Our Team

Main Team

Forages

Marketing and Sales

Building the Infrastructure

Organics and Soil Fertility

Herd Health

Livestock Handling

The Rosses

Friends and Family

Our Main Team

Kathryn Ross

John St Pe

James Ross Builta

James Ross (J.R.) has transitioned from part time to full time with the Ross Farm. He and his wife, Kim, head up the family's "Compost Tea Texas, LLC", a full service soil biology and product company. His number is 512-567-2024.

Having made outstanding contributions along his life journey as a coach and teacher, and part time farmer, JR has an overall understanding of all farm endeavors. If you can't reach Betsy, give him a call.

Kim Builta, JR's wife, lends us a hand, also, when she is not in her CPA job in Austin or working on the new compost tea company. Lizzie and Kaci, Betsy's granddaughers are often around too. Lizzie is the leader of all 'river tubing' outings. Kaci manages the cotton seed pile in an artful fashion.

Marketing and Sales

Jennifer Luersen

Many of you work closely with Jennifer, who heads up our Marketing and Sales Team for Betsy Ross Grass-fed/Grass-finished Beef. She came on board with a love for our prize meat and now is full time. She can be reached at 512-636-2388.

Jennifer's family is often with her here at the farm. Fine and talented boys - Heston and Reagan are enjoyable to be around. Kevin, Jennifer's husband, cuts our hay, builds our barns and when Betsy gets in a bind and needs someone to help, Kevin always trys to get here. What a wonderful family. Just the kind we love having here at the farm.

Taking the meat business seriously, Jennifer attended A&M's short course Beef 101. We appreciate Jennifer everyday, we are proud of her, and we say "Bravo, Jennifer."

For a complete price list, both by the individual cut and quarter, half, and whole purchases, give Jennifer a call or email her.

Forages

Kent Mills

He has been our most consistent consultant and has become such a good friend. Coming down from Snyder Texas about every 5-6 weeks, he takes forage samples and makes grazing (nutritional) recommendations. He has helped Betsy understand the ends and outs of ruminant animals. If it looks like we will be short of forages, Kent helps with plan B. You can reach him at kmills@bigcountry.net.

Once Kent receives the forage analysis from the Cornell lab he custom mixes our minerals/salt to eliminate any deficiencies shown on the report. It's a very important part of our program. Thanks, Kent.

Allen Henning

Allen Henning hales from Wisconsin country. A Fulbright Scholar studying grazing systems in New Zealand, Allen was our very first consultant to come to the farm. He taught Betsy how to quantify the amount of forage available and plan how to get the animals at the right spot at the right time. Good stuff!

Johnny Cates

The first time Johnny Cates came to the farm, he got his walking stick out and said lets go see everything. As we were walking through the bermudas he stopped and said "What a shame! Even a goat wouldn't eat this!" We were shocked. He explained. In East Texas they keep the bermudas vegatative by never allowing them to get higher than 3-6", depending upon the variety. We were waiting until the grass got 6-8" tall - way past its 'good eating' stage. Johnny helped us to see we wanted to keep that stuff short, short, short which would create a dense turf covering; drive the roots deeper to help during these droughts, and be a high nutritional value. Thank heavens for Johnny Cates and his lessons.

There is lots of research on this notion, but most people don't do it. This allows the grazing herd to come back to these paddocks every 6-15 days in the summer time.

R.L. and Pat Dalrymple

What a treat we had when Pat and R.L. came to the farm. We were trying to get our grasses started and a year round grazing plan going. We are still working on that year round grazing plan, but R.L. taught and encouraged us to keep learning about 'what works down here at this farm.' And really, that 'figure out what works at your farm' is probably the most important thing one can do. You see, all this forage, soil biology, fertilization, animal selection is different everywhere. No 'cookie cutter' for what we are doing.

So give R.L. and/or Pat a call and order some of that Red River Crabgrass or other top grazing seeds. They know their stuff! 1-800-858-7333

Dalton Merz

Dalton is one of those wonderfully dedicated rangeland management specialist for the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service. Our areas seem to be blessed with several of these highly knowledgable people.

