More Junior Nationals Highlights: A memorable All American

You may remember that a few weeks ago, we posted a blog on two of our clients that had great success at their junior nationals this summer. Well, I was talking about the features with one of my friends from college. He said, “what is the point in the junior associations?” I immediately reacted with hostility, narrowed eyes, and fast talking. But I think all I really should have done was let him read this post. Unlike my last blog on the winning juniors, I let the exhibitors tell their story. Because, really, no one knows the story like they do.

Both are from the All American Brahman Show. Our first young lady purchased her heifer from V8 Ranch. Our second purchased her champions from, once again, V8 as well as Heritage Cattle Company.

Kelli Lucas. Champion Grey Brahman Female 2011 ‘All American’

“I am the fifteen year old daughter of Reggie and Carmie Lucas. We live in Deville, LA and I will be a sophomore at Buckeye High School this year. I am a straight- A student and a member of the National Beta Club. I attended my first livestock show when I was 2 weeks old to cheer on my brother and sister while they were showing catle. Obviously, I’ve been around cattle all of my life. I’ve shown Beefmaster cattle and marker steers since I was 9 and Brahmans since I was 11. Recently, I started showing market lambs. My life revolves around my animals and I love every minute of it! When I get older, I would like to attend LSU to become a Pediatrician or Oncologist
.
I got my heifer from V8 Ranch in Boling, Texas. Her sire is JDH Avery Manso 159/7 and her dam is Miss V8491/6. She was born on March 28, 2009, so that makes her a little over 2 years old. Her name is Miss V8 174/7, but we call her Birdie.

I love the cattle at V8 Ranch, but I love the people even more! They are always so welcoming. Mr. Jim knows his cattle and can answer any questions we have in the drop of a hat. Most importantly, he tells the truth about them. I want people to be honest with me, and Mr. Jim is. This is why I love him! I plan on continuing to go to V8 to buy cattle to build up quality in me herd of Brahmans. With this said, their cattle are obviously great!

Amie Ferguson. Champion Showman, Champion Grey Brahman Bull, and Champion Red Brahman Female 2011 ‘All American’

“I am the 17 year old daughter of Robert and Malinda Ferguson of Roanoke, Louisiana. I am going to be a senior at Notre Dame Catholic High School, which is located in Crowley, Louisiana. I not only show Brahman cattle, but I also rodeo. My events include barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying, and cutting. I have repeatedly qualified on the state level in these events, beginning with my 8th grade year. Last year, 2010, I qualified in Girls Cutting for National High School Rodeo Finals, which was held in Gillette, Wyoming.

I always loved cattle and couldn’t wait until I could be of age to show. One of my first shows was the open show at Houston. I showed at the early age of 5. We entered our own cow/calf pair and ended up winning a class. I was so excited about that show. I remember hauling the trophy up and down the aisles of the barn with a big smile. I couldn’t wait to show in the junior shows, so I entered every pee wee showmanship around. I also entered open shows whenever possible. We met a lot of people at these shows. One day, my dad visited with Mr. Judd Cullers of Heritage Cattle Company. He mentioned to Mr. Judd that I wanted a red Brahman heifer. Mr. Judd mentioned that he had some, so we planned a trip to Hungerford, Texas to visit his ranch. We ended up buying Lady H Armi 836. This cow became a part of me. Mr. Judd stressed the importance of working daily with my heifer and that is exactly what I did. Every day, I practiced showing and setting Armi and all of a sudden, I started doing better in showmanship. Then finally at my state LJBA show, Armi and I did it. We won showmanship. Not only was I excited, but so were Mr Judd and the entire Cullers family. I had many more trips to get great calves that came from Heritage Cattle Company. On one of my trips, I spotted this awesome looking red heifer, which to this day, still amazes me. I am referring to Lady H Elizabeth Rojo 50/9, aka “Lizzie”. Lizzie has won many division championships, including Houston, but the biggest win for me with her is the 2011 All American Red Heifer Champion. I am very grateful that the Cullers family was there to share that great moment with me.

