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All in a Day's Work |
September 2012 |
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Ranch Manager's Report
by Bob Kilmer
By the calendar, summer is winding down at the Matador. The season began with
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the promise of rain but faded into dry and hot. Unlike the dry summer in '11, June blessed us with about 3 inches of rain with more scattered rains in July and August of about another 3 inches.
Despite the low rainfall and the high temps (105 to 112), the weather is enough different from last summer that it hasn't had the same detrimental effect on our wildlife. We are seeing bobwhite hens with chicks, turkey hens with poults and whitetail and mule deer doe with fawns. Last year we didn't see any of these, which translates into our optimism.
We are still short of grass and water is tight, but it is going to rain. We just don't know when.
Facing an unexpected hot and dry summer, our team decided to ship our calves straight off the cow in May-June. We were very pleased and surprised at the shipping weights. Our steers averaged 603 pounds weight and the heifers 562 pounds weight--about 40 pounds better than expected. We also decided to put our bulls back out due to concerns about how well our fall cows had bred. This turned out to be a wise decision because we believe our conception rates would have been down 15-20%.
I am not saying we always make the right decision, but as I think back to our spring meetings with our camp managers, it is clear that our applying Koch's Market-Based Management framework and Guiding Principles is paying dividends. The team made the best decisions under the current conditions as a result of shared knowledge, challenge, change and humility.
In mentioning change, two of our longtime Matador team members--J.D. Russell and Gilbert Guerrero--have relocated to The Matador Cattle Company's Spring Creek Ranch in the Flint Hills of Kansas. They will head up the full blood Akaushi breeding program that will be based from Kansas.
It seems we are going full circle.
Fred Koch started a full blood Hereford cattle operation at Spring Creek in the early 1950s. While there have been full blood cattle over the past six decades, this change in our breeding program is a reflection of his entrepreneurial spirit and his legacy.
On one hand we hate to see them go, but we see these moves as MBM at work. We seek the best talent and knowledge and train people to take on additional responsibility. I am proud of these two men for their dedication and ability and wish them the very best.
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Hunting Report 2012-2013 Season
The Matador Ranch hunting team is very excited about the upcoming hunting seasons . The moisture that we received back in the winter months really helped this spring. We had a nice growth of forbs that helped the wildlife.
The deer are really looking good. We have seen several young quail, turkey and fawns this year. The guys are in full swing planting the winter food plots, filling feeders and cleaning blinds.
"This year has the potential to be one of the best whitetail years we have seen in a long time, said ranch consultant Bobby Buntyn, a wildlife biologist from San Angelo, after completing the annual wildlife flight survey recently. He also said that the prolific forb growth following the rain we have received along with the age class of the deer are factors in this observation.
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Matador Ranch Sponsors U.S. Open Sporting Clays Championship in Le Seuer, MN
Proud sponsor of the U.S. International Competition team.
The Matador Ranch was proud to support Team USA during the recent US Open  Sporting Clays Championship in Le Seuer, MN. The Matador donated hunts that were auctioned at the event. Proceeds helped finance Team USA's expenses for the world competition in England, where the team was very successful. Matador was proud to help Team USA compete at this international competion fully funded for the first time ever. Judy Morris, team manager, was able to raise over $44,000 from all sponsors and other sources combined. "We congratulate Team USA on a fantastic performance in England!" said Randy Lair, President of Matador Cattle Company. The ranch was a platinum sponsor at the Le Seuer event, which attracted about 1,000 competitors to the Caribou Gun Club. |
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| Cordero at the Ranch
Chef Frank Cordero trained ranch staff and participants in the first cooking school hosted at the lodge last month by the Matador Ranch.
Besides learning to cook exciting new recipes and to use professional culinary techniques, each student participated in training to become certified in the new "Texas Friendly Hospitality Program," which was taught by Nancy Cordero with the Go Texan! program.
