V8 Ranch Collegiate Livestock Judging Workout We will be hosting our annual collegiate livestock judging team workout on Saturday, March 10th at the ranch from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m. During this scheduled time we will welcome those teams from universities and junior colleges competing in the Houston Livestock Show's judging contest. In order to plan for the event we ask that judging coaches click Here to RSVP.

	V8 Crew Enjoys Our Trip to Cowtown!   Our annual show season always starts with our trip to the legendary stock show of Texas, the Fort Worth Stock Show. This trip was especially exciting for our new herdsman Kolten Thigpen as it was his first trip with the Brahman showstring and he enjoyed meeting all of the Brahman herdsmen and showmen. V8 was represented by Jim Williams, Brandon & Rachel Cutrer, Kolten Thigpen, Larry Fisher and Jeff Richard. We exhibited 14 head and claimed 10 class winners, 4 reserve divisions, and the champion get-of-sire for Mr. V8 380/6. Our next stop will be the San Antonio Stock Show and Dixie National as we gear up for Houston in late February/March.

	Many Changes and Improvements Approved at ABBA Winter Board Meeting In conjunction with the Ft. Worth Stock Show, V8 Ranch was well represented at the winter board meetings of the American Brahman Breeders Association. Sloan, Jim, Brandon and Rachel serve on different committees of the ABBA. Sloan is a member of the marketing and F1 committee, Jim is a member of the show committee, Brandon is on the performance and breed improvement committee, and Rachel is chairman of the youth committee. All three of these committees reported numerous activities and advancements for the upcoming year. Here are some highlights of the activities our family is a part of:   F1 Committee - Approved the creation of a new registry for 1/4 blood Brahman and 3/4 blood Brahman to complement the current Golden Certified and Certified F1 program. The new program will be called "F1 Plus". Sloan reports that this is a very good program for our commercial and F1 clients. The new program creates an opportunity to register the offspring of the Golden Certified and Certified females. Many of our clients use V8 bulls in their crossbreeding program. If you have any questions about the new program feel free to contact us.   Performance and breed improvement committee - Brandon serves on this committeee. In 2011, V8 began participating in the ABBA carcass evaluation program and due to the large numbers of purebred Brahman steers we are feeding, the ABBA reported that participation doubled in this program in 2011. In 2011 we made the commitment to greatly increase the carcass data available on our major sire lines and donor lines. With this decision, we began our own ranch feedout in which we are feeding groups of calves sired by all of the major bloodlines at the ranch to be able to obtain more carcass data. We also enroll these steers in the ABBA's program to build the data available towards improving the carcass EPDs available on Brahman cattle. Currently V8 Ranch has the largest number of head participating in the ABBA's carcass evaluation program and we are proud to be leading this effort of more information and carcass improvement in the Brahman breed.   Youth Committee - Rachel's passion of helping Brahman youth is a high priority on our ranch. This committee is looking forward to the AJBA Foundation Female Sale heifer selling in Houston as well as the Brahman All American this summer.   Show Committee - Jim is our representative on the show committee and this group is awaiting the upcoming International Show in Houston as well as numerous other shows throughout the nation this spring.

	Welcome Kolten Thigpen! We would like to introduce everyone to our new herdsman and show cattle manager, Kolten Thigpen. Kolten is a recent December 2011 graduate of Texas A&M University, where he earned a B.S. in animal science. Prior to attending A&M he also attended Texas A&M University Kingsville. While at A&M Kolten was a member of the Texas A&M Football Team. He is originally from Hondo, Texas where his family runs the Pearsall Livestock Auction Barn and operates a commercial cattle operation. He also raises American influence club calves. We are excited to have Kolten as part of the V8 team and we hope everyone will welcome him to the Brahman breed this spring!

	Gearing Up For Winter Shows The V8 crew is anxiously gearing up for the winter show season, where we will be exhibiting at Fort Worth, San Antonio, Dixie National and Houston. We always enjoy attending these shows as a way to bring our best cattle to the mass public to showcase the V8 program. We invite you to stop by our stalls at any of these shows and take a look at our showstring. While our open showstring represents our elite of elite, we typically have full sisters and brothers to these cattle available for sale at the ranch. And we always enjoy a good visit with Brahman friends!

			New Sale Bull Listings We have added several new photos of Brahman bulls for sale at the ranch. These bulls are priced at various levels and would work well for the commercial cattleman or purebred Brahman breeder. Please visit our sales page and contact Jim at 979-533-1279 or Brandon at 601-466-7536 or Sloan at 979-533-0505 or 979-532-2959 for information.