Another ranch that we visited for my show calves is V8 Ranch in Boling, Texas. The Williams family has a tremendous amount of respect in the Brahman business. Dad was interested in buying a gray bull, so we decided to go to V8 Ranch to look. I never was a fan of showing bulls, so dad knew I would be very selective on one. We spotted Mr.V8 918/6, also known as “Blue”. I loved him. I started realizing at home while I worked with him that he may be showmanship material. I decided at my 2010 district show to try him in showmanship. Mom was not sure about my decision, because he was a bull. When I made my first round into the showring, he started to act up, but I was able to control him. We ended up winning showmanship, which also awarded a scholarship. We also won the gray bull show and went on to win the state supreme championship. Although these wins were big for me, my dream was to win the “All American” showmanship, and in 2011 at Fort Smith, Arkansas, my dream came true. I remember, as I was grooming Blue’s tail, how nice it would be to win. And sure enough, we did. Mr. Jim Williams described me and Blue as being picture perfect.

As I mentioned earlier, my dream was to win showmanship at the All American. After I won the Red Heifer and Gray bull show, I was speechless. What a show!! Truly this All American is one that I will remember always. Great thanks go to the Cullers family of Heritage Cattle Company and the Williams family of V8 Ranch. Without these great breeders, I would not have had such a memorable show.”

As you can see from the two ladies we have featured, junior associations play an intricate role in developing young leaders, creating friendly connections between exhibitors, making dreams reality and truly molding the future of our industry. To my friend who made the comment stated at the beginning of this post, THAT is the point.

To view more of these winning genetics, visit www.v8ranch.com and www.heritagecattle.com

Text us to receive e-mail updates.

We are excited to announce a new way for our friends to get e-mail updates from us.

Text RHD to 22828 and we'll be glad to add you to our list.

Time to start thinking e-mail blasts!

If you've visited the RHD home page lately, you'll notice the list just keeps on growing for upcoming sales. As RHD Rep Ashley Middleswarth said, though it doesn't feel like it, fall sale season is just around the corner. Maybe we'll get some cooler weather soon!

E-mail blasts are a must for any cattle producers with a sale this fall. Our e-mail blast list includes over 15,000 contacts who have voluntarily signed up for our services asking for information from RHD. And this list keeps growing every day. We take a great amount of pride in the professional way we offer e-mail blasts through RHD, including:

• We limit what can and cannot be sent out on our e-mail list. We realize how annoying constant spam can be, and that is why we only distribute e-mail blasts that are relevant and pertinent to our subscribers interests.
• We guard our list very carefully, and only allow our RHD customers to use it. As you all know customer loyalty and customer appreciation is #1 to us. Well I guess maybe 1A and 1B because Service is also #1. The only people that we allow to use our e-mail blast database are our own customers. Meaning, only the people we do a web site for or a print ad for. Some joe blow off the street can't call us up and get to use our list.  We feel this is just one of the many perks of being a RHD client.
• We carefully tailor what e-mail blasts go to who. Clearly we wouldn't send an email blast about a cattle sale to someone who's a pig breeder, or vice versa. This just goes back to our responsible list management and targetting.

We have also integrated social media coverage as a standard part of our e-mail blasts. We will tweet your email blast to all of our twitter followers and also post your blast on our facebook page, which currently has over 3,000 fans.

So, if you're an RHD client, and you want to take advantage of our highly successful e-mail blast service, give us a call at 979-532-9141 or e-mail rachel@ranchhousedesigns.com. If you're one of our many clients that we are already designing your sale advertising for....you can also take advantage of our bundling services to receive discounts on print+web+email blast work.

Too TALL to Kick Off?

The past few weeks have been nothing short of amazing. I (Joelynn) am finally back in the office and feel like I’m getting the hang of things, but more importantly, have had the chance to travel to amazing places and events, meet some of our industry’s leaders, and hear from extremely influential people in their given field. I have 100% been enlightened and look at our industry from a totally different perspective. Look for that blog post coming soon ;)

One of the events I had a chance to attend was the TALL dinner in East Bernard, Texas on July 27^th. For those of you who do not know what TALL is, it’s an organization for Texas Agriculture Lifetime Leaders. A group, or class, of 26 people from across the state of Texas is chosen to travel to different ag industry sights from Amarillo to the gulf. It is a bit challenging to explain, but essentially, it is some of Texas’s finest agriculture leaders learning more about the industry through first hand experiences in each field. The group had just left J.D. Hudgins before coming to the dinner. The following night, they each got to ride in a police car in Houston city. Like I said, it covers everything. Pretty cool!

