My fastest Denver trip ever!

Well I have officially completed my fastest trip to the National Western Stock Show in my 21 year history of attending the show. I made a quick trip in on Friday afternoon, spend the day Saturday "In the Yards" and then flew home on Sunday morning, so I could head on up to Ft. Worth for the Open Brahman Show.

Though I was only at the stock show for one day, it was still a great day and as always, Denver is Denver. It's always been and always will be one of my favorite stock shows, because it's a show for real cattleman, and I love it.

Seeing old friends is probably my favorite part of Denver. Being from Texas, the only time I get to see most of my midwest friends is at Denver or Louisville. A quick stroll through the yards or on the hill and I was able to run into tons of my friends that are quick with a smile and a hug! I love catching up with everyone face to face, which is always definitely better than over e-mail or text. Anytime I get to a show I love to get with Brooke Bennett, and this year she was there working for ShowChampions.com.

I also enjoyed watching the Angus show, where I was cheering for our clients Topline Farms, Michigan State University, Sankey 6N Ranch, and Pembrook Cattle. I also stopped by the Topline stalls to see Topline Mackinaw, who is a new bull for 2010 and is owned by Topline and my dear friend Craig Blint. The funniest observation of my entire trip occurred during the Angus heifer champion drive. As the animals entered the ring, "Eye Of The Tiger" started blaring over the loudspeakers. I'm certain NWSS planned this. I kept thinking, if I was out there in the ring and I heard that, there is no way I could keep a straight face. I happened to be standing by Dylan Evans at the time, so we played a game of coming up with some other cheesy songs to play, and We are the Champions was our top pick.

It's always great to see our RHD clients. Of course, we saw our many clients who we did bull banners for. It was great to meet 2 of our new bull clients, Stan & Clark Bixler and Gary Fillmore and Justin Hartman for the first time.  I also loved visiting with Levi Bond at his display for Titanium where his semen give-a-way was a huge hit. I had a great interview with Alisa Neil and Ryan Habeger.

Wherever I go, I always enjoy meeting new friends, or maybe better described as putting a face with a name, since most of my correspondence is done over e-mail or the phone. On my short trip, I got to meet one of our newer clients, Steve Boneso,  who was displaying the Walks on Water bull. I also finally got to meet the great photographer, Chris Rosa, who was responsible for the creative side of the Walks on Water display. I was really happy to meet my Facebook friend, Christina Wernicke of Top Sires. I'm so glad she's married to a Shorthorn guy because she is FUN and hopefully we'll get to hang out at many more Shorthorn shows in the future. And my 4th new person to meet was my blogging friend, Crystal Young, who was videoing stuff for the Angus Association.

Doubletree vs. Embassy
As a loyal Doubletree guest for forever, unfortunately this year I was unable to get a room there so I had to bump down to my second choice, Embassy Suites. I had heard of Embassy Suites after recommendations from Jeff Schroeder at Cattle.com and I was very familiar with the 4444 North Havana address of that hotel because we usually ship a lot of Denver promo items there. So after staying at Embassy, I have to say it's a toss up. Embassy is a little more old school in terms of decor, but their free complimentary breakfast is awesome. Their stock show shuttle wasn't running on Friday, and I had to get a cab, so that was a setback. Of course, I did go to the Doubletree and hang out in the lobby and socialize for a little while on Friday afternoon. It was packed with the judging teams but as always it's a great hot spot for seeing Shorthorn friends and livestock judging friends.

Cattle.com
For the second year in a row, I helped my good friend Jeff Schroeder at Cattle.com with the Denver bull interviews. I think my video interviewing skills have improved since 2009. It was so rewarding to be able to talk with all of the new bull owners and hear first hand about their bulls. Everyone always thinks theirs is the next big thing, and the rest of us will just have to wait for a few years to see how things shake out of who actually IS the best! Jeff and his brother Ryan do the bull videos and owner interviews totally free of charge, as a service to those who can't make it to Denver.  These two guys have a huge dedication to education in the club calf business and it's an honor to work with them.

