Denver Photo A Day Challenge

Join us for a fun way of showcasing what's going on at Denver this year! Post your pics on Instagram and tag @ranchhousedesigns and #rhdphotoaday. Post your photos from ANY of the categories on ANY day. Each day we will choose one favorite photo to win an RHD prize. Prizes will vary each day but will be t-shirts, caps, RHD hoodies, inspirational metal art and more. Then, after Denver, we will post each of our daily winners on our Facebook page and our fans will choose our "Best in Show" Denver photo. That winner will receive a free ticket to our April Livestock Marketing Workshop!

Flashback 2002: Visit to MSU

This past weekend I had the opportunity to travel back in time so to speak, to visit East Lansing, Michigan, which was my home from August 2001 to December 2002 while I got my master's degree. As with any visit to your old stomping grounds, it is somewhat bittersweet. As I flew in over the Michigan countryside the first thing I remembered was how beautiful Michigan is. The farmlands, the lakes, the homes, the midwest charm. When we arrived in East Lansing, I quickly remembered my surroundings...Jolly Road, Leo's Lodge, Grand River Avenue. Within a few minutes I remembered exactly where things were and was ready to hit the town.

5001 Oakbrook: My MSU Home and Former "Basement office"
of RHD, which was known as "Two Girls Web Design"
at the time.

Though the town hadn't changed that much to the eye, I was quickly saddened to see that things had drastically changed over the past 10 years. The main thing was that all my friends were gone. The people I love like Katie & Mark Hoge, Cassie Abney, the MacFarlanes, Metzgar, Ogle, Sarah Rust, Nick Berry, Andrew McPeake, Mafi, Dave Burns, Brett, Nicole, Lowderman, Robbie Duis....of course these friends have long since moved on just like I did. It made me happy to think of all the fun times we had, but also a little sad because I miss them so much.

Back in the day (2002), my typical day involved going to class of course, then work, then as soon as 5 o'clock hit it was time for the fun. Usually I would head on home and meet up asap with my roommate Cassie, and then we would start making our rounds. Keep in mind this was at a time where cell phone's weren't that popular, so to find out where all the action was happening, we had to get going.

First stop, head on over to the farms and swing by the Hog Shack (official home of Metzgar & Ogle but general meeting place of Nick Berry and the Hoge's.) We'd pick up Katie and start circulating. As we passed by the Hogshack, a normal day would find lots of the students working the MSU hogs for upcoming shows. This was especially a great time of year in the summer when the school would be preparing for the National Barrow Show.

Keep on driving down the road to get to our favorite spot on the whole campus: The MSU Beef Barn, at the intersection of Beaumont & Bennett. As soon as we hit this intersection we began "on the lookout" for any signs of our friends and the action going on at the farm.

"The Bullpen"

Generally our best bet would be to pull up to "The Bull Pen"...the famous home of the beef barn student workers, which at the time I was in school included Cody Lowderman, Robbie Duis, and many other friends. This was the meeting place for our group of friends. From there, we would spend the evenings riding around the farms, looking at Herefords, maybe rinsing calves and working hair, and having a great time which usually ended up swinging back by the Hogshack to pick up the pig people then heading on over to Leo's Lodge of Buffalo Wild Wings for the night. Then we would start it all over again the next day. And we loved every minute of it.

 As I began to visit with friends at the show this summer, I was very saddened to hear of some of the developments going on at MSU currently that involve a dispersal of the MSU Hereford herd. I guess I was out of the loop, because I missed this announcement, and I even missed the ad about this sale that was recently ran in the Hereford World.

While many places at MSU hold a special place in my heart, there is none quite like the MSU Beef Barn, and all of it's tradition, excellence, and memories. While some higher-ups at the university might say 'it's just a barn'...to the students of the MSU animal science program, it's so much more. It's an icon. A symbol of excellence for more than 50 years. A source of pride for both current and former students. That barn represents a spirit of MSU that every person involved in the purebred herd holds dear.
  

The tack room at the MSU Beef Barn

Banners from the 1970s

More nostalgic trophies from the tradition of excellence at MSU

Trophies, banners and pictures fill the trophy room at the MSU Beef Barn

Wonder how many champions passed through these doors through the years.


Since it's taken me 10 years to go back....and who knows when, if ever, I'll get to go back again, I took this time to capture as many memories as I could. The MSU Beef Barn and all that it stands for is one of the most precious icons on the MSU campus to me, and many others. I will always treasure the memories made and the education learned through being involved with the MSU purebred beef herd. And that says a lot, considering I'm a Brahman & Shorthorn girl...and I'm talking so fondly of HEREFORDS! :) 

Thanks Robbie & Raymond!

Nothing makes us more excited than when our current customers recommend us to THEIR friends to share the awesome service and quality of Ranch House Designs!

Here's a big shout out to ROBBIE DUIS for his recent referral. Robbie has been a client of RHD in various capacities since 2003. That's nearly 10 years as a happy and satisfied customer.

