I have been very blessed in life. There have been very few days that I didn’t get up and do what I enjoyed, and I was at work when I walked out my door. As I write this I got to thinking that I have always been employed in ranching or the livestock business. My work ranged from hauling hay and cleaning stalls to the manger and then the owner and everything in between.
I graduated from Kansas State University—this was because of my mother. She made me promise that I would get a degree and then I could go be a cowboy. She was very concerned someday I would do something stupid and at least I could make a living with my mind. Two good thing about having a degree is it gives you entry in getting jobs, and you can’t lose it in hard times.
My life growing up was blessed with some great people and characters. Some of these people were very good to me and some were very tough. But I learned from all of them.
The ag crisis of the 80s was hard on me. To financially survive I resorted to custom haying. With that I had great conflict, because it doesn’t bother me to roll in cow manure, but I hate to get one drop hydraulic fluid on me. So you see I had a great conflict.
In the mid-80s I was blessed to get a job on the Kelley Ranch at Vinita, Oklahoma. In my opinion this is one of the best ranches in the world, and I had the best ranch job that has ever been. The owners of the ranch were business people and the ranch was run as a business. While working on the ranch, my emphasis changed from the animals to the land. By increasing the production from the land and harvesting it with the animals at a profit was job one.
One of the big benefits of working on the Kelley ranch was that we had a continuing education budget. With these education opportunities, knowledge was gained and through this continuing education is where I came to know Bud and Eunice Williams. We first started out with the Stockmanship and then moved to Bud’s marketing. Marketing is a very powerful tool that can make a great unfair advantage for somebody that will use it. It has been a life-changing experience for me.
For the last eight years I have had the privilege to lease the Kelley Ranch. I was able to put Bud’s Marketing to work and learn how to implement it. I am now retired and willing to help people learn what Bud & Eunice were so kind to help me learn.