So, as I'm fixing to head out the door again and go to Fort Worth, I'll share a few photos from Denver.

As I sign off, I'll share my favorite picture on the trip. I only took about 5 photos though. But here are two good friends and fellow ag technology buffs, Jeff Schroeder and Brad Hook, taking videos of each other in the yards.

Goudeau Farms

This week we are excited to launch a new web site for Goudeau Farms of Hungerford, Texas. The Goudeau's are a local farming and ranching family that happen to be relatives of ours, and also fellow members at the Abell Street Church of Christ in Wharton.

Their new web site features information on two of their agricultural enterprises...a hay operation and their horse operation.

Shay Goudeau, who's a tried and true barrel racer, (complete with the neon turquoise glitter shirt as shown on their web site), is an avid horse woman with a lifetime of experience in the horse and cattle business. Even today, she can be found horseback working cattle with her dad when she's not training horses. Actually, Shay feels that this gives her horses an advantage over others, because they are real actual working horses that have training on working cattle.

Michael runs the hay operation of Goudeau Farms which is a high quality custom hay operation that provides hay to local ranchers and Houston area livestock enthusiasts.

The Goudeaus have two very cute and very sweet daughters, Logan and Reagan. Both of these youngsters are up and coming barrel racers who love the outdoors and love agriculture.

Shay is currently featuring several very outstanding horses for sale on her web site, complete with videos.

So we invite you to visit http://www.goudeaufarms.com/ and take a look. If you know anyone who is looking for a good horse, give them a call.

Heading to Denver!

As I'm writing this blog, in just a few hours I'll be boarding on a plan and headed up to the mile high city for a quick trip to Denver and the beginning of our whirlwind 6 weeks of travel for RHD while we go to Denver, Ft. Worth, San Antonio, Houston, etc etc etc. 

I am absolutely ecstatic to get ready to go to Denver this year, for a couple of reasons! First, I'll be helping my good friend Jeff Schroeder at Cattle.com by doing Denver bull interviews again this year. I've been practicing up on my skills by watching Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America for the whole year, and hopefully will not be doing a silly laugh like I did last year as my mom so kindly pointed out. I can't wait to see all the bulls and talk to all the owners. I'm hoping this year I can actually manage to get an interview with Matt Lautner to hear about his new bull, since last year he turned me down!

Next, I can't wait to get to the big city and go to all those good restaurants, since I'm pretty much sick of my daily McDonalds and choices of food at Wharton, Texas. Since my birthday is just around the corner, I'm going to celebrate one night in Denver,and I've got it narrowed down to a few of my favorites.

Another thing I'm really excited about is seeing the Stock Show issue of The ShowTimes Magazine. Brian Reid has done a wonderful job with this new publication and it is always fun to read his articles and junior spotlights. I have an article in that issue coming out in Denver....actually it's a compilation of several mini-interviews, so I didn't do that much actual writing myself. But make sure to check that out.

And finally, of course, I can't wait to see all my friends and all the amazing cattle that will be at the National Western!!! I'm still a little miffed that my stock show buddy Ashley Hueber is going to be absent at Denver this year, but I guess I'll have to manage. I'll only be there for a few days, but I can hardly wait for that cold crisp air and a great couple of days in Denver.

So we'll be looking for all our friends, and be looking for me and Emily! We'd love to talk to you about a new project like a new web site or a print ad for this spring.

Farm Bureau Excellence in Agriculture

For the past 6 months of so, I have been highly involved with the Texas Farm Bureau through their Young Farmer and Rancher "Excellence in Agriculture" contest, which I was a state finalist for. I was encouraged to apply for this award through some friends in Texas Farm Bureau. The award is to recognize a young person in agriculture who is involved in production agriculture, but makes the majority of their income from an agricultural business. So I qualified for this award because I do have a herd of cattle, but my main source of income is through Ranch House Designs, Inc., an agricultural advertising agency.