Early on Dalton was stationed at Sonora, Texas and the Rosses have been pleased to call him friend every since. When we started running the farm, Dalton was just down the road and has guided us with forage and variety selection. He helped us get started with the eastern gamma grass as well as the switchgrass. This last year he nominated Joe David and Betsy for a state forage award. We appreciate his interest and involvment in the farm. We are always pleased to see him drive up.

Bryan Parker

Bryan is an agronomist who bought Antone Seed business from Mr. Priddy in Lockhart, Texas. Losing someone like Mr. Priddy who has so much knowledge of forages in the blacklands is a real loss. But there was Bryan, a treasure of new ideas and energy. We are very pleased with a new variety of rye grass called "Blizzard Rye" Bryan suggested we try. Also, some white clover Bryan brought up from Dr. Openpaxs work at the Beeville Experiment station looks good at this point. Haven't seen enough of a variety called 'Jester clover" yet to judge whether or not it fits with our grazing program. Thanks, Bryan, for coming to the farm and helping us. You can reach him at 830-779-9987 if you need some seed. Parker Seed Company. PO Box 1028, Vernia, TX 78121

Walt Davis

Walt, a noted grazing and resource management consultant from Oklahoma, came to the farm in 1998 and encouraged us in our rotational grazing plan. In a walking field day, he looked at every pasture we had! Then he instructed us in the principles behind rotational grazing - simulating the old buffalo herds - of grazing a pasture, then letting it rest. Plant succession was also discussed. We learned so much from Walt, and, our efforts were encouraged by Walt. It always helps to have someone of his stature tell you that you are heading down the 'right' path. Thanks, Walt! He can be reached at: 405 - 847-2384 or Rt. 2, Box 147; Bennington, Oklahoma 74723.

Building the Infrastructure

Clayton Brosig

Clayton is an extraordinary man! He designed and then built most of the infrastruture on the Ross Farm. With over 100 paddocks, 3 major walkways, rebuilt corrals, electrical fences, planting the improved grasses, Clayton started it all down here. He can do anything! Just tell him what you want and he will figure that out plus the part you haven't even thought of. For years he was at the Ross Ranch in Sonora. Since we consider him part of the family, we hope he considers us part of his family.

When Clayton returned to run some of his dad's ranches near Paint Rock, he and his wife, Bonnie, started a seed operation and have developed a thriving operation. He loves the w.b.dahl bluestem, which is extremely drought resistant. Check out his web site at: www.Pasturegrasses.com or call them: 915-869-8083.

Kevin and Wallace Luersen

Kevin is another one of those rare peole who can design and then build anything! Barn repairs, barns constructed, water lines installed, pump houses made, septic systems installed, he can do it all! Whether it is cutting our hay, picking pecans, retro-fitting Betsy's tea barn, he does a fine job. His first love is pecans and during pecan picking season he just isn't available. Kevin lost his dad Wallace two years ago. We miss him.

Ted Kallus

King of the underground water lines, this man Ted Kallus can lay those lines down in a hurry! He also gets here fast to fix any water problems. Several times Betsy has accidentally run over the top of one of the water risers. That can take a bit of digging to repair. We enjoy Ted and Mary, their son Patrick and wife Kerrie as friends.

Herd Health

John Holmstrom, DVM of Hutto Vet Clinic

Another patient, great teacher! Betsy had a lot to learn about the livestock business - like being able to tell when an animal is sick - before its real sick, when to try to pull a calf or call John. Sometimes he has had to explain doctoring stuff to her several times (or three or four). No way would our team be complete without you, John. Gosh, we are glad you're here for us. 512-759-1048 in Hutto, Texas at the Hutto Vet Clinic.