What was so neat was to hear what each of the class members did within the industry. From dairy to wine to fisheries, each had their own view of agriculture and what was important. It was most definitely one of those nights I would like to relive from a different perspective… maybe a classmate perspective?

The following week brought the Bluebonnet Kick Off Classic Brahman Show in Brenham, Texas. Wow! What an event! I love cattle shows, there is no denying that. But Brahman shows are becoming my favorite. Humor is easy to find around the barns, but so is the care and sportsmanship that is easily noticed in the show ring.

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the ring, be sure to pick up a copy of the Fall Brahman Review to see some of the really cool shots Stacey Shanks got too!

Though I may still be a little tired from my travels, I am so excited to get working on new stories and clients that were picked up over the past two weeks. Congrats to the TALL Class of 2011-2012 and to everyone who exhibited at Kick Off!

What's in a Name?

This past week, at the Bluebonnet Kickoff Classic show, I was visiting with Sandy Osbourn (formerly Husfeld) and got to meet her beautiful little baby, Ruby, who is named after her grandmother.During this conversation, Suzanne Lindley informed Sandy and I of how important it was to name your child with a respectable - preferably Christian name - becase after all, you never hear of a lawyer named Shaniqua. (We both got a chuckle out of that lovely advice!)

Also recently the show cattle world the little angel Charlie Tusa into their family of friends, who is named after Charlie Wilson. Then most everyone knows that my little Mollie is named after my own grandmother, Mollie Williams, who was actually named after Mollie Hudgins, wife of J.D. Hudgins.

So I thought, this was a fitting time to also share a little bit about how I got MY own name, Rachel Ann.

If you look in this month's Texas Monthly (August issue), page 96, you'll be in the middle of their cover story called "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowgirls." A wonderful article depicting the importance of women in the Texas ranching industry. The author quotes Dale Evans as saying "'Cowgirl is an attitude. A pioneer spirit, a special American brand of courage. The cowgirl faces life head on, lives by her own lights, and makes no excuses."

Though I consider myself more of a cattlewoman, and not cowgirl, I loved the article and I know a whole heck of a lot of women who depict that fiery cowgirl attitude, though they probably never have rode a horse.

Rachel Ann Hudgins, my namesake

So, on page 96, about in the middle of the page, there is a few sentences that describe a pioneer woman that is very special to me.....Rachel Ann Northington Hudgins. The great lady I was named after. The story says:

"At one time, fifty of the Texas ranches in operation by the same family for more than one hundred years had been founded by women. Rachel Ann Northington Hudgins, for example, was the founding mother of five ranches in Wharton County. She purchased her first land in 1882, nine years after her husband died."

The ranch they are referring to is J.D. Hudgins, Inc. Rachel and her four sons established the ranch, and her son, Josiah Dawson (J.D.) took over the business after Rachel's husband Joel died in 1873. Rachel Hudgins was a small framed woman with a spirit as big as Texas, as they say.

My great uncle, James Forgason, always inspires me as he tells me stories about this great Texas lady. Nearly every Sunday morning after church, he gives me a hug and and always, every single time, he says...'Oh, you would make that little lady you were named after so proud!"

I know there is no way I could ever live up to that namesake, but it's true, knowing I'm named after someone so great gives me something to aspire to. It makes me feel like it is my responsibility to make that name proud. I bet that's how little Charlie Tusa is going to feel as well, when he hears all the stories of what a wonderful young man Charlie Wilson was. And hopefully, that is the same feeling I will be able to help give my daughter, Mollie, who's named after one of the greatest ladies I know.

So what's in a name? Oh it's hard to say, but, as Mrs. Lindley said...I bet I wouldn't be the hard working, Brahman cattle loving woman I am today if my parents had named me Shaniqua.

The RHD Team

I'd like to take a moment to brag on our wonderful team here at RHD! I thought it would be nice to put more faces with our names, so you know who you're working with here at RHD.