Also thanks to RAYMOND GONNET for referring us to his friend Chris Mills of Florida. Raymond has been a client since 2007.

We appreciate these word of mouth referrals and consider it a testament of one more reason why RHD is "The World's Best Livestock Advertising Agency!"

Welcome Ragland Herefords!

Whenever one of our good friends calls to book a new web site, we get really excited! Especially when we know the site is going to be awesome! This was most definitely the case for our Texas pals, the Ragland Family.

Ragland Herefords created this site to provide viewers with an opportunity to meet the family, learn more about their operation and to showcase results of over five generations and eight decades of hard work and dedication in raising top quality Hereford show steers.

For 35 years, Ragland Herefords has been focused solely on producing high quality Hereford show steers. A small operation in the West Texas town of Ralls, Texas with only 60 registered Hereford cows, the ranch has concentrated on producing quality, not quantity.  The herd has been primarily build through many years of Artificial Insemination. Most of the current cows in the herd are ones they have raised, kept and bred.

William Forest Ragland started the operation in Dickens County back in the early 1940’s. Since then, generation after generation has continued with the operation and its tradition of excellence. It is this mindset that has allowed the family to produce numerous grand and reserve grand champion Hereford steers across the state of Texas.

The latest generation of Raglands is making his way to the top of the industry no just cattle wise. Brady is a graduating senior at Texas Tech University. He was a member of the National Champion Intercollegiate Livestock Judging team at Louisville last year and earned the once in a life time title of High Individual and National Champion, something that is every single livestock judger’s dream.

The future is extremely bright for our friends at RaglandHerefords. Check out their site and see for yourself the kind of quality that years of dedication and hard work can provide!

Christy Collins

This week's partner spotlight is someone I greatly admire: Christy Collins.

I can't remember exactly when this memory occured, but I know it was probably at least 15 years ago. We had a Shorthorn bull that we raised here at V8 Ranch named "Bonfire." Well, okay, that reminds me. It would have been like in 1997ish because we named him that while I was a student at A&M because he was out of my old show heifer. People who attended the Illinois State Fair around that time might also remember him from the notorious "Illinois State Fair Bull Fight" in which Bonfire tore down the showring, and blew up the lassie queen's skirt as she hopped over the fence. HA! Truthfully, the story on that was that he had never been shown before - he was never intended to be shown. But Don Cagwin, one of the owners, kept insisting we start showing him. So he was halterbroke and stuff later in life, and showed, and won Louisville. Good foresight by Mr. Cagwin.

Anyway, that story does have a relevant point to this topic. My dad knew Bonfire was the best bull we had raised at that time, and so Don Cagwin purchased an interest in the bull as well as several other promiment breeders. Now keep in mind this was BEFORE I started doing advertising. I will never forget my - almost stalker-ish - excitement when my dad told me that we were possibly going to hire CHRISTY COLLINS to do the pictures of Bonfire. THIS was when I knew we were talking BIG TIME here! Christy Collins to do our picture!!!

Well, actually, that deal never panned out on working with Christy - not her fault, we just went another direction. But, we felt it was a huge honor that Christy would even consider taking on our bull. I had seen her photos and ad design throughout all of the magazines and I was interested in advertising - though I never really knew to what extent at that time - and I was so excited at the possibility to get to work with her.

Later that year, my dad saw Christy at Denver, and mentioned to her that I was interested in web design. She offered that if I wanted to come job shadow her to learn about ad design, I was more than welcome. Um, hi, I should have DEFINITELY done that. But, I didn't. (Note to young professionals, if Christy, or me, or anyone else you hold in high regard ever makes you that offer, TAKE IT!)

Well though the years, I have continued my great admiration for Christy's work. Not only is she, in my opinion, the greatest club calf bull photographer ever, but she is also one of the best ad designers, catalog designers, sale managers, everything. No matter what she does, she does it with professionalism and CLASS.

I absolutely love it when I get to do an ad using photos taken by Christy. Probably my all time favorite would be the Heat Wave photo. Which I just realized you can order a really cool poster about Heat Wave. While we worked with Lautner Farms, I probably used that image in over 250 ads. I still smile every time I see that Heat Wave photo. Invincible's photo is probably another one of my all time favorites.  Paddy O'Malley, Irish Whiskey, Habanero, all greats.

Despite all of her professional success in advertising, probably the thing that I admire most about Christy, is that she lives the cattle business every day. In a recent email conversation we had, we both were talking about how we would actually prefer to be working in a cow pasture than being in front of a computer on most days. She "gets" it. I "get" it. I think that's why we are both so successful in working with ranchers, because we know that business. Heck I am saving every penny we make from RHD right now to use to buy hay to get through winter. I'm sure Christy has done the same through the years. But, we both knew we wanted a viable business to help us remain involved in the cattle industry, and her camera and my computer helped us get there. She blazed the trail that I, along with many other young women, have been able to follow.

