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R.A. Brown Ranch
Dear Friends,
R A Brown, my great-great grandfather put our family in the seedstock business with Angus bulls, horses, and mules at Calvert, TX, back in the 1800’s
At the end of the cattle drive era, my great grandfather, R H Brown, served ranch families throughout his lifetime as the managing partner of a commission company
in the Fort Worth Stockyards. In 1903 he bought our original headquarters near Throckmorton and brought the first Hereford cattle and our family to Throckmorton
County
R A Brown Sr , my grandfather, was in his early 20’s when his father passed away So he came home from Texas A&M College to run the ranch where he would
invest the rest of his life raising and selling registered Hereford bulls and Quarter Horses He risked all he had to survive the drought of the 50’s, but he kept the ranch
in the family and the family in the ranch
R.A. “Rob” Brown Jr., my dad, was the first Brown to graduate from college. While at Texas Tech he learned the advantages of crossbreeding and the benefits of
hybrid vigor to more efficiently produce better beef. Dad worked under my grandfather for seven years before he convinced him to step out of his comfort zone,
break tradition and raise something other than the most popular breed of that era Dad was 29 years old when he unexpectedly lost his father to a massive heart attack
During their last two weeks together they found more common ground as they made long term plans for the future of the ranch Most importantly, Dad received his
father’s blessing to go and be progressive
Dad has always been a true visionary and he has been the most progressive cattleman I know. I was five years old when he changed from our traditional Private
Treaty Bull Sale and instead hosted our First Annual Production Sale. We have worked together as a family at every one of our sales over the years and we are
looking forward to this one with great anticipation
Mom and Dad have encouraged each of us to go and be progressive and to use our God given gifts and abilities as we pursue our dreams and raise our families They
provided an opportunity for each of us to come back to the ranch, but it was not a “birth-right,” it was a “work-right” Coming back we had to expand the family
business in order to make enough room to feed another family There are four of us children in the 5th generation of Browns: Betsy, Rob A , Marianne and myself
We are all blessed with wonderful spouses and families of our own We all came back and worked for the ranch and made joint ventures with Mom and Dad to grow
the business as we diversified more into farming, stocker cattle, commercial feedlots, more commercial cows, hunting/wildlife enterprises and more.
Dad has dedicated his entire life to working on this ranch and has never drawn a paycheck But he still comes out to the ranch daily to check on everything and make
sure we are doing things right I turned 44 this year and I count it such a blessing to have been able to work side by side with my parents and siblings for the past 20
years I must admit it was quite a shock when Dad told us that he & Mom had decided it was time to divide up the ranch They said while they were enjoying good
health, they wanted to see what we could do with it We cherish this opportunity and are thankful from an estate planning perspective that we have been able to divide
the ranch while keeping peace and love in the family Mom and Dad have given each of us their blessing to go and be progressive
That leads us to this dispersal and the question that so many have asked. Why disperse Rob and Peggy’s life work of building such an amazing set of registered
breeding cattle? Betsy and Jody, Rob A & Talley, Marianne and Todd have always raised commercial cattle That is what they enjoy, they are really good at it and
they plan to continue raising commercial cattle on their part of the ranch So we decided it would be best for Mom and Dad’s Legacy to have the dispersal sale
and share the fruits of their labor with our lifelong friends and neighbors in this industry Kelli and I share Dad’s passion for raising superior registered bulls for
commercial cattlemen So the family decided to let Kelli and I gather embryos from the best females in this herd and put them into commercial recipients in order to
continue the genetic lines that have been in our family for over 100 years We have just about the right number of pregnant recipients to stock our part of the ranch
This is a complete and total dispersal of all registered females from the R A Brown Ranch and from Kelli and I’s partnership with the ranch known as Brown Family
Genetics But this is not the end of the book, just the beginning of a new chapter The family gave Kelli and I their blessing to carry on the R A Brown Ranch name
and brand So we plan to host the 40th Annual R A Brown Ranch Bull Sale the 2nd Wednesday in October 2014, and continue this wonderful family tradition of
providing the best genetics and service we can to you our customers
Different than any other dispersal that I have ever seen, our family has chosen to back all of these cattle with our traditional guarantees We are planning this dispersal
to be a special event that you don’t want to miss We personally invite you to be here as our honored guest and we hope you can come This is truly an opportunity of
a lifetime so please make plans to come and celebrate with us You will be glad you did
Sincerely,
Donnell Brown
The Legacy