Chef Cordero will be making guest appearances at the lodge during the upcoming hunting season. See Frank's recipe below for a lodge favorite--Gulf Coast Cocktail.
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EHS Award
 | | EHS Excellence Award presentation (L-R) Charles Koch, Bob Kilmer, J.D Russell, Tim Washington, Randy Lair and Dave Robertson. |
Matador Ranch earned an Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Excellence Award during the annual Koch Industries EHS Excellence Conference recently in Atllanta,GA.
The ranch was recognized for the team's efforts in developing and implementing a new water conservation program that benefits both livestock production and wildlife habitat preservation . These efforts are a result of following Koch's Market-Based Management (MBM) Guiding Principle Six, "seek and use the best knowledge."
"I'm still praying for rain every day," said General Manager Bob Kilmer, "but I feel a lot better about our ability to work with what little water we have."
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Battle in the Saddle
Tim Washington, riding MCC Double Heaven, scored 417.00 during the AQHA Battle in the Saddle competition in Oklahoma City recently, earning a ranking of 8th place.
Called Seven by Washington, Double Heaven is Matador Ranch born and bred. The 2006 gray gelding is by Seven from Heaven and out of Claire's Double by Josephs Gold.
Seven is in the Russellville camp string of work horses, and Washington shows the gelding in Ranch Horse Association of America competition.
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Ranch Continues to Endure Drought Conditions 
Even though things are a bit better than 2011, conditions continue to be hot and dry for the first half of 2012 when compared to the same period in prior years at the Matador Ranch. |
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Russell and Guerrero Earn Promotion, Move to Kansas
J.D. Russell has been name manager of the full-blood Akaushi breeding program to be located at Spring Creek Ranch in Eureka, Kansas. Gilbert Guerrero will be assistant manager of the operation.
The focus of the Spring Creek project will be to develop and maintain a full-blood herd of Akaushi cattle. Bulls from the herd will be utilized at both the Matador Ranch and Beverhead Ranch in Dillon, Montana, to produce F1 Akaushi. |
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Ranch Installs Sporting Clay Range
A five-station sporting clay range was installed earlier this month on the lodge property.
Soon to be certified by Team USA, the range was designed by Randy Voss of Le Sueur, MN.
Contact Les Woolsey at 806.347.2645 for more information on scheduling events on the range.
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 | | Russell Lundberg (L) and Slim Dubrock outside the old Red Lake bunkhouse. |
An Excerpt from
Life on the Matador
by Russell Lundberg
I spent my early teens on a ranch in Nebraska. As I grew older, like a lot of young guys, I got the urge to ramble. I wanted to see some of the big ranches in Texas that I had read about. A buddy of mine and I came in to Dickens, Texas, in 1937. We inquired about ranch work and were told by an old fellow there that the Matadors would be our best bet. We set out for the Matador headquarters and hit M.M. Reilly up for a job. He was ranch manager at that time. My buddy, Slim Dubrock, was sent to Croton Line Camp south of Matador about 45 miles. I was sent to Red Lake Camp about five miles northeast of Afton. Joe Thornton was boss at Red Lake Camp, and he was a fine old boy. He and Mrs. Thornton had been there several years before I came. They probably were there in the early 1930s. Joe had worked for the Spur outfit before coming to Red Lake. The Thorntons were very hard-working people. They were very faithful to the Matador Company. They were as conservative with the supplies that the company furnished as if they had been paying for them themselves. Joe made a trip to the headquarter's commissary at Matador once a month for supplies such as staple groceries and minor household supplies. This was on payday the first day of each month. Sometimes, if we weren't too busy at the camp, I rode along with Joe in his old model A coupe. Once in a while Mrs. Thornton would go along and do some other shopping. All the camp bosses came to the commissary on payday. They visited and exchanged camp news. Other supplies such as our meat came right off the range. We butchered a beef when we needed meat. We always picked out a good fat calf for camp meat, and although it wasn't grain fed, the meat was tender and had a real good flavor. We had a screened-in meat house for curing and storing the meat.