I (Rachel, blonde in this picture) am the sole owner and founder of RHD, and have been since 1999. Our design division includes me, Stacey, and Liz. Stacey is pictured on the left. She's has two sons, is originally from Louisiana, and is also a great photographer. Liz started here as a student worker in 2008 and handles most of our catalog projects and is the editor of The Brahman Review. She recently got engaged and is getting married in 2012. We do all of the original designs on every project - both print and web. Every new project is going to come through one of us....or possibly Christa. 

Christa is wearing the red necklace in this picture. She joined RHD in 2008 as a member of our updates team. She then moved up to web division manager, and in the past few months, she has also started working on design projects too. Christa has a 1-year old daughter, Kinleigh, and her husband Jason is an ag teacher. She has a B.S. in animal science from Texas A&M.

The other members of our web division are Carole and Jessica. Carole is the red head. She has two beautiful daughters and married her high school sweetheart, Tim. Carole is a great cook, and is probably one of the sweetest people I have ever met! Jessica, the blondest of everyone in our office, just took on a full time job here too, after working here for 4 years. She loves to shop, makes everyone laugh, and continually brightens our days with her crazy stories and cute outfits.

Then we also have 2 project managers, Tricia and Joelynn. Tricia is pictured here, with the turquoise necklace. She and her husband Lance have 4 children. Tricia is quite possibly the coolest person I know. She has a B.S. in ag journalism from A&M, and she loves anything and everything Aggie. She also writes for our local newspaper. She loves running, and has done several races and half-marathons. Most everyone who works with us is going to be in contact with Tricia in some way or another since most all new projects go through her. She (and Rachel) also give all of our project quotes and estimates.  

Our newest staff member is Joelynn Donough. Joelynn is a Pennsylvania native who grew up showing Shorthorns, Maines and sheep. She graduated from Texas A&M with a B.S. in ag communications too. She is a great writer and a great photographer! If you have noticed, she's been posting quite a few blogs lately. She was a member of the A&M livestock judging team and is ready for the fall where she's judging several shows and showmanships here in Texas.  

Then finally, we also have Stacey Forgason, who technically 'retired' from RHD in May, but still helps us on several freelance projects. She is a great contact for invitations and projects with The Brahman Review. Many of you still e-mail her for advice on invitations or about Brahman Review subscriptions, and even though she's not in our office, she always still helps everyone out, or forwards your emails to the appropriate person. :)

And, don't forget, we also have a STELLAR set of talented folks throughout the nation who represent us as RHD reps. This team is able to give information and pricing on all of our services.

Now that you've met our team here at RHD, I ask that you take a minute and look through your contacts for us. If you have any other people listed as a contact for RHD other than the ones listed here, please remove them from your address books.  If you have recently received a quote from someone you now realize is not part of our RHD team, please let us know so we can make sure you have accurate pricing from one of our representatives.

LIVE! From the 'BCSC'

Howdy! From College Station, Texas; home of the 12^th man, the Chicken and the Beef Cattle Short Course. This year marked the 57^th annual ‘BCSC’ and let me tell you, it has been better than ever.

In a nut shell, the BCSC is a three day cattlemen’s paradise with sessions catering to anything imaginable pertaining to the industry, a trade show stocked with the latest and greatest ‘new’ things for beef cattle, and some amazing food.

While walking through the trade show, I was extremely excited to see some RHD design work! Our clients like R.A. Brown, Broken Triangle, Texas Red Angus Association, and the ABBA had informational booths on display amongst the over 150 vendors. It was also great to run into several of our clients who were attending the conference. Two of our clients - Donnell Brown and Bob Hudgins were speakers. We also work with Dr. Ron Gill on his web sites and it was great to see him.

I really enjoyed Bob Hudgins speech on the utilizing the global marketplace. On a side note, I’ve always been a bit of a traveler… but after listening to Mr. Hudgins session, I realized I need to do a whole lot more with my life and travel much further away from home than just California.

However, my favorite part of the BCSC thus far has to be listening to the famous Dr. Temple Grandin speak about animal handling. If anyone hasn’t seen her HBO documentary, I strongly suggest renting it, just to see the amazing feats this woman has accomplished. The movie depicts Temple to a ‘t’… even her attitude. After telling a photographer on multiple occasions to stop picturing since it distracted her (no, it was NOT me!!!), she made the whole house laugh and left us speechless as she finished with a standing ovation.