So, after some encouragement, I completed the very ominous application, which ended up being about 20 pages, including several "thought-provoking essays" I had to complete. I was selected as our district winner, and naned one of the top 3 state finalists. As a finalist, I participated next in a face-to-face interview in October at the Texas Farm Bureau headquarters.

Then, over the next month, I got the opportunity to be part of a big publicity program through Texas Farm Bureau to spotlit the 3 Finalists in the Excellence in Ag Contest (myself, County Agent Whit Wheems, and Armstrong Ranch manager Cody Fry) as well as the 3 finalists in the Young Farmer and Rancher Contest. Farm Bureau came and visited Ranch House Designs and V8 Ranch, and spent a day with us filming video and takign pictures of our staff. It was kinda different being filmed on video, but in the end, the video turned out great!! ( You can see my video here!!!)

In December, me and fellow RHD staff member Emily Forgason attended the state Farm Bureau convention in Ft. Worth to find out who the lucky winner of the contest was going to be. I had an awesome time at this convention, even though I didn't end up winning the state contest. I wasn't really expecting to win though, because I knew Cody Fry was an excellent contestant with a lot of Farm Bureau experience and I figured he would win. And....he did!!! Cody and I were friends while we were both at Texas A&M and I was so happy for him.

And, even more exciting, another friend and fellow Aggie was selected as the state winner of the Young Farmer and Rancher Contest.....Courtney and Ernie, excuse me ERNEST, Bailes!! This family operates Repro Select, an ag-business, and they also have cattle. They are a great example of a young ranching family who loves agriculture and shows that you can be a huge success as long as you have work ethic...and a dream! Emily and I were super happy for the Bailes as they won a FREE PICKUP TRUCK! After they won, Courtney informed us that their current vehicle was in the shop, so the new truck would come in real handy!

So, if you're a young person involved in farming or ranching, take a look at the Texas Farm Bureau program for Young Farmers and Ranchers. This was an experience I will never forget.

My video is here: Excellence in Ag Video

Here are some snapshots from the trip!

Me and Texas Farm Bureau President Kenneth Dierschke’s. For being a state finalist I rec'd this DeWalt Cordless Power Tool, which I immediately gave to the V8 Showbarn for their use, and a pair of Justin boots.

Emily at the convention. We had to take this photo to proove to her teacher that she did, in fact, attend the convention.

A sample photo of our fun night in Cowtown! We went to the Stockyards, had dinner, and walked around and looked at all the shops. The Christmas decorations were awesome! Emily got so tired from walking that she saddled up on this Longhorn steer and rode around.

Here is another photo from the Stockyards. It's out of focus but the funny thing is we didn't know this little girl in the photo. We had stopped and asked a random person in the Stockyards to take our picture, and when she did, this little girl ran and got in the photo with us! ha ha

And finally here is me and the BIG winner, Ernest Bailes, who won the Young Farmer and Rancher Contest and won a free pickup truck.

January Blog Special

It's time for our montly blog special, where we offer 10% off a certain project of the month here at Ranch House Designs. This month is a BIG ONE! At the suggestion our good friend in real life and on facebook, Gretchen Dixon, we are going to offer 10% off a print ad!

Gretchen is a fellow rancher and cattlewoman and part of Dixon Ranches in Texas. They have awesome Brahman cattle and F-1 cattle and we always like visiting with her and her husband and cute kids at the stock shows.

So due to the nature of advance planning needed for print ads, it's a little tricky on how we'll do this one. All our January ads have been booked and submitted for the most part. So, we'll honor this coupon for any print ad that will appear in a January of February publication. How about that. Make sure to mention this when booking your print ad project to take advantage of this special!

And THANKS Gretchen for the good idea!

