Ironwood Ranch
Kirk & Renee Phillips
Valley View, TX
www.ironwoodlonghorns.com
"Like many who have started in this industry, we purchased our first longhorns as some pretty pasture art. This hobby quickly became a passion and we found both our herd and commitment to them increasing. Over the past few years, we have come to realize that we needed someone with the experience and reach to help us shape the future of our herd and refine our business plan. After doing some research, one name kept coming up, Bear Davidson with Eastwind Stockco Consulting. His lifelong history with the breed, hands on experience and wealth of knowledge has helped us make the decisions necessary to move our growing operation in the right direction. He has visited the ranch to take photographs and make assessments, so each animal has a clear role in how we grow. We are excited to leverage his years of experience to bring our clients the best quality animals that Ironwood Ranch can produce.Welcome to Ironwood Ranch! We hope you enjoy getting to know us and our herd of Texas Registered Longhorn cattle. They are truly one of God’s amazing creatures. But first, a little about us and our Longhorn journey."
I (Kirk) was born in Dallas but have lived in almost every part of Texas. I grew up in the panhandle where I got to see a lot of agriculture, but my family lived in the city, so I did not grow up farming or ranching even though it was all around me. Renee’ grew up in deep east Texas where her father was in the feed, fertilizer, and cattle business. She had a taste from childhood of what being around livestock was about. We met in college, married, and moved back to the Dallas area to work and start a family. Renee’ took the hard job of raising kids and I went to work in the financial services providing equipment finance and leasing solutions to clients around the world. We are truly blessed in both areas. As time went on, the kids grew up and left for college and the small town north of Dallas we had raised them in had grown from a few thousand people to over 35,000. So time to move to the country!
We found a beautiful small ranch in the Cross Timbers area of north Texas. Still close enough for me to drive in for work but far enough away to get some solitude. Of course, we needed to maintain a tax exemption, so the research began! In the end, it was really an easy choice-Longhorns! Easy to raise, self-sufficient, disease resistant, easy to calve and beautiful to look at. After talking with several breeders, we connected with Suzanne and Bill Torkildson of Bull Creek Ranch who sold us our first longhorn cows in the summer of 2018. Bill and Suzanne have been a blessing for our entire journey and we cannot thank them enough for their help.
What started as six grew to the 7 the very next day as one our original momma cows gave birth to a gorgeous little bull calf. Seeing that he would never leave the ranch, he was “steered” and has grown into Woody, the ranch mascot, and now measures over 112” tip to tip! From there we had more calves from the original crew as well as adding select cows to diversify our bloodlines and help us in our pursuit of the “perfect” longhorn. We use natural service as well as our AI program to bring you some of the best industry genetics available.
Over the past few years our herd has grown and so have we. These are truly amazing animals. They have taught us a lot about slowing down in a fast-paced world. That results don’t happen overnight but take time and preparation. The joy and miracle of new calves arriving in a variety of colors. Strolls through the pasture enjoying pleasant Texas sunsets while watching the animals graze. In addition, we have met some of the nicest, most wonderful people we know through Futurities, sales, and ranch visits.
We take tremendous pride in the animals we raise. Since we live on the ranch, we work with our herd daily – monitoring their condition, health, and nutritional needs. We stand behind the animals we raise and sell so you can buy with confidence any animal in our herd. We invite you to look at our longhorns and feel free to contact us with any questions you have about our animals, our ranch or just to chat. But usually, it comes back to talking about these beautiful longhorns.