I don't mean for this to seem bragging, but lots of young ladies tell me that they look up to me, and aspire to have their own "Ranch House Designs" one day. That makes me so happy to be a positive role model for young ladies in the cattle business. Whenever I go to do guest lectures at schools in animal science classes, all the students think that I was the first person to start this niche of professional advertising in the livestock - and maybe more specifically - the club calf business.

But they are wrong. Christy Collins started this career path for many young ladies to follow, and today, she is still at the top. There's a quote on the front page of her new web site that says "Beginning is easy. Continuing hard.". I love it. I'd have to say, Christy, you have succeeded!

Show Champions

In keeping with our new thing of spotlighting our industry partners, this week are sending a big shout out to everyone at the Show Champions crew!

Show Champions has revolutionized the way we think of livestock show photography!

I remember being a little young Shorthorn exhibitor at Denver years ago, and the way we viewed our proofs was on these long photo film print outs that Mrs. Browarny (Allan's mom) would thumbtack to the wall. You walked up and flipped through all of those rows of photo films. Actually, this wasn't too long ago. I'm sure many can close their eyes and picture this same exact set up as you walked around to the Browarny booth in the hallways of the Denver show ring.

Wow...fast forward to present day. We all know how the Show Champions set up is now! From the days of thumbtacking proofs to the wall, to nearly instant show proofs available both online and at the show on computers. Now, you walk up to the computer, find your image, buy it, and walk away with your pictures on a memory stick!

As a designer, we love it when Show Champions pictures a show because we get the opportunity to browse and purchase their Hot Shot images. These are AWESOME for ad backgrounds! It is also extremely convenient to be able to proof, order, and instantly download pictures online. This is so helpful to us as designers on tight deadlines. Usually the Show Champions crew has the show pictures up online just a few hours, if not sooner, after the show occurs. This means that we can download your pictures for you and have them up on your web site in no time after the win occurs!

As a livestock showman, I also love it when Show Champions pictures a show because I know the quality of the photo will be great. Their photos are consistently high quality, the calves are set up correctly, and the pictures are awesome.

I have also had the opportunity to become quite good friends with Allan and Dave, as well as many other Show Champions team members. Allan has personally done on farm shoots at our ranch for the past two years. (I think he knows I'm a sucker for his pictures and that I'll pretty much buy every shot he takes ha ha!). Though my legs and arms were extremely sore from running around the pasture as Allan's official ear getter.....to me this in itself was a huge honor to get to work with this esteemed photographer. We also collaborated with Allan on a special client photo shoot for Ganadera Karla Mary in Panama. Allan took the photos then we designed the GKM special donor and sire catalog for the 2010 World Brahman Congress.

So as always, we just want to say Thanks to the Show Champions crew for being so great to work with, and for the outstanding service you provide the industry.

Cattle In Motion

Here at RHD, we are so fortunate to work with so many great professionals in the business. From time to time, we like to showcase some of our professional partners and tell others about how RHD and these businesses work hand in hand to give our mutual customers the best possible exposure and service.

Cattle In Motion is one of our preferred partners for online sales, internet auctions, and cattle video.

We work with them on numerous sales throughout the year with clients who are using their online sale service. Cattle In Motion was started in 2002, when they began filming cattle and giving breeders across the country new ways to market their products. CIM Auctions was created later in order to help livestock customers sell online. CIM Auctions gives qualified buyers with broadband access the chance to purchase cattle from anywhere in the world.

Here are some ways we work hand in hand with the CIM team.

• Integration of your online sale through CIM and your existing web site. In the month of August 2011 alone we are currently working with four of our clients who are having sales with CIM (Heritage, V8, JDH, Schneider Brahmans). When we know you are having a sale with CIM, we can easily link your web site sales page to the special page for your internet sale in one easy step.
• Integration of your videos to your web site. The CIM Team is so great to work with whenever they film video footage for our mutual clients. Basically they will work with RHD and the client to showcase the video in any format you prefer. Some of our clients like to post their CIM videos on You Tube. We can link or embed from your YouTube video to your web site. Others, like Heritage, prefer to link the video to CIM's video player directly from their web site. Whatever you prefer, we can do.

This year we also worked with CIM on a partnership broadcast of the Kickoff Classic Brahman Show. We paid for the broadcast service, and CIM did the rest. They also provided us with highlights videos to post on our web site. We got so many compliments from this service that we plan on doing it again throughout the years at different shows.

We've worked with CIM since they opened their doors in 2002. On every occassion we have been so pleased at their professionalism, high quality product, and the fast service they provide. Never once have we had a client sitting waiting around to get their videos from the CIM team.

We are honored to work with many professionals in the business, like Cattle in Motion. We invite you to check out their web site at http://www.cattleinmotion.com/ or call (888) 554-VIDS, to send your auction around the world.

