm to try to have a website designed for quite a long time period, and he wasn't getting anywhere. KC's exact words were  "Their loss is RHD's gain!" because here at RHD, we LOVE working with outstanding seedstock producers like the Schilling family. Despite the Schilling's having a bad experience with another web design firm, we promised them that working with RHD would be a dream! 



So within a few weeks, the new site was up and running, and we invite you to check it it out at www.schillingcattle.com. The Schilling family has been involved in the Limousin breed for over 30 years. They are located off I-70 and invite you to visit their ranch at any time!