Planning for February

For most people in the livestock business, the months of January through March are a whirlwind of shows, sales, and industry conventions. For us at RHD, we'll be travelling nonstop through these months attending Denver, Ft. Worth, San Antonio, NCBA, TSCRA, Houston and more!

With that in mind, it's never too early to start planning on your ads for this spring. Actually, it's almost a requirement to start planning early. For example, camera ready ads for the February Showbox are due on January 18, which happens to be the same time that loyal cattle people will be in Denver for the club calf display and open shows, and some of us will also be in Fort Worth for the opening week of that show.

Same with the deadline for the Seedstock Edge, where camera ready ads are due that same day, January 18th. Most of us will be in Denver.

So what that means is we have to get them done before we go to Denver and Fort Worth! We've already started working on most all of our ads going in these magazines, or have them done already. But if you're a procrastinator like me, it's time to get your ad materials sent in, so you can mark that item off your to-do list and enjoy your time in Denver and Ft. Worth!

December Update Report

The update division recorded their fastest ever turnaround time for December 2009, with an average turnaround time on web updates of 1 hour with 213 updates in the month of December!!!!! Holy smokes that is F-A-S-T!!!

People always comment on how fast we do our updates, and usually they ask us how in the world is it possible for us to do as many web sites as we do and keep them all updated that fast. Updates is our priority. We have 3 staff members who work in updates and when things get busy everyone at RHD chips in and helps on updates.

Now of course, we don't make any claims to ALWAYS update that fast, but in general we make our best effort to get our client web sites updated as fast as possible, because we know that when you send in an update, you are excited to see it up.

So here is a list of winners for our December Web Site Updaters.
Supreme Champion Updater December 2009 - Beefmaster Breeders United
Reserve Supreme Champion - Texas Red Angus Association
3rd Overall - Stock Horse of Texas
4th Overall - Sears Marketing Service
5th Overall - American Brahman Breeders Association

Honorable Mentions:
Aegerter Marketing Service
Rincker Law
Elliott Cattle

Congratulations to these winners!

Gehrke Farms

We are very happy to introduce our newest web site design, Gehrke Farms of Illinois. We have been working with the folks at Gehrke Farms for just about a year now. Our first project for them was a sire services package in 2009 for their Ali son, TK. Then this summer, we designed their print ads for their Open House Sale. Now, we are happy to publish their new web site for this very nice family-owned and operated farm.
The Gehrke's focus on high quality, functional ChiAngus and Chi influenced cattle. They are located in central Illinois and have some of the finest cattle you'll find anywhere in the nation. Our favorite bull of their sire line up is Army of One, who was raised by another RHD client, Bill Elliot.

We invite you to stop by http://www.gehrkefarms.com/ and check out their lineup of Chi cattle and check out their winners from Louisville this year and their calves for sale.

Tuell Cattle

Check our newest web site designed for Tuell Cattle of Eckley, Colorado. Eckley is located in the sand hills of the Northeastern part of Colorado. Tuell Cattle has been an established since 1935. When this company started their primary business was feeding cattle, but over the last several years they expanded into offering breeding stock. They have always sought out phenotypically and genetically superior “hybrid” cattle that can outperform the industry averages both in the feedlot and on the rail.

Tuell's desire is to help make cow/calf producers across the country more profitable by building relationships based on honesty, integrity and friendship. Tuell focuses on the SimAngus breed which they think offer the most proven genetics that will work at all levels of the production chain as well as being high quality performance cattle. The key areas in Tuell's cattle are having a moderate frame, easy fleshing and being structurally sound with a good disposition and calving ease.

Tuell offers SimAngus genetics throughout the year, but will often offer elite show steers and heifers. One of their leading herd sires is the popular high selling bull of spring 2009, 3C Upgrade, pictured here.

We hope you visit http://www.tuellcattle.com/ to learn more about them and to see another one of RHD's awesome designs!

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.....