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Louisville News: Black Friday Sale

One of the first people I had ran into at Louisville was the crew from Saddle River Ranch along with Kyle Conley of Conley Cattle...both Oklahoma Angus breeders. Kyle was dropping off a few of the Black Friday sale catalogs hot off the press and ready to hand out at NAILE.

We've worked with Cathy Conner and her team at Saddle River for just over a year now on both their print ads and web site. I love their really cool logo and they have a beautiful place. They're also on facebook if you want to check out Saddle River Ranch.

On our way up to Louisville, one of the people I was most excited about introducing Brandon to was Kyle Conley. We recently designed the print advertising and sale catalog for the Black Friday sale, which is going to be held the day after Thanksgiving this year in Oklahoma.  While working with Kyle so much over the past 3 months, I have developed a great deal of professional respect for him after seeing the passion he has for this sale. There aren't many young people like Kyle who are willign to jump off into creating a brand new production sale, and I've been inspired by Kyle's work ethic and motivation. 

Also, in the catalog, there is just the CUTEST picture of Kyle and his wife Amanda, that made me instantly want to be BFF's with Amanda. She just looks so nice and sweet and I can tell she is just a great girl. Go check out the catalog and you can see this picture too. Okay so yes, now most likely Kyle is going to kill me for posting something cheesy like this ha ha.

If you'd like to get a sneak peak at the catalog, visit this page: http://pembrookcattle.com/sales.html - the picture I like is on the inside front cover :)

Louisville News: First Class Bred Heifer Sale

Over the next few days we'll be posting some blogs with interesting news or updates from clients we visited with during Louisville. The first one is about the First Class Bred Heifer Sale, which is hosted by three of our long-time RHD clients and good friends Wade Rodgers, Nick Reimann and Brad Smith. These guys not only do a "first class" job with their sale, Wade & Kaylene, Nick & Kyrstin, and Brad are just "first class" all around.

I ran into Nick and Wade in the barns and had a chance to get the low down on their upcoming "First Class Bred Heifer Sale". This year's sale will be held Saturday, December 11, 2010 at Dunlap Livestock Auction, Dunlap, IA. They are selling 80 powerful females, 10 donors, 60 bred heifers, 5 bulls and semen and embryos.

One new thing for this year is that catalogs will be mailed by request only. Nick says that if you have purchased in previous first class sales, you will already be on the list. Others who would like a catalog will need to sign up at Nick's web site, here.

The catalog should be available online this week, and we will blast it out on email when it is posted. If you would like to be notified when it goes up, you can sign up for the RHD email blasts by clicking here then scrolling to the bottom of the page then inputting your email address. Look in the bottom right corner of the screen where it says "Join our Mailing List". YOu can also join through our RHD facebook page.

If you'd like more info about this sale, call either one of these guys:
Nick Reimann - 605-871-3642 • Wade Rodgers - 515-480-6896 • Brad Smith - 712-209-1500

And you can also visit these web sites done by RHD....
http://reimannranches.com/
http://rodgerscattleco.com/

Here's a pic of me and Nick at Louisville this year, wow, he looks so tall!

Fun Day with Cam Smith, Allied Beef Genetics

We had a real fun day today at the office with Cam Smith of Allied Genetic Resources, who was here with us doing a boot camp on print design. Allied Genetic Resources is a new concept in the beef industry as a firm that helps beef producers with commercial success and added value for their cattle.

Cam works at AGR with two of our good friends, Marty Ropp and Troy Marshall, another RHD client at Marshall Cattle Company. Whenever we first met Cam this morning, I remarked that she looked familiar, that I think I knew her someway. Then she informed me that maybe we met through showing, because her family was the owners of 3C Ranch, as in owners of 3C Macho, owners of Meyer, etc. Wow, we did not know we had such a celebrity in our mix!

While Cam came to learn about print design, we actually put her to work on another task: our new RHD staff pictures!!! We had a photographer lined up, who had to cancel at the last minute. Since everyone was dressed up and ready to go, we asked would she mind if she did the photos! Way to put someone on the spot, right? But she agreed and served as our stand in photographer to take our new company pictures. Watch for them coming soon!

After the day of training in Photoshop and InDesign, where Cam actually pretty much did an entire pretend sale catalog from start to finish in one day, we decided to go learn about something new: Brahman cattle. You know me, I'm not going to miss an opportunity to tell my northern friends about the role of Brahmans in the beef industry. Despite the fact that Cam said she thought Brahmans resembled a buffalo (WHAT!!!!!), she loved them. I warned her that the Brahman bull at the V8 showbarn was a big pet and would chase her out of the pen....because he wanted to be scratched and petted more! And sure enough, the big fellow followed us right up to the gate begging us not to leave.

So here are some pictures of our Simmental breeder with her new Brahman bull friend. Who knows, maybe we'll see Allied Genetic Resources utilizing some Brahman blood in their commercial crossbreeding programs! :)

If I Could Hug an Ad

Don't you just want to tear this ad right out of a magazine and give this cutie a big hug!! Here is a recent ad we designed for our long time clients Jacob & Ingrid Tusa of Tusa Show Cattle. Isn't this the cutest little girl!!! The model in this ad is their daughter, Georgia Tusa. Make sure to notice her t-shirt. This one was so adorable we couldn't resist not sharing it with you. Look for this ad and all of the other RHD-work in the September Showbox.

