I’m the fifth generation of our family to live and work on this ranch, so it just seemed to be a natural fit. I love working with cattle and horses and I love to hunt. I have a deeply rooted love for this land, this ranch and the lifestyle.

Our greatest challenge is changing with the times. There’s a lot of oilfield activity out here, and we see roads and people in places where they’ve never been before. We have to find ways to do our ranch work with all the energy exploration that’s going on.

I learned a lot in college, but I’ve learned a lot more out here on the ranch. You can study about it but there’s no replacement for actually doing it.

We want to get more and more efficient. If we are willing to adopt some of the new technology that’s available, the things we can accomplish are endless.

I like that when you take out a loan, you’re becoming part of the company. Being a customer-owner is really cool.

I like to be a free spirit. The opportunity to be a rancher and cowboy, the freedom to be my own boss, that’s just irreplaceable.

They are the one lender who truly understands how ranching works – the ability to make annual payments is just huge for us. We have a great relationship with our financial officer. He’s as much a friend as he is a lender.