I have spent my entire life on the ranch, whether in Louisiana or where I currently call home in Madisonville, TX.  I competed as a bull rider and bareback rider for 13 years.  About 15 years ago I decided to get into the stock contracting aspect of the industry.  I began buying bulls from various sale barns and bucking them to locate the extraordinary bulls.  Shortly thereafter I began breeding my own animals. I have been active in the PRCA for the past 13 years and originally bred to bulls such as Red Wasp, Diamond Dandy, and Sting Ray, which were all NFR qualifiers. I expanded my herd to include animals that were rodeo bred and currently purchase high-profile females as well as producing our own replacement heifers.  Currently we have approximately 290 head in the feed lot that we will bring back to the ranch for the 2007 breeding season. 

Our motto is Breed to Buck. Our breeding program is designed to create buckers, as is the goal for most rough stock producers.  We have designed our breeding program to exemplify excellent pedigrees. The next step of our program begins with the development of our calves.  When our calves are born, we look for athleticism, structural soundness, with a general overall balance in mind.  Having an eye for calves that pertain to structure, allows us to determine how he will mature as his weight increases.  The eventual product that we identify in young calves allows us to better predict how he will athletically maneuver in his maturity.  In addition to soundness we look for a keen, crisp eye, alertness and overall disposition.  We actually score our calves on their disposition which has been an important aspect in our breeding success.  This score is obtained approximately three weeks after the calves have been weaned. This allows these young athletes to adjust to the change that occurs after weaning and their scores reflect the temperament without the influence of its mother.

We are very active in the embryo transplant function of reproduction.  We have taken our program beyond the conventional embryo transfer method and are currently utilizing IVF, in-vitro fertilization.  Contrary to the conventional embryo flushing which is done from the primary donor, in the IVF process, ovacytes are aspirated, placed in Petri dishes in the lab and fertilized with semen.  One straw of semen may be used to fertilize as many as 18 donors’ ovacytes.  Within the past 90 days we have successfully collected embryos from three major aspirations with semen from Reindeer Dippin’, Oscar Velvet, and White Sports Coat.  We have witnessed great results from this undertaking and look forward to the upcoming calves.  Taking advantage of this reproductive technology has better enabled us to select  the genetics we desire and maximize the genetic resources (i.e. the eggs and semen) we are working with.