Schrag Family Event Sale

Join Schrag Shorthorns this Saturday in Marion, SD for the Family Event Sale. Offering Shorthorn show heifer prospects, herd sire prospects, bred females, embryos, flushes, and pregnancies. The sale features pedigrees stacked with proven cow families including Revival, Dream Lady, Augusta Pride, and Riders Rose.

And I can't resist posting this photo that Joelynn took at Louisville. Fits the "Family Event" sale name perfect! Here is Stock Show Momma Melissa Schrag, Cory Schrag, Sammi and Jaxson heading to the backdrop at Louisville. We can all see who's in charge here, and trust me....Melissa is a true cattle lady who knows her stuff! 

We love this family!

TMAC Show Steers, Wyoming

Here's a design we just completed today for Travis McIntosh, Wheatland, Wyoming. We've been working with Travis since 2007 and it's always an honor to design his fall ad.

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!

Black Friday Angus Sale

Another project we have been working on this week is promotion for the "Black Friday" Angus Sale. Pretty catchy name isn't it? Guess the sale date? All you shoppers out there will probably get it...it's November 26th, the day after Thanksgiving. Aka the busiest shopping day of the year!

We have worked on two different ads for this sale, one for Kyle and Amanda Conley and one for Travis & Beth Pembrook.  When Kyle emailed us with the sale name, we thought it was so cool!! So here are the two ads, check them out and let us know what you think!

Texas A&M University Cattle Sale - April 18, 2010

One of my best friends in the cattle business, or actually just in general, is Paul Maulsby, the Beef Center manager at Texas A&M University. When I was just starting my job at A&M in 2003, Paul was also a new staff member in the Department and we instantly bonded because we were both so passionate about working in the Department of Animal Science, and we both shared a huge interest in purebred cattle marketing and promotion. I remember sitting around the office for hours with Paul talking about how awesome it would be if Texas A&M offered a class in livestock merchandising like Oklahoma State or Michigan State, and how even more awesome it would be if one day Texas A&M could have a production sale like these other schools.

A couple of years ago, Paul instrumented bringing the livestock merchandising class to A&M Department of Animal Science. I was fortunate to be invited as a guest lecturer, and it was exciting to see Paul and my ideas come to fruition. 

Well now, 6 years later, Paul has accomplished probably his biggest goal to date at A&M, which is establishing a production sale for the TAMU Beef Center. If I had a dollar for every time Paul and I have talked about this idea, I'd have enough to retire from RHD. Every time I drive by the beef center and I see the excellent qualilty cow herd Paul has established at A&M, I feel so proud. Paul and his team have really taken the A&M cattle herd to the next level, and have a showcase operation that all former students can be excited about.

I met with Paul last week and Ranch House Designs will be handling all of the sale advertising and promotion for the "Spirit of Aggieland" Inaugural Cattle Sale which will be held April 18, 2010 at the TAMU Beef Center. I can hardly wait! Of course, more information on the sale will be forthcoming all spring, but here are some of the key points.

The sale will be held on Sunday, April 18, which is during the TAMU Parents Weekend activities. The Saddle and Sirloin banquet will be held on the night before, and so this will make a great activity to end a big weekend at A&M. The sale will include 65 head of primarily Simmental and Angus genetics. A select few show heifer prospects from other breeds will also be included through guest consignors. TAMU will also be offering a group of breeding bulls and herd sire prospects.

Guest consignors lined up to date will be several progressive breeders who support the Beef Center, including WW Simmentals of Missouri (the Walthalls), Lastovica Angus of Texas, Satree Angus of Texas, and V8 Ranch of Texas. More guest consignors are in the works.

Probably the neatest aspect of this sale will be the educational component for the students at A&M. Paul is establishing a mentor program where a former Aggie student will serve as mentors to the students, who will be the sale staff. So for example, I am the mentor for the students interested in advertising. While RHD will be actually doing the actual design work, we will be discussing with students and helping them learn the ins and outs of sale promotion and catalog design. There will be other mentors for hospitality, sale cattle preparation, sale clerking and settlement, photography, working the sale, etc.

We will be featuring the sale in popular magazines starting in February, so keep your eyes out for this exciting event! Oh, and since it's Parents Weekend at A&M, it might be wise to go ahead and make your hotel reservations early!