Circle D Cattle

If you want to meet a fun-loving family that's having a great time in the cattle business, then check out Circle D Energy and Cattle Company at http://www.circledcattle.com/.

Circle D is located in southern Ohio and is owned by Pat, Loretta, Caitlin & Colton Decker.


One quick look at the Circle D web site and you'll see that the Decker's are hooked on Hereford cattle and are a family that works together and has a lot of fun in their breed.

The Decker's made a family goal to have a cattle operation when they were young adults, and began their farming operation in 1995. Their children's interest in cattle has been a springboard to creating an excellent herd of Hereford cattle. Their goal is to produce high quality problem free cattle that will make money for our customers.
So as you're surfing around on the Internet, check out http://www.circledcattle.com/ and see the great photos and great Herefords owned by some wonderful people in the cattle business!

Sam Scher Showpigs

Our newest web site is for Sam Scher Show Pigs, which is owned by Sam and Autumn Scher of Huntington, Indiana. The Scher's are a great family-owned showpig operation. They have been in business for 11 years, raising all breeds of showpigs including Crossbreds, Landraces, Durocs, Spots, Hampshire, Yorkshires, and Poland Chinas.

The Scher's will be busy this spring with showpig sales. Their barns open March 15th and they'll be offering 42 litters of all breeds.

Visit http://www.samschershowpigs.com/ to check it out!

White Oak Farm

2As I have mentioned earlier on this blog, I have a real attraction to Hereford cattle, and seeing the ones at the new White Oak Farm web site isn't helping any!

We recently designed a new web site for White Oak Farm, a registered Angus and Hereford cow-calf operation in southern Indiana. For this project, we designed a web site and a new logo for the Hamilton Family, owners of White Oak.

The Hunter family consists of Mike and Vicki and their son Hunter, who does most of the showing. Hunter has had a great deal of success over the past year in both Angus and Hereford shows. In fact, his Hereford show heifer, Karlie, was a class winner at Louisville and also reserve division champion this year. This female was raised by another RHD client, Showtime Cattle. Hunter also earned the "Hereford Show Bull of The Year Northeastern Region" award this year in Kansas City.

The ladies in the RHD web division did a great job on this site and logo, and I hope you will check it out at http://www.whiteoakfarm.com/. And if you are looking for some Hereford or Angus cattle in the Southern Indiana regtion, give the Hamilton's a call!

Knox Club Calves

The RHD web division has been cranking out the new web sites, and we are so happy to introduce our latest creation - Knox Club Calves of Tarzan, Texas. Knox Club Calves produces top quality Hereford, Polled Hereford and crossbred steers. The crossbreds are Charolais Crosses and Black Crosses, bloodlines from Kris Black of Crawford, Oklahoma.

Pictured here is their 2009 Reserve Champion Hereford Steer at Houston, raised by Knox Club Calves and shown by Shannon O'Leary.

The Knox Family has a tremendous history of success in the Hereford cattle business, dating back to the 1940s. Formerly known as Knox Herefords, the Knox family has produced winners at all Texas major stock shows, as well as state and county shows, for over 33 years.

Knox Club Calves holds a silent auction every March to market their fall show steers. This year's sale will be held March 27, 2010.

Owner Tee Knox, showed steers while growing up in the 1940's. He exhibited the 1944 Reserve Grand Champion Steer (dry lot) at the Sand Hills Hereford Show with a ranch-raised steer from his grandmother. Tee's daughter, Kathy (now Kathy Buchholz of GKB Cattle), also showed steers and exhibited the 1974 Reserve Grand Champion Steer with a steer raised on the Knox Ranch.

The tradition continues and Knox Club Calves have produced many breed champions and reserve breed champions at Fort Worth, El Paso, San Antonio, Houston, and many county shows, right up through the 2009 show season.

Personally, I was able to meet Tee Knox many many summers ago when our family stopped over at their ranch as a lay-over on our way to the Texas Jr. Shorthorn Association Preview Show in Amarillo. This was the furthest part of west Texas we'd ever been too, and was a real eye-opener for us. Another fun fact about the Knox Family is that some of their top showmen in the 1990s were Katie Jo and Samatha Yates, some fellow west Texans.  Katie is married to Rusy Day and they operate Day Show Cattle. Samantha is an excellent photographer based out of the Lubbock area. Her e-mail is samantha.d.yates@ttu.edu and she does great work!

I invite you to check out http://knoxclubcalves.com/ and if you are looking for some really nice Herefords, mark your calendars for their sale on March 27, 2010.

Brandon Show Cattle

We are happy to present another new web site designed this week at RHD -- Brandon Show Cattle of Porter, Texas. For this project, we completed a new logo, set of business cards, and a new web site for the Brandon Family.