Crystal Young: Be Very Jealous

This past week I had the opportunity to take a "vacation" and go with the V8 Ranch Brahmans down to the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show in Mercedes, Texas. For those of you who aren't familiar with Texas geography, this is a little town approximately 6 miles from Mexico.

But...even if you haven't heard of the town of Mercedes, I would bet that most of our readers know something about this little Texas town, also known as the home of Rios of Mercedes and Anderson Bean boots!

Being the self proclaimed boot snob that I am, I was ecstatic to get myself within the vicinity of the Mercedes boot store. As soon as I could tear myself away from the stock show, I headed over to the boot store. Now there is a rumor going around other boot snob circles that you can go to this factory store and get boots for next to nothing. Or, that you can drop off your worn out boots there and get them re-soled and re-conditioned. And I am  happy to report, yes, these rumor is true. There were boots priced there from $100 on up.

Though I perused the store for about 30 minutes, unfortunately I did not find anything that I felt I necessarily HAD to have. But, one of my friends picked up 7 pairs of boots at the show, and another friend of mine got 2 pair.

Nonetheless, I'm still happy to say that yes, I have personally visited the Rios of Mercedes and Anderson Bean Boot headquarters. So go ahead Crystal, be jealous. :)

Friend of the Month - Ramona Petrosky

Last month, we created a new contest at RHD which is our "Friend of the Month" and is awarded to the person who makes the most comments on our blog or facebook page. This was a lot of fun and gave us a way of making more friends and interacting with people from all over the nation who are fans of RHD.

So for our first "Friend of the Month", our winner is Ramona Petrosky, who is a special friend to RHD in many ways. First, she's a fellow Boling, Texas citizen who can be found at just about any event in Boling. She is a loyal Bulldog fan and helps out with lots of things like the FFA, Athletic Booster Club, and lots more!!

Secondly, Ramona is a fellow cattle person. She and her family show Red Brangus Cattle along with our good friends Charles and Sue Atkinson of Wharton.

And finally, Ramona is DOLLIE'S Mom!!!!! Dolllie is our newest web site update team member at RHD and has gotten to be friends with lots of our clients in the past 6 months she has worked here.

At RHD we are so lucky to have the support and friendship of people from all over. It makes us so happy to hear from people who follow us on the internet or through the magazines our ads appear in. Ramona is one of those very special people who encourage us, support us, and believe in us. So thanks Ramona, for everything you do to help us at RHD!!

The Michigan State Connection

I'll never forget the early morning phone call I got one Friday morning in the fall of 2000. While laying in bed after a late night on the town (Thursday nights in college), my land line rang about 7:00 a.m. in my trailer house bedroom in College Station, TX.

As I sleepily reached over and found my phone, I answered "hello" in the scratchiest, sleepiest voice you could possibly imagine. The voice on the other line said, "Good morning Rachel, this is Harlan Ritchie calling from Michigan State University."

Now seriously, what would YOU do if someone like Harlan Ritchie was calling your house at 7:00 a.m. in the morning. You can imagine how I reacted. I quickly tried to wake up, clear my throat, and maintain some level of professionalism without appearing too overly-awestruck for someone of this caliber to be calling ME, a lowly college student from Texas!!!!  Dr. Ritchie was calling to let me know that they had received my application to grad school at Michigan State, and that I was invited to come up to campus and visit/interview for an assistantship as soon as possible.

After doing my best to appear poised and collected, I graciously thanked him and then immediately called my college best friend, Cassie Abney, who had also applied to MSU. As she picked up her land line, she said, "Dr. Ritchie just called you didn't he?" Because he had just called her too. That weekend, we scheduled a flight to Lansing, interviewed, and made our decision to attend Michigan State University.

After arriving to our sight-unseen apartment at 5001 Oakbrook, I quickly fell in love with everything and anything to do with Michigan State, and made some of the best friends I could have ever hoped for. People like Mark and Katie Hoge, Brett Barber, Andrew McPeake, Sarah Rust, Nick Berry, Brandon Ogle, Bryan Metzgar, Cody Lowderman, Nicole Barber, Jason and Kara Rowntree, B.J. and Melissa McFarlane, Abby Rubley, Courtney Stewart, and Ashley Roseberry are just a few of the special people that made my two years at MSU some of the best years of my life. I also met so many wonderful people from the state of Michigan, namely people like Kathleen Hawkins, Steve and Julie French, and Robin Millsap, who are still close friends today. And, not to mention, I got to directly work with legends in the agriculture industry like Dr. Ritchie, Dr. Dave Hawkins, Dr. Kirk Heinze, and many more.

