History: "David" The Hereford Bull

One of our popular facebook fun items is our "History Lessons" where we post old photos and then our friends share what they know about the significant animals. It's an awesome way to hear good old stories from people nationwide.

One of these recent "History Lessons" included this family bull, named "David." As we gathered comments and stories on facebook, here are the great stories behind this famous bull.

• David was owned and exhibited by Bright Bros. Herefords of Le Grand, California. Sandy Meyer shared that his sire was the bull named "Lerch"
• 1981 Denver, National Western Stock Show
• Caroline McMahon shares:  It sold for a record $301K at auction!
• Matt Leo (James Bright's son), shares:  As the story goes Goliath was his competition and a popular bull at the time James Bright thought he could beat him so he named him "David" . Lerch was his sire the 1978 Reserve Grand Bull. David won Denver in 1980 under Bill Jacobs and in 
  1981 got beat by another Bull Bright's sold named Centenial shown by V Bar Ranch af Stanton, Tx . " David was bought buy Born Herefords and Granite Hills for $301,000 and still the Denver record. We still to this day work out of the showbarn and ranch " David" built! 
• Val Reiss of Kansas shares: " David was very line bred, same grandfather both sides. Legend has it David was conceived when Lerch jumped fence and got in with show heifers next door. Our black baldy steer that was Reserve Grand at Michigan 5 years ago shown by Ryan Smoes had a Hereford grandmother by David. Good genetics fit everywhere"

To this day, David holds the record of the highest selling bull of the Hereford breed. And, the Bright Bros. and Leo Bros. is still a great cattle operation in California. Thanks for sharing the photo with us!

Indian Mound Ranch :: Hereford Cattle Ranch

Isn't this an adorable ranching family!

One of our newest cattle website designs is Indian Mound Ranch, a family owned and operated business located in Canadian, Texas.

Owner Lee Haygood is the 4th generation on the ranch that was founded by his great grandfather in the mid 1880s. Today, he operates the ranch with his wife Jacqui and their two sons Luke & Mark (who we are all in love with here at RHD by the way....aren't they just adorable little cowboys!)

With it's rich history, Indian Mound Ranch has stayed on top of technology which allows them to offer fault-free and functional cattle. Their Herefords are raised on range country with minimal inputs. They breed top quality herd bulls and use strict culling to keep the cow herd moving in the right direction.

Bull development is also important for the Haygoods. Bulls are fed a 20% range cube diet at a minimal rate. Bulls are kept in a pen and feed tested to identify the bulls that can thrive and perform on range conditions. When you buy a bull from Indian Mound Ranch, you can expect him to go straight to work, without melting or falling apart when he gets in the pasture. The Haygood family also collects a lot of performance data and conducts carcass ultrasounding to provide the most information possible to clients.

Sounds like a recipe for success to me! I hope you will visit www.indianmoundranch.com and check it out.

We are so appreciative of all of our Hereford website clients that have joined the RHD family in the past few months. We are currently designing and maintaining about 25 different purebred Hereford ranches, including many of the leading breeders in the nation both commercial and show oriented. Our team includes two Hereford ladies: KC Kinder and Ashley Middleswarth, and we are very passionate about this breed.

Barber Ranch :: Channing, Texas

Oh boy are we excited to post this new website!
We have been working on the new website for Barber Ranch since early spring, and it is one that we are exceptionally proud of. 


We began working with the Barbers back in 2001, and they were one of our first website clients back in the days of "Two Girls Web Design." I had known the Barbers for forever through showing in TCCA. I mean let's be honest, if you're from Texas, and you hear the word Hereford, Barber is one of the first names that comes to mind. Actually, that probably remains true for the whole U.S. When you think of top Hereford show cattle and commercial bulls, the Barbers have an excellent reputation of quality cattle. 


We had done their website from 2001 to 2004, when they decided to switch to another firm. The period of 2003 to 2004 was one where our business was in a transition as I worked for Texas A&M full time. Because of my full time job, most of my website work was done at night and on the weekends, so at that time the Barbers wanted to switch to a company that did web design full time. I totally understood and though we didn't do business together anymore, we were still good friends. 


Back last fall, we began talking with the Barbers again about doing their ads and website once again. They had commented that they loved the work we were putting out and realized that now our business had grown to hold 3 full time updaters and a great team of marketing professionals. And we were thrilled to gain their business once again!


We began working on their sale ads for their Cowtown Classic sale. Emily traveled up to Fort Worth to photograph their sale. Then we began the process of the new website, which went live today.

Their website is one of my all time favorites. I'll admit I have a weakness for good Hereford cattle. Especially ones shown by adorable little girls like this one...


I hope you will visit www.barberranch.com to see our recent work and their great Hereford cattle. Thanks Barber Ranch for coming back to RHD!!!


P.S. Barber Ranch is part of our growing list of high profile Hereford clients. We have even more on the way that will be unveiled throughout the spring and fall! If you are a Hereford breeder we would love to give you a quote. We also have two great Hereford gals on our team if you prefer to talk to one of them. KC Kinder is available at kc@ranchhousedesigns.com or Ashley Middleswarth at ashley@ranchhousedesigns.com.

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! :) 

Turkey Feather Ranch :: Ada, OK

If you love Herefords then Turkey Feather Ranch is definitely one of our new websites you will want to check out.

Turkey Feather Ranch was founded in 1957 and since then, has continued a commitment to building a Polled Hereford program of functional and complete cattle.

In 2007, Rindy & Ernie Bacon took over the operation and since that time have been aggressively working on building up the herd through elite donor females and herd sires that are popular throughout the country.

We worked on this site a great deal with their marketing consultant, Paul Maulsby, a good friend of RHD. While working on the site we especially enjoyed seeing the pictures of their herd bulls like STAR TCF Lock N Load, the 2011 National Champion Hereford bull in Fort Worth and 2010 National Champion Bull in Louisville.

Another favorite was STAR Shock-Wave 131Y, the 2012 National Champion in Denver.

So as you can see Turkey Feather Ranch doesn't play around! They are home of 3 past national champions (2012, 2011, and 2010) and their love of the Hereford breed is evident to anyone who visits the site. Check it out! We hope you enjoy!