What We Talk About at the Kitchen Table

There’s a lot of noise right now in the Brahman breed.

Some of it’s loud. Some of it’s whispered. Some of it’s blind-itemed.

Some of it’s happening in meeting rooms and phone calls, some on social media and showbarn aisles — and some of it’s even found its way into actual courtrooms.

If you raise Brahman cattle — and you care about this breed — you’ve felt it.

We certainly have.

I don’t need to rehash every issue or name every controversy. The mood is heavy. 

Disconnected. Unsettled. People are weary. And at our kitchen table — the place where all real decisions get made in our family — we’ve been talking about it.

Distraction or Direction?

When there’s this much turmoil, it’s easy to get swept up in it. We’ve all been there — playing phone tag about the latest headline, the newest frustration, the back-and-forth of a breed that sometimes feels like it’s pulling itself apart.

But lately, we’ve been trying to shift the conversation.

Not because we don’t care. But because we care too much to get lost in it.

We didn’t build our herd by chasing conflict. We built it by watching calves grow. By matching the right cow to the right bull. By trusting the bloodlines behind us and the matings ahead of us.

That’s still the best way forward.

What We’re Hearing — and Feeling

As someone who lives in both the marketing and breeding side of this world, I’ve been paying attention to what people are saying lately. And it’s giving me pause.

Breeders — good ones — talking about turning out Hereford bulls on their Brahman cows. Not as an experiment, but a pivot. A quiet shift away.

“Too many online sales.” “The heifer market is too saturated.” 

And of course, the in-fighting. Still too much of it.

At V8, we’re not blind to the shift. We’re listening. We’re evaluating. And we’re getting back to basics — in the most unglamorous, steady way we know: studying the cows.

The Breed Is Bigger Than This

There are people hurting. There’s too much division. Too much defensiveness. Too much fussing and fighting.

But the Brahman breed — the cattle, the history, the potential — is bigger than any one moment of conflict.

It’s still something worth preserving. Worth stewarding. Worth keeping steady for.

And that’s where we’re trying to live right now.

Our Promise To You

We’re choosing:

• To stay steady.
• To raise the best cattle we know how.
• To protect the peace inside our own pastures.
• To focus on what’s next, not who’s to blame.
• To build something our grandparents would be proud of, and our grandchildren can stand on.

And when we do speak up — when we share posts like this — it’s not about making noise. It’s about offering a still place to stand.

An Invitation

If you’ve been feeling the weight of it, too — the pressure, the pause, the worry that maybe the best days are behind us — know you’re not alone.

Come ride pastures with us. Come sit down. Let’s talk Brahmans — not the divisions, not the distractions, just the cattle and the future.

Because the Brahman breed is like a family quilt — sewn by many hands. Some patches are new and vibrant, stitched with care. Others are frayed, worn thin, with edges coming undone. A few even have holes where something used to be — a square pulled too tight or forgotten altogether. 

But the quilt itself? It still matters. And it’s still holding.

At our kitchen table, we’re not reaching for scissors. We’re reaching for the needle and thread — tending our square in the tapestry. 

And we’re admiring the others, too. The bold and the quiet. The ones with long histories and the ones just getting started. Because every square, every family, plays a part in keeping this thing stitched together.

Because we still believe this breed is worth believing in. 

Even when it’s hard.
Even when it’s messy.

Maybe especially then.

That’s what’s been on my heart.

From my spot at the kitchen table,

— Catherine