Reflected R Ranch CCA Seed Stock Producer of the Year

At the recent Colorado Cattlemen's Association's Mid-Winter Conference, the CCA presented awards to highlight industry members who have made a difference in the state's beef industry. This year's Seed Stock Producers were Curtis and Susan Russell who along with their family operate the Reflected R Ranch near Sugar City.

They purchased their first registered Simmental cattle in 1992. Their breeding program focuses on producing moderate-framed, heavily-muscled seedstock. Their Simmental-influenced cowherd emphasizes calving ease and fertility; they also place a heavy emphasis on disposition, only retaining cattle rated "gentle" for their family operation.

Curtis: "This will be our third year now that we have sold with T Heart Ranch in the High Altitude Bull Sale in Logarita, Colorado. It will be March 26th this year. That is where we market most of our bulls. We occasionally have a few bulls that go to the All-Terrain Bull Sale with Bridle Bit Simmental in Walsh, Colorado."

Susan shares more about marketing.

Susan: "In addition to marketing with the sale, we also do direct newsletters to our customers to keep them informed on what we are doing with our breeding program and what types of bulls we are offering. Then we run a website that includes all of that information and EPDs and dollar indexes so that they can select something and look ahead to what we will be having in the sale in March."