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Rob Brown named recipient of 2002 Vision Award

published: March 8th 2002

Denver—Every industry needs its innovators — its original thinkers — whose creativity and imagination inspire others and improve the world around them. The beef industry enjoys a wealth of these people, and one of them is Rob Brown of Throckmorton, Texas.

“Rob Brown, over the course of his career in the livestock industry, has truly demonstrated vision, leadership and excellence. Those are some of the reasons he was chosen as the 2002 winner of the Vision® Award,” says Jeff Baxter, Marketing Manager for Intervet Inc. The annual Vision award is sponsored by Intervet Inc. and administered by the National Cattlemen’s Foundation (NCF)

As an industry leader for more than 20 years, Rob Brown has given freely of his time to the industry through numerous organizations. He served as a director to the National Cattlemen’s Association, where he served as member of its Executive Committee, chairman of the Membership Committee and chairman of the Purebred Council. He also initiated fund-raising activities that helped offset the cost of the building that housed the National Cattlemen’s Association, and then NCBA, until late last year.

He was also instrumental in creating the Young Cattlemen’s Conference leadership program. In addition to his leadership legacy, it was Brown’s work on the ranch that established his reputation as an innovator.

The R.A. Brown Ranch encompasses 81,000 acres in Texas and Colorado and has become known for its innovative ways. Today, the ranch is recognized as a leader in innovative cattle breeding.

The ranch, which began as a Hereford operation, keeps meticulous records on 1,000 head of registered cattle in eight breeds. It also tracks 1,500 head of commercial cattle, 40 American Quarter Horse broodmares and 50 working ranch horses. An average of 600 heifers, 400 bulls and 25 ranch horses are sold each year. The ranch’s cattle herd includes these breeds: Simmental, Angus, Red Angus, Simbrah, Senepol, Sim Angus, and Senegus, as well as Hotlander. The latter is the ranch’s own composite breed developed in the 1990s.

The ranch provides bull semen and seed stock to producers all over the world.

It was Brown’s vision that was one of the driving forces in one of the industry’s more recent success stories. While guarding the graveyard shift at a ranch fire, Brown and his son were once again trying to solve the cattle industry’s ancient riddle - how to get paid for quality.

His solution wasn’t particularly new, but everything about the way the cooperative does business would be. Rancher’s Renaissance is what resulted from that meeting. It’s a producer cooperative, which has broken down the traditional segmented structure of the beef industry. In this alignment, the cattleman partners with everyone in the production chain right up to the retail case.

The goal is to produce a more consistent, quality beef product that is guaranteed tender. It is sold through Kroger stores under the Cattleman’s Collection label.

To produce the product, everyone in Rancher’s Renaissance takes the same systems approach to beef production. There are tight management protocols in place for every step of the calf ‘s life. The quality assurance steps extend through the packing level.

Rancher’s Renaissance relied greatly on established research, much of it funded by the beef checkoff, taking the time and effort to apply it — a process that was far from simple.

Among Brown’s other industry activities are:

•charter member of the American Simmental Association, where he served in a variety of  posts, including president;

•director, American Quarter Horse Association since 1966 and also served as president;

•president, Senepol Cattle Breeders;

•director, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association since 1966;

•director, Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show since 1966;

•co-chairman Texas Experimental Ranch Committee since 1975.

Brown also was a leader with the Livestock Industry Institute and the American Society of Range Management, and has been involved with the Texas Simmental and Simbrah Association, Texas Cattle Feeders Association, Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, Colorado Simmental Association, and the World Simmental Federation.

At Texas Tech Univer-sity in Lubbock, he was on the Agriculture dean’s Advisory Council and has served the Ranching Heritage Association Board of Overseers since 1982. Rob has been chairman of the Texas Animal Health Commission since 1996.

Intervet, www.intervetusa.com, is one of the world’s leading animal health companies and currently is ranked third in the global market. The company is a leader in research and is dedicated to the development, production and marketing of innovative, high-quality animal health products and feed additives. Intervet’s product range includes vaccines for use in livestock, companion animals, poultry and fish; antiparasitics, anti-infectives and endo-crine products for regulation and improvement of breeding performance, diagnostics, feed additives and productivity enhan-cers. Intervet employs more than 4,800 personnel and maintains a global distribution network of subsidiary companies and agents in 120 countries.

The National Cattle-men’s Foundation serves the beef industry as a charitable institution whose mission is to preserve the rich heritage and promote the future of the industry through research and education.