Taylor Show Cattle: Iowa

Taylor Show Cattle, Bloomfield, Iowa, is one of our newest sites. We are happy to assist this great couple in promoting their cattle breeding, fitting and marketing operation.

The operation, started in 2000, focuses on high quality Simmental, Maine and Angus cross cattle. That allows them to market to all types of operations from purebred seedstock to promotional bulls.

They attend all national shows and offer cattle that are the total package, with a huge presence at the annual Iowa State Fair each August.

Taylor Show Cattle focuses on the maternal side of the business. With that in mind, they are able to create females that will go into donor pens across the nation and that it their difference.

They offer winners via private treaty, off the farm, year round. And, they love to work with people striving to get into the winners circle and into the photo backdrop.

This group is never more than a phone call away for their current and future customers. You can call Randy, 641-208-6653, anytime to purchase cattle, talk marketing tools and get a jump start on your genetic package.

Visit their new site, www.taylorshowcattle.com, live now from us.

Thoughts from the only male team member here at RHD...

As most people know, RHD is primarily made up of women, with the exception of our "one in a million" team member Matt Sweeney, who is our developer.

Today, to celebrate wrapping up a great 1st quarter 2013, Rachel got everyone a Longchamp bag / purse. We were first introduced to these by Joelynn Rathmann who is our resident (well former resident) fashionista.

So, the purses were the tipping point for Matt's feeling of being surrounded by females here at RHD, which pushed him to do what all fun graphic designers do --- make a graphic!!

According to Matt, working at RHD really makes men feel under-appreciated :)

According to Matt, here are just a few of the reasons why :)

• Tanning strategies, manicures, hair stylists, and even bra sizes are discussed routinely at staff meetings here at RHD.
• Shopping conversations are a daily, maybe even hourly conversation topic here in the office
• It's not uncommon for people to take off during the day to get highlights or a manicute / pedicure
• Bath & Body Works or Victorias Secret are our go-to gift of choice for any office birthday / holiday
• For Easter, Halle (our newest team member) gave everyone a custom made pen with a flower on the top....of which 4 people were using in today's staff meeting
• Channing Tatum pictures randomly show up as our computer backgrounds or taped to people's desks. (Especially on birthdays)

Instead, Matt says...It is too much to ask for a "Man Cave Day" or gift certificates to Bass Pro Shop...or to discuss cool things like ammo, handgun preferences, XBoxes, or plasma TVs at a staff meeting?

So, here's what Matt came up with, as his visual of what a day in the life at RHD really is like :)

Spring Photo Fun Contest

I don't know about our friends up north but here in Texas, spring is in the air! We had such a blast with our Fall on the Farm photo contest that we are hosting another Spring Photo Fun contest to share and celebrate the beauty of life out in the country, on the ranch, or in the barn.

So are you a photographer? Here's how you get in on the fun....

1. Email your photo to rachel@ranchhousedesigns.com between the dates of now and March 17, 2013.
2. The photos will be posted on our facebook page during the week of March 18-22 and the photo with the greatest number of likes will be chosen as the fan favorite winner.

The winner will receive a float wrap print of their winning photo. If you don't know what a float wrap is, it's like this....it's a print that kinda sticks out from the wall.

Now we should say, if you do happen to win, you will have to provide us with a high res photo of your entry to print it on the float wrap. So like an instagram photo won't be high enough resolution. But don't worry, if you do win, and you don't have a high res picture, we'll find something else cool for you to get.

We loved seeing the fall photos, and we can't wait for spring! So go ahead and email those photos in to rachel@ranchhousedesigns.com and let's get started on the fun!


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Official Rules To Join the Fun....

• By sending us the photo you grant release to RHD and Facebook to post your photo on the RHD facebook page.
• This game is in no way sponsored, endorsed, or administered by, or associated with Facebook. It's just something fun we're doing at RHD. 
• Winners will be selected by a panel of judges here at RHD along with input from fans. The winner is not selected on how many likes they get. 
• The winner will be notified by email if they are selected.

Do you bleed purple?

RHD To Host Livestock Advertising & Photography Workshop

RHD TO HOST LIVESTOCK ADVERTISING AND PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP

Ranch House Designs, Inc. will host a two-day livestock marketing workshop on April 19-20 in Wharton, Texas. The workshop features a complete guide to livestock advertising including the importance of livestock marketing, determining an advertising budget, different tools available for the livestock producer, advertising design, email marketing, web design, social media, and much more. The group will also host an optional hands-on livestock photography workshop on April 20, where participants will photograph actual livestock at V8 Ranch followed by a hands-on classroom session about image management, ethical photography retouching, processing videos for use on YouTube and the requirements for pictures and videos in use on websites.

This comprehensive workshop will feature speakers Rachel Cutrer and Stacey Shanks, of RHD, along with keynote speaker Carlos Guerra of LaMuneca Cattle Company and guest video instructors Wade Fischer and Joelynn Rathmann of Ideal Video Productions.

Registration is now open at www.ranchhousedesigns.com. Adult workshop registration is $150 and student registration is $100. There is an additional fee of $100 to participate in the optional on-farm livestock photography workshop at V8 Ranch. 

