help customers in areas needing that factor.
1981—
Betsy Brown Bellah & her husband
Jody come home to the ranch to manage
the accounting, the commercial cow herd
and expand the wheat farming division
of the family business to 5,000 acres to
be used in developing the growing bulls
and replacement heifers from weaning to
yearling.
1987 —
Red Angus was added to the
program with the purchase of Roy Beeby’s
entire crop of Replacement heifers. An
airplane load of Senepol cattle were
imported from the Virgin Islands to be
used in a planned crossbreeding program
to bring heat tolerance and hybrid vigor
without Brahman influence. Added benefits
were better dispositions, quality grade and
tenderness.
1988 —
The entire Greenway Angus
herd (400 cows) was purchased under the
advisement of Dr. Bob Long who had been
consulting for them to build the Dynamo
based herd. Big cows were in demand and
after bringing the cows to Texas the 100
daughters of Pine Drive Big Sky were sold
which almost paid for the entire herd.
1989—
The composite Hotlander™ herd
was started under the advisement of
Dr. Keith Gregory at the Meat Animal
Research Center (MARC) & Dr. Ronnie
Green at Texas Tech. Angus (red & black),
Simmental, Brahman and Senepol were
blended to create the ultimate hybrid for
hot environments.
1990 —
Rob A. Brown with his wife
Talley, in partnership with Rob & Jody
Bellah bought an interest in a commercial
feedyard where feedlot and carcass data
was gathered in testing of the ranch’s top
sires.
1993 —
R A Brown Ranch honored as the
Seedstock Producer of the Year by the Beef
Improvement Federation. Donnell & Kelli
Brown graduate from college
and come back to the ranch
to help manage the seedstock
business.
1995 —
Rob Brown serves as
President of American Quarter
Horse Association. Marianne
Brown McCartney and her
husband Todd return to the ranch
to manage one of the seedstock
cow herds.
1997
—
The
Ranchers
Renaisance (RR) alliance was
born and became one of the most successful
alliances throughout the next decade. RR
started with a meeting at the ranch when
Rob & Donnell unveiled their vision to a
group of people invited from all segments
of the beef industry.
1997 —
Cooperator Herd program started
in order to fill the growing demand for
more bulls. The Brown Gardiner Angus
partnership was formed to add a franchise
herd of Gardiner Angus Genetics. That
same year a trade was made with Jim
Leachman for our pick of 17 females
from his Elite Nucleus Red Angus herd in
exchange for his pick of 17 head from our
Quarter Horse mares and foals.
1998 —
An intensive Embryo Transfer
program was started to help multiply the
superior RAB genetics.
1998-2000 —
All cows on the ranch were
dry-lotted and fed all winter, due to severe
drought conditions.
1999 —
R. A. Brown Ranch is one of nine
ranches to be named NCBACattle Business
of the Century and later that year, Rob was
honored as the nation’s top rancher with
the Golden Spur Award.
2000 —
75% of the ranch was unusable
because of drought drying up drinking
water supplies.
2001 —
Just before the drought breaks, R.
A. Brown Ranch has a mature cow herd
dispersal of their Angus and Red Angus
cow herds. Embryos were implanted
in commercial cows to rebuild the elite
nucleus herd. The new AI and Bull
Development Center was also constructed.
2006 —
Bull sale cancelled. Over 500 bulls
were sent to slaughter. All of the registered
Angus cow herd was sold to Three Trees
Ranch in GA. Bred heifers, weaned heifers
and embryos were kept to rebuild the
Angus herd.
2007 —
Rob Brown honored with the
Beef Improvement Federation’s Pioneer
Breeder Award.
2008-2010 —
Kelli Brown elected to
serve as the National President for the Red
Angus Association of America.
July 5, 2009 —
Casey Zboril was hired
to take the reins as Ranch Foreman,
continuing the heritage of managing over
1000 seedstock cows at the RAB.
Summer, 2011 —
Due to severe drought
conditions, some of the registered cows
were shipped to lease country in Montana.
October 10, 2012 —
Brown JYJ
Redemption Y1334 sells for $140,000 at
the R.A. Brown Ranch 38th Annual Bull,
Female, & Quarter Horse Sale.
June 2013 —
Travis Moore was hired
to take the reins as Ranch Foreman, and
subsequently becoming the second RAB
intern to return to that position.
October 9-11, 2013
— The R.A. Brown
Ranch Legacy Sale, The Complete &
Total Dispersal, and 39th Annual Bull Sale
held at the historic, R.A. Brown Ranch
with over 1400 head of registered females
offered.
December 1, 2013
— Rob & Peggy
conclude a lifetime in the ranching
business and effectively manage through
a generational transfer to all four children.
Betsy & Jody Bellah, Rob A and Talley
Brown, Marianne and Todd McCartney,
and Donnell and Kelli Brown. Through
love and desire to see the next generation
succeed, they kept the ranch in the family
and the FAMILY IN THE RANCH.
October 8, 2014
— Customer
Appreciation Commercial Heifer Sale is
added to the sale day offering representing
R.A. Brown Ranch genetics at work in the
real world.
October 13-14, 2015 - The 41st Annual
R.A. Brown Ranch Bull & Female Sale
at the ranch, near Throckmorton, TX.
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