			Bendy Win Supreme Champion at Houston Scramble Progress Show Kaleb Bendy and his heifer Miss V8 460/7 "Ziva" took home supreme honors at the recent Houston Livestock Show Scramble Progress Show held October 22 in Humble, TX. This show is one of the requirements of the Houston Scramble show, and is open to all calf scramble participants. Kaleb purchased his heifer from us using his calf scramble certificate.  "Ziva" and Kaleb won their class of 12, won the American Division (65 heifers) and went on to be Supreme Scramble Heifer Overall. There were 122 total beef heifers in the show.  The pair won two belt buckles, a bag, a pull over jacket, and $500 cash prizes. We salute the Houston Livestock Show for this outstanding program and enjoy working with calf scramble participants from all livestock shows.

	2011 National Brahman Show We attended the National Brahman Show in Waco, TX in October. V8 Ranch exhibited 7 class winners - more than any other ranch in the show. We exhibited the Reserve National Champion Female and the National Champion Produce of Dam. Thank you to our friend Rickey Butler for these photos!

			What makes a great female? Jim Williams was recently featured on the Ideal Video Blog discussing V8's cow power and what makes a great female. We invite you to watch the video to hear Jim's philosophy on breeding great females and how that has made V8 the place known around the world for outstanding Brahman females.

	Thank You For Making Our Internet Sale A Success!! We wish to give a big thank you to all of the viewers, bidders, and buyers in our first "Power of Production" Internet Sale, held September 12-15 through Cattle in Motion. The sale was a huge success with buyers from Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Panama, and Australia. The sale was viewed by thousands of people across the world and we appreciate all of the interest in V8 Ranch cattle. Sale Gross: $104,475 14 Brahman female lots averaged $6130 4 Flush lots averaged $3725 4 Semen Lots averaged $470/unit Thank you again for the tremendous confidence in V8 cattle and bloodlines!

			Mr. V8 960 Daughter Wins Expica! Congratulations to Ganaderia Flor Del Valle, owned by the Canahuati Family of Honduras on winning Reserve Grand Champion Female at the 2011 Expica with this female sired by Mr. V8 960/5. The Canahuati's have many calves by V8 bulls and consistently report their success using our genetics.

	V8 Customers Do Well at Okie Extravaganza Though we didn't take our open showstring, several V8 customers exhibited cattle at the Okie Extravaganza show in June and did quite well! Miss V8 341/7 placed 1st out of 9 in the January-February 2010 class. Ricky Butler's Mr. V8 985/6 bull placed 2nd in class. Mr. V8 955, owned by Bulls Eye Ranch placed 1st in the January-February 2010 bull class. Mr. V8 937/6, owned by Brooke Cobb, was also a class winner. Mr. V8 885/6, exhibited by Candice Kiser, was junior champion bull. Jeff Jenkins' bull, Mr. V8 659/6, was also class winner and Reserve Senior Champion Bull. Congratulations!

			Successful Houston 2011 for V8 and our Customers! We wrapped up a big week in Houston in early March with the 2011 International Brahman Show and all of its activities. The highlight of our week was when Miss V8 137/7 was chosen as 2011 Reserve International Champion Female. This heifer is owned by Adrian Land II, a junior exhibitor from Florida. This makes the second year in a row that Adrian has won Reserve International Champion with a heifer purchased from us! Congratulations to the entire Land family! We also exhibited 2 other reserve division champions as well as several class winners and the champion ET produce-of-dam. Check out the winners on our champions page.

	V8 Wins Championships at Dixie National In February, Brandon Cutrer and B.J. Dickens represented V8 Ranch at the Dixie National which is in Brandon's home state of Mississippi. We took four head and exhibited the Grand Champion Female with Miss V8 100/7 plus the calf champion bull and two other reserve division champions. Check out the photos on our show cattle page.

	Congratulations Louisiana Juniors! Many of our junior exhibitors in Louisiana have been having tremendous results with their V8 projects. We especially congratulate Amie Ferguson for winning Supreme Champion Bull Over All Breeds at the 2011 LSU State Show with Mr. V8 918/6, a son of Mr. V8 380/6. Also congratulations to Blair Trahan for winning Grand Champion Brahman heifer with Miss V8 128/7, another 380/6 daughter. V8 junior exhibitors Sarah Cook, Kellie Lucas, and the Richard family have also been doing great on the Louisiana circuit with their V8 calves. Congratulations!

			Congratulations V8 Juniors on San Antonio Success! Congratulations to all of the junior exhibitors who purchased heifers from V8 Ranch on a great show at the 2011 San Antonio Stock Show. A big congratulations to Peyton Craig of Klein Collins FFA for winning Reserve Grand Champion with Miss V8 186/7. We are proud of all of the juniors who exhibited cattle at San Antonio from V8 including Hannah Callaway, Ashley Migl, Evan Acevedo, Justin Garza, Cassie Ferguson, Emily Jernigan, Tanner Schwartz, Reagan Read, Garrett Williams, and Alejandro Trujillo.

	v8 wins champion female and reserve bull at fort worth The V8 show crew had a great start to the 2011 year by winning Grand Champion Female, Reserve Grand Champion Bull, and several division championships at the 2011 Ft. Worth Stock Show in January. Check out the pictures on the Champions Page.