Organics and Soil Fertility

Leroy and Bonnie Sladek - Olde Tyme Gardens

Kathryn and Betsy went by the Olde Tyme gardens in Taylor one afternoon in the spring of 2001. It just took a few minutes to realize that Bonnie and Leroy were passionate about organically growing plants, trees and vegetables. Betsy had been exposed to the world of organics years ago but didn't think much about it. But with forage production declining, she was searching for some new insight into plant phyisology. They gave us a real nudge into the soil biology we are so intent to learn. Educators and inspirers the Sladeks are. We value their friendship, encouragement and ideas. You should go by soon. It's a grand world. (and you can pick up some of Betsy Ross's Grass-fed Beef there, too.)512-352-7673.

John Ed Brothers

Joe Daivd met up with John Ed one day in Stevenville while looking at some dairy replacement heifers. Since we were new to this farming scene, it seemed a good idea to have some advise from a soil man. John Ed came down often and sampled our soil - made fertilization recommendations. We have a lot of respect for this man! Thanks, John Ed.

Livestock and Livestock Handling

Joel Ham

We are very quiet when we work with out animals, whether moving them from another paddock or working, sorting them in the pens ("corrals" some people say). In the Bud Williams and Dr. Burt Smith style, its just a matter of getting ourselves into the right place at the right time in relation to the animals. Joel, of Big Lake, Texas, came to the farm and gave us all lessons. We didn't get as good as he is in those 4 days, but we got the drift (principles) under our western belts and we have been practicing every since. Sure has given Betsy lots of confidence in working with the animals. Works every time. Amazing how easy it is to train new arriving animals to the method. Thanks, Joel.

Ruben Woods and Butch Donley - real cowboys!

What would we do without Ruben(Cameron area) and Butch (Rockdale/Milano area)? They always go that extra mile for us. We enjoy having both of them on the farm. They handle the pen and chute work when we have a large group of animals to work on. We have a regular herd health program of yearly vaccination; 'marking'the male calves (the bull calves become steers - call your friendly vet if you need or want more understanding on this process); pregnancy testing the mama cows, weighing the various herds, etc. They are real cowboys! Gentlemen! Horsemen, ropers, cattlemen and best of all, friends and wonderful teachers.

Corky Eckert

Corky has been helping us sell our commercial herds via video. He is with Superior Livestock Sales and hails from Mason. We like selling via video as the animals never leave our farm until we agree to the bid price. That removes a lot of business risk as well as ensures the cattle aren't stressed before they are weighed. Incidentally Corky and his wife Jane are mighty fine tennis players.

Garland Westbrook

Butch and Ruben introduced us to Garland a few years ago. He raised good basic Angus herd bulls and was looking for a place to pasture them on some oats for the winter. We had some extra forage. Going into it we were fearful the bulls might get too rowdy and tear up our fence infrastructure, but we decided to give it a go. What fun we had those two years with those 'monkeys'. They reminded Betsy of her cub scout den, as they acted exactly like them.

Garland fell to cancer this past summer and we feel so grateful we were fortunate to have crossed his path and influence. He sang as "Billy Western", was a music promoter and a cowman. Garland encouraged us ever step of the way in developing our rotational grazing program. He and his wife Jeannie, would come over and share lots of observations about what we were doing. Taught Betsy a lot about livestock and growth of the animals. We miss him.

We have some friends and family that come out regularly and lend a hand with moving the cattle, weighing the cattle, pulling or chopping weeds, shredding grass on the tractor, driving fence posts, helping mark calves, checking their almanac to which days are good for what jobs, or what ever is needed. We are always delighted to see them and invite others to join their ranks. (they get all the grassfed beef they can eat - not bad situation). Here are some of them.

Cousins Carolyn and Sherwood Yancy

Myra Kerr

Lisa Dubicki-Schroder and Solomen

Billye Schwarz

Randy Howard and Denny Pickett- our resident artists

Randy and Denny have been reminding us every time we see them out here that we should stop and really look at the beauty of the land. How easy it is to work so hard that we forget to look around us with new eyes. Thank you, Randy and Denny.