After I finished up my master's at MSU, I discovered this huge group of fellow Spartans who are leaders in animal science. It seems like every ag event I go to, I find someone who is a MSU alumni. Michigan State has a great presence at stock shows, whether it be through students working at the MSU Purebred Beef Barn stalls or through alumni at the shows. Probably one of the most famous MSU alumni that comes to mind, especially during this time of year, is Bill Angell, who is the livestock director and "king of the yards" at Denver Stock Show.

So, this year, it has been 7 years since I graduated with my M.S. from Michigan State. (With a 4.0 by the way!!!) As my professional career has been so richly blessed, I was able to create two scholarships in the Department of Animal Science at MSU to help give other students these same great opportunities that others gave me.

This year at Denver, I got the opportunity to meet this year's recipients while they were both working at the MSU Beef Barn display in Denver. Our first scholarship winner was Nicole Starr of Manawa, Wisconsin. Nichole is the young lady in the black sweater in this photo. She is a super go-getter who is destined for success. She is a junior animal science major and has worked for 3 years at the MSU Beef Barn. Last year, she interned with the American Hereford Association, and she and her family operate Starr Polled Herefords.

Our second scholarship winner was Lance Schoenbine of Auburn, Michigan, another outstanding young person who works at the MSU Beef Barn. Lance is standing right next to me in the photo. Lance is a Limousin showman who plans on making a career in the production side of the business, either seedstock or commercial.

It was such an honor for me to be able to meet these fine young people at Denver this year. Pictured here in our photo is l-r, Cody Sankey, manager of the MSU Beef Barn. I work with Cody on MSU Fall Fest ads, and have a tremendous amount of respet for this young leader in the beef industry. Next is Ken Geuns, coordinator of the MSU Beef Barn and another MSU faculty member who helped me so much during my two years at MSU through advice, mentoring and friendship. Next is the two scholarship winners - Nicole and Lance, pictured with me and Dad.

And, on the funny side, right after we took this photo Dad made sure to take the opportunity to inform Nicole and Lance how important it is to say "Yes Sir and No Sir" and have manners, since "sometimes folks from up north don't think it's important to say these things." Good reminder, Dad.

Oh, and by the way, at the same time I applied to MSU, Cassie, and another best friend Kim McCuistion, and I all also applied to K State. Kim got accepted instantly, and started getting like daily phone calls from all these professors at K State saying how much they loved her and couldn't wait for her to come. Cassie and I didn't even get a consolation rejection letter, a phone call, an e-mail response or a swift kick in the butt. I was pretty bummed out. So, for all you blog readers out there still in college, don't ever be discouraged. Sometimes rejection can be the best thing in the world!

Denver Hereford Show

While I was in Denver, it was a little odd for me because I was there early for the bull displays, and didn't really have a "home base" to camp out at -- usually the V8 Shorthorns stalls.

So, on Friday, I spent my free time at the showring watching the Denver Hereford Show. Every time I watch the Herefords at Denver I get this itching to buy a Hereford. They are just so beautiful. I have these favorite ranches that I love to watch.....Barber Ranch, Breedings, Hoffman Ranch, Colyers, Lowdermans, and Purple Reign. And recently, due to the addition of Robbie Duis on their staff, I've been keeping an eye on Star Lake. Even though I don't really do the advertising for any of these (except Purple Reign web site), I just have a huge amount of respect for these operations. Maybe it's their track record of success, but I also think it's because many of these ranches are being run by the next generation, with folks like Brett Barber, Chad Breeding, Jason Hoffman, Kyle Colyer, Cody Lowderman, Randy & Jamie Mullinix, and it's so exciting to see young people be so successful in the ranching business. Of course, I also love watching a Hereford show where I can see the MSU Purebred Beef Unit. Ken Guens and Cody Sankey and their team of young Spartans are great.

 

But, of all of the Hereford ranches I cheer for....my FAVORITE is GKB Herefords, owned by my mentors, Gary and Kathy Buchholz of Texas. This year though, I wasn't cheering for them in the ring, because they were judging the show!!!

 

Now the Williams and the Buchholz families have a big connection at Denver. My parents took me to my first National Western in 1989, to show my Shorthorn heifer, BBS Queen Elizabeth B840. For you old school Shorthorn people, you know what BBS stands for. For the newer folks, it means Buchholz Brothers Shorthorns. I purchased this beautiful solid red, white stocking footed Shorthorn from Mr. and Mrs. Buchholz and that was the beginning of a great friendship between our families that has lasted for over 20 years. That year at Denver, I was a wide-eyed 10 year old taking my first steps into the famous Denver showring, and following behind me in the makeup ring were my family, and Gary & Kathy Buchholz.

 
When the judge made his selection that day, you guessed it, the Grand Champion Shorthorn Heifer of the 1989 Denver Junior Show was none other than dear ol' Queen Elizabeth!!!! We were all so happy, and that is a day that my family will always treasure.
 