Mrs. Thornton raised chickens for eggs and fried chicken. Joe kept bees, and the honey from those bees on Mrs. Thornton's biscuits was good eating. Mrs. Thornton had a garden and did lots of canning for winter. We milked one of the gentle ranch cows, and Mrs. Thornton made butter. She cooked everything from "scratch."
My wages at that time were $30 a month plus room and board. That was still depression times and that dollar a day had to stretch a long way. I managed to buy a few riding gear supplies and even a new saddle while I was there in addition to my clothes. I also had an old Pontiac sedan to keep going.
Our living facilities at the camp were quite simple. There was the camp house and the bunkhouse where I lived. They both had fireplaces which were our only sources of heat other than the wood-burning range in the kitchen.
We cut wood from the ranch for fuel. Our water supply was a cistern which was supplied by rain water from a gutter around the camp roof.
We were at the end of a road about five miles from our nearest farming neighbors so we didn't see traffic going by. Visitors were especially welcome at our isolated camp. Our mailbox was about six miles from camp so we didn't go for the mail every day. With no newspaper we were late getting some of the news. The Thornton's did have a battery operated radio, but we didn't turn it on for very long at a time because of wearing out the batteries. Joe and I usually visited by the fireplace in the winter evenings while Mrs.Thornton quilted or did some other handwork. One can see why visitors were always welcome. In the summertime we sat outside in the evenings as we had no air conditioning of any kind.
The old Red Lake bunkhouse where I lived was a half dugout in the side of a hill. It was located just west of the camp house about 50 feet. It had a big bell just inside the door which was operated from the camp house. When a meal was ready, Joe always rang the bell for me to come in to eat.
* * * Editor's Note: We always love to hear stories about the "old" Matador. As we celebrate the 60th anniversary of Koch company ownership, we were happy to receive this excerpt from a book written by Russell Lundberg. Obviously, he didn't work for our owners and the camp he was on is not part of today's Matador, but the story gives a glimpse into the way it was. Hope you enjoyed it.
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 Gulf Coast Cocktail
Yield: 4 servings
21-25 large shrimp (4 per person) 1 cup cooked crab (optional) 1 cup cooked scallops (optional) 1/4 cup red onion, chopped
1 cup avocado, diced in large pieces 1 1/2 cup ketchup 1/4 cup horseradish (use less if you don't like it spicy) 1 tablespoon hot sauce 1/2 cup fresh cilantro (for garnish) Lemon, 4 thin slices
Cut up 8 shrimp into bite-sized pieces (2 per serving). Combine shrimp pieces, scallops, onion, and avocado pieces. Create sauce by mixing ketchup, horseradish, and hot sauce. Combine sauce and shrimp mixture. Spoon into footed glass dish or martini glass. Top with 1/4 cup crab meat in the middle of each serving. Arrange 2 shrimp on edge of glass along with toasted garlic bread and a thin slice of lemon. Garnish with cilantro sprig. |
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Have you visited the Matador Mall?
Shop for all your outdoor recreation and golfing needs. Find many major brands to choose from at competitive prices.
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Cowboy Gathering 2012
Former and current employees of the Matador Ranch gathered Saturday, August 25, at the Matador Ranch Lodge in honor of the 60th anniversary of Fred C. Koch's purchase of the ranch. Pictured are some of the 100 cowboys, young and young at heart, who enjoyed renewing old acquaintances and telling tales, some of which were true.
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Save 10% |
Hurry to schedule your hunt!
Enjoy 10% off when you Hunt the Matador during the upcoming 2012-2013 season. Check available dates by contacting Hunt Manager Les Woolsey at 806.347.2645 or emailing him at les.woolsey@matadorranch.com. This discount cannot be used in conjunction with any other coupon or offer. Only one coupon per customer or group. Void where prohibited by law. Information about the ranch is available at www.matadorranch.com | | Offer Expires: October 15, 2012 |
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