We have been fans of the Brandon family for about 6 years now, because their daughters Michele and Jessica both showed Limousin cattle from Kinsel Ranch, another RHD client. So we've been posting pictures of the Brandon girls online for years and years. Check out the Kinsel site's Buckles and Banners page for some old school pics of the Brandon girls showing their championship Limousin heifers!

Carl and Kim Brandon decided to branch out into different breeds so that they could raise cattle that wouldn't have to compete with their daughters in the showring. So they added Herefords, Polled Herefords, Maine, AOB, ABC, Chi, Red Angus, and Angus. Whew, that's a long list of breeds!!!

The Brandon's have built their breeding philosophy around raising, selecting, and selling championship caliber cattle for the show ring at reasonable prices. The calves they sell can be halter broke, clipped, and ready to show.

So I invite you to check out http://brandonshowcattle.com/ and check out our recent designs and the Brandon's cattle!

Top Updater of 2009 Award

Drumroll please, I am happy to announce our most frequent breeder web site updater of 2009 for Ranch House Designs......Matt Lautner Cattle.

As our loyal blog readers know, each month we post the winners of our most frequent web site update contest. At RHD we have a huge commitment to providing fast and timely web updates, and this contest is our fun way of encourating our clients to keep their web site updated as often as possible.

In order to win this award, Matt completed 55 web site updates in 2009, which is at least weekly updates, and sometimes more. It's no suprise that Matt's site is one of the most visited and most popular cattle web sites on the web.

So, instead of mailing Matt his award for being the top updater of the year, we saved it until Denver where we could make a personal presentation. This award was created by Sandy Meyer of Classic Leather Designs, who is also a RHD client and who commented that next year she was going to be gunning for this award herself! If you look closely, see if you can guess who the animal featured in this award is. The first person to comment and correctly identify the animal will get a free RHD cap.

Here are the photos from the presentation, I love this first one, where I am showing Matt the award. I love the look on his face, and my face too. I think he likes the award, don't you! Then, the next photo is our official photo!

And for all of our RHD clients, the 2010 contest has just started! So keep YOUR web sites updated, send in those requests to updates@ranchhousedesigns.com and then next year, maybe we'll be presenting this trophy to YOU!!!

Ready for NCBA Convention

We'll be honest. We look for any reason to get ourselves over to San Antonio, Texas, and especially the Riverwalk. So naturally, anytime the NCBA Convention comes down to Texas, we sign up right away! ESPECIALLY if the headquarter hotel involves the Marriott River Center.

So in just a few days, we'll be packing up and heading to the Alamo City to spend a few days with many of our clients and fellow beef producers at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Cattle Industry Convention.

I will be representing RHD at the convention on January 28 and 29, and helping with the NCBA Judging Contest on Friday.

Personally, I can't wait to get to the convention to buddy up with my Texas A&M University partners in crime, Cassie Schulte, Tara Hoescher, and Dr. Kim McCuistion. Of course, we'll be eating at Casa Rio, and strolling down the riverwalk.

We are really excited about seeing a lot of our beef industry clients at this event, so if you'll be there, drop us an e-mail so we'll know to be keeping an eye out for you. We'll be taking lots of snapshots for the blog. And if you are a blog reader who has been thinking of doing business with RHD, look for us at the convention. We'd love to hang out and talk business!

Attention College Students & Job Seekers!

It seems that over the course of our professional career, somehow several of us at RHD have become our friends "go to person" when it's time for proofreading, writing letters of recommendation, looking over scholarship applications, and help with resumes and such.

We have developed a new package service for this, which is perfect for recent college graduates looking for their first job or college students who are trying to find that perfect internship. Our resume consultation service is a $150 package that includes the following:

-1 hour of resume consultation. Send us your resume in Word and we'll proofread it for you, help you improve the writing, and help you with the resume layout as far as fonts and spacing and consistency to make sure your resume is sharp, crisp and professional. We'll help you choose action words and write accurate descriptions of your past experiences to make you stand out.

-1 hour of cover letter consultation, if needed. We'll do the same thing as we do with your resume and help you perfect your cover letter. We'll check grammar, spelling, wording, and make sure that the letter is in correct form and style.

-250 business cards, custom designed, printed, and shipped to you - A business card is a must, especially with all of the upcoming stock shows and conventions. When you're talking to a potential employer, obviously you don't want to just tear off a sheet of paper and write your phone number on the back of it. A professional business card sets you apart and shows people that you are serious about your future employment.

Now a word of caution to any of you college slackers --- we aren't going to completley write your resume or cover letter for you....you have to give us something to go by! But, if you're stuck, and just really don't know where to even begin, we can help you with that too, it'll just be included in your 1 hour of consultation.

So whenever you're ready to begin, let us know. You have to give us a little advance notice, like emailing us at midnight the day before your internship application is due isn't going to work...but do a little advance planning we'll do everything we can to help your have all the tools necessary to land that job or internship!

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!!!