As a little girl who grew up on a Brahman ranch, I knew nothing about Shorthorns, or haired cattle for that matter. Mr. Buchholz taught me how to blow-dry cattle. I went and spent a week with them at their farm in Bardwell when I was a little older to learn more show barn skills. And, Mrs. Buchholz was one of the first people who inspired my creativity, which has led me to starting RHD. When I was just a youngster, the Buchholzs always took a tri-fold felt board display booth to set up at their stalls. I'll always remember the time when Kathy asked me to help her set up the booth. I was about 12 years old at the time, and I had just learned how to do "Bubble Writing" to pass notes in Jr. High. You know the kind of doodling, puffy letters. I asked Mrs. B if I could label the pictures to go on her booth, and looking back now I can't believe she would agree to this, but she actually let me write the animal's names in BUBBLE LETTERS to be on their display.

 

So, anyway, I could go on and on about ways that the Buchholz's have helped me throughout my life. This year, these two leaders in the beef industry were the judges of the Denver Hereford Show. I sat and enjoyed watching them work together during the bull show and I just felt a huge sense of pride to be able to watch them on that big day, which I'm sure no doubt is a highlight of both of their legendary judging careers.

 
And as they talked their champion drive, I thought back to 1989, the day where these two great people were there to cheer me on for my first Denver experience. What an honor for me, 21 years later, to be in the stands on THEIR big day, and cheer them on, as they've done for me so many times!!!

Friend of the Month

Each month we have been offering a "blog special" to our loyal blog readers and facebook friends....and it's been a huge hit! So now we are offering another online-only incentive...our "Friend of the Month".

And how do you become our "FRIEND OF THE MONTH"....well it's easy, just interact with us online through the blog or our RHD Facebook page. At the end of each month, we'll figure up the person who as made the most number of comments on our blog, or written/commented the most on our Facebook wall.

The RHD Friend of the Month will get their choice of any available RHD merchandise...for free...plus 10% off any project at RHD. We always have lots of selection of caps and koozies at RHD and you'll get to take your pick of what we have available at the time.

So get your keyboard ready....we'll be doing this each month.

If you aren't already a fan on Facebook, add us here.....

Funny things our cows do

Earlier in December, we were doing a big flush at the ranch. It just so happened that this flush occurred during our "winter blast" here in Texas.....which equates to 40 degree weather. I know my northern friends are rolling their eyes right now. It's been raining cats and dogs for the past few days, and things are pretty nasty here at the ranch, with mud everywhere. (A perfect opportunity for me to wear my new J.Crew muddy boots though!) 

On our ranch, we have two Shorthorn cows who are big pets....CF Fool's Likeness and CSF Miss Texas. Fool's was born in 1993 and Miss Texas was born in 1996.  So they are definitely a pair of grannies.

For the past 16 and 13 years, they've had it pretty good. Both were old show heifers. Now that they are getting older, we feel that they have earned a special spot on the ranch so they get to live in our old show pens right by our house. The two grandma's are best friends, and it's hilarious the things they do. For example, they live in the lane that we use to pen other cows. But whenver we pen a pasture full of Brahmans and run them down the lane...Fool's and Miss Texas just sit there, hang out, and never move. They'll watch 200 head of Brahmans run right past them and never even stop chewing their cud. Which turns out to be pretty nice for us, since we never have to even move them out of their pen.

Or, they are really funny when we are getting them ready to flush. They stick together, and they never move faster than a very slow walk to get to the pens. Once we get them in the pens, they know exactly where to go. You don't even have to give them a tap. They'll stand in the chute at the exact spot, and they go in the same order every time. You never even have to close the headgate...they just know what to do.

Some people reading this might think we are a bit crazy or think...they're just cows. But to us, they are MORE than just cows! Fool's Likeness was our very first big significant purchase as a Shorthorn heifer. In 1993 when we bought her from Cates Farms, she cost $10,700 which at that time was unheard of. People thought we were crazy for paying that much for a heifer. She raised 2 Louisville Champion bulls for us. Miss Texas was one we purchased from Connell's in Iowa, and she also won a ton of shows, but most memorable was her unique ability to kick you from any angle. You could be standing up by her head, and she'd manage a way to kick you. Or you could be just passing behind her in the stalls, and she'd nail you. She especially liked my mom though, who would reach up in the pecan trees in our backyard and grab her some pecan leaves...she loved to eat those.

So during the flush, Fool's accomplished the funniest trick she's ever done. Apparently, Fool's wanted to see what was going on at the flush, or maybe she thought she could help out. She parked her big self on the concrete sidewalk, under the roof, right by the catwalk where we work all the cows. And she would not budge. She also decided to use the posts as a scratching post, which provided entertainment for everyone. Everyone on the crew had to walk around her each time they needed to move down the chute. Which meant that the humans had to get in the mud...but Fool's could still stay on the pavement. She was not getting herself in the mud, or getting out from under the covered roof. She was in the middle of the action. But, oh well, as we figured....I guess she's earned it. She pretty much rules the ranch.

