JR Ranch = Johnson & Reardon
We started our program in May 2000, with the plan to
just have a few cows and a bull that looked pretty. We saw an add in the
local paper of a blue roan bull, from a Longhorn Breeder in Waco Texas...shortly there after we purchased the bull along with three more calves.
After a short time we realized that this was not a cost effective way to
raise cattle and made the decision to get serious about the longhorn
business, we needed to learn more start setting some goals. From that
point on we read and asked questions of other Longhorn Breeders of what to look for and how to market our cattle within the budget of a small 35 acre rancher...the
learning never ends! Realizing we needed a better bull and some
quality cows we culled our first bull and two of the three heifers. In Sept 2001, we purchased our first noteworthy herd sire “Westward Cool” from Bob and Linda Moore at the “Best of West Sale”. Within a year, we purchased our second bull “ T-X Dustable”, from Roger & Jacqueline Garlitz also at the “Best of West Sale”. Due to our small acreage it was difficult to run two bulls on separate pastures so we sold Westward Cool to a commercial cattle rancher who wanted a gentle but aggressive breeder that would not cost him money on calves across the scales.
We are now moving onto our 4th bull OL Highstakes a Rockstar / Country
Dimples son. We feel that we must keep moving forward in order to improve.
Our first goal was reached when we started selling show quality heifers over
the current market value. Our next goal was to have a World Champion
show animal; that goal was reached in 2008 with JR Boomer our World Grand
Champion Trophy Steer. We currently run about 15 head of cattle on our
ranch from various breeders with known pedigrees and we still show our
animals when we can.
We love raising Longhorns!