Tomorrow marks the final day of the 57^th annual BCSC. With that said, I can almost collect my notes and thoughts and start working on stories for the upcoming Brahman Review. I do know for sure that readers can expect a change of pace and mindset for a few of these stories… but I also can promise the same entertainment and level of ‘yankee’ as always before J

The politically correct way to copy ads

About 10 years ago, I learned a very valuable lesson regarding ad design from my dad, that has stuck with me throughout my career....which is, there is a right way to copy something, and a wrong way to copy something.

We raise Brahman and Shorthorn cattle. There was a Shorthorn bull at the time named "Tomcat", I think he was owned by the McFarlands possibly. There was the coolest ad on this bull in the Shorthorn Country and it had a headline of "Every barn needs a good Tomcat."

We all thought that was just the catchiest headline and such a neat name for a bull. We wanted to use it too. So here is what my dad did. HE CALLED THE BULL OWNER. He asked the man if he would mind if we named one of our Brahman bulls Tomcat, and if he would mind if we used the exact same headline, because it was so good.

The Shorthorn bull owner said sure, no problem. He was actually flattered we thought it was so cool. So we named our bull Tomcat, and used that headline. What that lesson taught me, amongst the many other life lessons I've learned from my dad, is that there is a RIGHT way to copy someone, and a WRONG way.

People copying our work is nothing new. It's happened to us for 10 years. We work hard to come up with creative concepts that are really cool for our clients, so it's no suprise that people want to copy them. And with the readily available backgrounds, fonts, and stock photos on the internet, just about anyone can copy someone else's work.

If you see an ad you like, or a headline you like, call the person who ran it. I would put money on the fact that if you call the person who ran the ad you like and say "I really like that ad you had, would you mind if we used that same background?" "Or, I love that headline, can I use it on my ad this spring?" ...that of course these people would readily say sure, no problem.

People in agriculture like helping each other out. Especially if they are in a different breed or different species where totally different people see the ads. It's just the fact of when you copy someone else's work behind someone's back, and try to claim a concept as your own, that's pretty downright sorry.

Among the many things that make RHD different - and better - is that we're the original. Who wants to be a knock off? What client wants to know that their ad was actually someone else's ad 6 months ago that a designer copied? We constantly look for new design ideas, new fonts, original backgrounds, creative and powerful headlines, and layouts that are different. Because that's what we are: DIFFERENT. 

Showbox Fall Sires Issue

In Texas, our cows get bred in the fall. This simple but very true statement makes a huge impact on any club calf bull owner's marketing plan. If you're trying to sell semen in the southern market, the best place to advertise in the fall sires issue is The Showbox. The Showbox is the #1 magazine in the south for marketing fall calves and those who raise them.

Do you have a bull you think would be great for Texas producers? If so, let us help you with your fall sires ad. The Showbox ads will be due August 15th to that magazine. We're ready to help you, let's get to work. Call us at 979-532-9141 or email rachel@ranchhousedesigns.com for sire advertising.

If you'd like to place an ad in the fall issue of The Showbox, call 936-544-2787.

Movin' Up the Career Ladder

Who knew back in May 2007 (over 4 years ago) that when little Jessica Hobbs joined our staff as a recent high school graduate that she would become such a HUGE part of RHD!

We are excited to announce today that Jessica has accepted a promotion here at RHD to join our staff as a full time member of our web division.

Over the past 4 years, Jessica has done just about anything and everything here at RHD. She started out working as our student worker in our old, old office (the very first one with the lime green sherbert walls). After about a year she moved up to a web site updater. She has steadily expanded her knowledge of web design, HTML and CSS through the years and is now one of our advanced web designers. Recently, she has taken the responsibility of being one of our online shopping cart specialists where she works with customers to set up their e-commerce stores.

Anyone who's done a web site with us has probably had the pleasure of working with this lively, lovely, fun loving member of our team at some point or another. She is a fanatic at web site updates, but she has a great personality that makes working with her a joy.

So congratulations to Jessica on your recent promotion!!! We're proud of you and excited for your career success!