Won't Ride Sidesaddle....

It's no secret to anyone who knows me that one of my all time favorite ladies is Cherie Carrabba of Crockett, Texas. That's why I'm happy to recommend this book to anyone and everyone's who's been involved with showing livestock. This is a great book and I've been saving this blog for a while so I could publish it closer to the Christmas holidays as a gift suggestion.

This book is a collection of short stories written by Cherie Carrabba, a mentor to me and editor of The Showbox Magazine.

Last Christmas, my Dad got this book as a gift for each of us in the family. We even got autographed copies! As soon as we got the books, each of us including me and my mom pretty much just stopped opening our presents and started reading the book. We couldn't put it down! We kept flipping around reading different stories and laughing about all of the great short stories Cherie talks about in the book. The stories are written from a stock show mom's point of view and many of the stories are ones that everyone can relate to. Since we grew up showing with Randy and Ryan Rash, lots of these stories bring back first hand memories of the shows we were at together. It's a GREAT book!

You can purchase the book online at http://cheriecarrabba.com/order.php. Happy Reading!

Purple Banner Designs

In keeping with our Christmas gift hints for livestock people, here is another great idea for that little showman in your life!

Purple Banner Designs is a business created by Bethany Cooler, sister of Josh & Katie Ramsey of J3 Cattle. Bethany came up with this cute line of custom apparal for little showman. She has a variety of options including t-shirts and jackets that feature livestock.  (We've even got her a Brahman cutout to use!)

To order your Purple Banner Design, just go to Bethany's web site at http://www.purplebannerdesigns.com/. You first choose what cutout you want (i.e. steer, tractor, Brahman, etc) then you choose the pattern you want from her extensive pattern gallery. Oh and let her know the size shirt you want. And that's it! It's' super easy and totally customized for you. Each shirt is hand-sewn by Bethany.

These shirts have been a huge hit recently on Steer Planet. They are so adorable, any little livestock person would love them! So order early for Christmas at http://www.purplebannerdesigns.com/

Congratulations Bethany on this very unique idea! I've already ordered 5 for my little Brahman cousins :)

November Favorite Ads

For our monthly favorite ad design contest at RHD, we were honored to have Matt Leo of California serving as our guest judge. Matt has been a long-time supporter of Ranch House Designs and the previous Two Girls Web Design. He and his wife Amanda live in California where they have one son, Brody. They are currently partners in Bright Leo Show Steers and very active in the California cattle business and especially the Angus breed.

Many people would know Matt for his real judging, which is cattle shows, however he is just as qualified to judge our ad design contest as he is to judge a show! In college, Matt was very involved in the ag media circles as he interned at the California Cattleman and also worked closely with the Pacific Showcase.

In summer 2001, I wanted to learn how to design print ads so I took an internship at The Showbox. I spent the first month designing piddly little black and white 1/4 page ads. During my last month, my own family (V8 Ranch) had an ad in The Showbox so Cherie said I could design it. I probably spent 40 hours working on this ad! I was so happy when it came out, literally ecstatic. Matt was one of the first people I showed the magazine too because I knew he had worked in the magazine field and I considered him an expert. His exact quote was "This looks terrible." This resulted in a very shocked look from me, followed by a meltdown ha ha. When I asked why, he said the photos were too small, the background was too busy, and the headline (which was supposed to say Congratulations V8 Juniors) looked like it says "Congratulations V8 Uniors" due to the font I had chosen and the text positioning.

I was crushed. Here I had spent all this time working on my first ad, which I thought looked simply amazing, and he ripped it apart. But this taught me a very valuable lesson that sticks with me even today. Matt's harsh critique forced me to really analyze and study basic design principles such as typography, layout, legibility, and the importance of big and sharp photos. Even today, nearly 10 years later, I often think of the "congratulations V8 uniors" ad and laugh at how far I've come! And sometimes when I flip through the magazines and see all those overwhelming, busy ads, I think that they need a good ol' conversation with Mr. Leo to set them straight about what really matters in good design.

So, here are this months winners, and we really thank Matt for taking the time to give his opinion! He picked out four favorites and commented that all of the ads were "Great Ads, very effective each client should be very proud!"

#1 Tusa- Very cool ad! I love the Lone Star state on center stage and all the counties faded in the background, thumbtacks on the state were neat too. Great colors !

#2 V8 – Great head shot of the Brahman. I like the white background. Everything stands out. There is a lot of class and tradition in the way the advertisment was worded.

#3 Colorado Conection / Sidwell Hay & Cattle- Looking at that ad makes me feel like I’m at home riding around the ranch. The sky the mountains and the use of colors ties the whole add together and makes you stop and want to read more.

#4Forgason- I love black and white ads, and this one is great, neat picture of the Brahman cattle, windmill in the background, and yet a strong statement that hits close to home for everyone. The picture made me feel like I was back in Texas!