Denver Photo A Day Challenge

Join us for a fun way of showcasing what's going on at Denver this year! Post your pics on Instagram and tag @ranchhousedesigns and #rhdphotoaday. Post your photos from ANY of the categories on ANY day. Each day we will choose one favorite photo to win an RHD prize. Prizes will vary each day but will be t-shirts, caps, RHD hoodies, inspirational metal art and more. Then, after Denver, we will post each of our daily winners on our Facebook page and our fans will choose our "Best in Show" Denver photo. That winner will receive a free ticket to our April Livestock Marketing Workshop!

Kohlhaas Cattle Co., Iowa

We are excited to feature one of our recent cattle website designs, Kohlhaas Cattle Co. of Lu Verne, Iowa.

The Kohlhaas family came to us earlier in 2012 because they really liked the work we had done for lots of other Iowa club calf producers, and also the website we had just done for Cyclone Trace.

And, no surprise, when we got the design instructions for KCC, guess what their design preference was....Red and Gold, Iowa State colors.

We love working with customers of all backgrounds, but family farms are always special to us. Kohlhaas Cattle Company is a 3-generation family cattle and grain farm. Their business began in 1989, when they bought their first club calf for a 4-H project at the Kossuth County Fair.

Like many others in the business, once they had that first calf, they were hooked. The Kohlhaas's said that that first calf ignited a passion within their entire family and motivated them to work harder each year to grow their success in the show cattle industry.

I guess if you had to say what is the most unique thing about this family, it would be their niche in market heifers. They are pretty much the experts on market heifers. In fact, they have exhibited FOUR grand champion market heifers at the Iowa State Fair and also two reserve grand champion market heifers at the Iowa State Fair. So yeah, they are the people that when you see them in your class, you are silently bummed because you know they'll be so hard to beat!

Since that first calf in 1989, more than 20 years ago, KCC has developed a respected program with proven consistency in the show ring. They use their experiences from what they learned while showing all those champions to help their clients.

This really was an awesome group to work with -- and I hope you will check them out at http://kohlhaascattleco.com.

And yeah, if you are in the market for a market heifer -- you know where to go!

LivestockJudges.org

Are you a show manager? Or a livestock judge? If so, we invite you to check out a new website we have been working on - www.livestockjudges.org. This is a new site that is sort of like a match.com for shows and judges.

If you are a show manager, this is a great tool for finding judges in your area, or finding some new judges that maybe you have not used before.

If you are a judge, this is another great tool to get your name and qualifications out there, and possibly connect with new shows too.

We are proud to be one of the collaborators on this site, and we hope you will check it out!

Louisville 2012 Recap

Well we just returned from Louisville for my favorite show of the fall. And as always, we came home with lots of new stories and good memories from the show. 

Here's a few things I learned at the show....
If you have a phone number listed on your livestock trailer or stall signs, be sure to include your cell phone #. We had a friend who had a heifer get their head stuck in the fence. Someone tried to call the # listed on their sign but it was a home # and they couldn't get ahold of the people to let them know.

The Cardinal Grill is not NEAR as crowded on Sunday night, and if you get there around 6 you can avoid the wait!

The shuttle at the Hilton Garden Inn is great.

The Cinnamon Toast french toast at Cracker Barrel is SOOOO worth the calories!

The hallways of Freedom Hall is THE place to see and be seen. Forget the main aisle ha ha! We loved chatting and visiting with everyone at the show.

The Showtimes Magazine and The Showbox Magazines were clearly stepping it up even more than what they already do it that is even possible. They were there handing out magazines like crazy, handing out caps, goodies, give-a-ways, etc. Everywhere you turned you could see these two magazines and people looking at them.

Why is it that the barn is 30 degrees colder than the showring? It makes it so hard to decide whether to bring a jacket or leave it at the stalls.

And the newest observation of the year from Louisville....

This year's gate people are R-U-D-E!!!!! They turned me and Emily around after we walked all the way from the hotel to the gate because we hadn't got our passes yet. So to avoid the $12 per head fee to get in the gate, we, of course, devised a backup plan to get in which SUCCEEDED. I still don't understand why certain gate people at livestock shows think that just because they are an hourly paid rent-a-cop that they have this super authority to turn people away or let them in. Really, we're here all the way from Texas, we're clearly cattle people, we're SUPPOSED to be inside that gate.

Best of the Barns 2012

Voting is now underway for Best of the Barns 2012 - The awards program that rewards the best of the best in the livestock business!

To cast your vote, go to www.bestofthebarns.com and get started.

This year we have over 40 categories ranging from best online show broadcast team to best semen sales firm and much much more. And our biggest question is the very last question....which you'll have to complete the survey to see!

And new for this year....the Best of the Barns Hall of Fame. Including new categories for Sire of the Year for the club calf category and showpig category, best cattle fitter, livestock friend of the year and more!

After completing the survey you'll also get a special code to use in the RHD store.

Thanks again and go to www.bestofthebarns.com to vote!