The Partners
John Milam
Born in El Dorado, AR and primarily raised in Billings and the Northeast corner of Montana, John Milam has been around the cattle industry all his life. Growing up, he worked as a cowboy wrangling horses and working cows and spent numerous summers at his uncle’s ranch backgrounding commercial steers in Dalhart, TX.
John attended Colorado State University with intention of becoming a veterinarian but was forced to change his major to civil engineering for financial reasons and later joined a petroleum engineering company based in Denver. Years later he built a successful construction company and even took up Team Penning on a semi-professional basis.
In the late 90’s, Milam wanted to return to the cattle business and began buying land. He grew Draggin’ M Ranch (DMR) into a commercial herd of crossbred cattle. A few months after meeting Craig Green while buying bulls at a Camp Cooley, Craig came to visit John’s operation and later convinced him to sell his commercial cows to buy Registered Brangus Cattle to market through Camp Cooley’s program. After the dispersal of Camp Cooley, a group of ten; including John, Joe Cavender, David Wood and Wat Johnston, started GeneTrust. Their long-term partnership then evolved into the partnership of CDP Brangus.
For years DMR was producing quality cattle, but were not able to compete as well as they would have liked against other operations. After hiring Grady Green and implementing his changes, the ranch started to improve. Grady went on to attend the TCU Ranch Management Program, graduating number one in his class, and returning to DMR as ranch manager. The DMR team decided to change their business plan to concentrate on breeding and raising the best cattle in the Brangus breed. With Grady’s management, they have come a long way toward reaching their goal and continue striving for improvement. Draggin’ M Ranch believes in producing the best quality cattle available to improve all commercial and registered breeder’s calves. “We will have the highest quality bulls and females that will fit every producer’s need and budget,” states John.
El Dorado, AR
David Wood
Double W Ranch
Nada and David Wood moved from New Orleans to Houston Texas in 2000. They owned a ranch north of New Orleans in Magnolia, MS where they had a small herd of commercial Brangus cattle which they continued to maintain following their move to Texas. It wasn’t long before David discovered Camp Cooley Ranch and the cooperator program they offered to breeders, not only through access to high quality registered Brangus genetics, but also with a program to help new breeders understand the important protocols which they maintained in developing their cattle along with assistance to new-comers in how to integrate those protocols into their own operations.
That’s where the wonderful ride for their Double W Ranch began to take on a more serious tone with lots of excitement in purchasing and selling some high quality seedstock Brangus cattle. Both AI and ET inevitably became a part of the operation. Since then, Double W has owned, both outright and in partnership with others, bulls such as Singletary, Foundation, 30T, Main Event and Can Do along with donor cows such as 535K14, 924Z11, 404A and, a more recent purchase, 1912C which holds great promise.
Many friendships have developed through their associations in the cattle business and David was proud to continue those as a founding member of CDP Brangus. He said, “Not only will this partnership be providing the highest quality full-data backed Brangus and Ultrablack genetics that can be found anywhere, but it offers those backed by transparency, integrity, service and the best run bull test and development station in the industry, allowing our animals to be developed to their utmost genetic potential. From among our partners have come many of the leading herd sires in the business and all of our partners use the highest quality genetics in their breeding programs ensuring both commercial and registered breeders, large and small, that we have quality from herd sire to range bull to offer ranchers at every level.”
Magnolia, MS
Wat Johnston
Wat has been in the cattle business most of his life. After returning from a 3-year tour as an infantry Lieutenant, he joined his father to run the family Ranch in Alabama. It was an operation of approximately 1,000 cows, established after his dad returned from the Navy in 1945. The lands have been in the family since 1830 and over the years additional acreage was acquired. The early years brought many ups and downs and a wide array of learning experiences: poor prices, new diseases and the impact of powerful genetics. The region was evolving from row crops to cattle as a more productive use of land.
In the 90’s, after experimenting with various breeds, the obvious choice was Brangus. It was the choice to suit the market, climate, and fescue. By the year 2000, Johnston’s commercial herd was almost entirely made up of Brangus cows and all bulls had been exclusively purchased through GENETRUST.
In 2015, Wat’s brother, Ray, became ill. As a result, he decided to sell his purebred Brangus herd. The herd was quite reputable and had been established for over 20 years. Wat was able to purchase his inventory as well as his land. With this transaction, Wat became a partner in GENETRUST.
Leaning on the advice of Craig Green and other partners, Johnston saw substantial progress in weaning weights using the best Brangus genetics available within the GENETRUST organization. The acquired pure-bred herd greatly compliments Wat’s commercial operation.
Wat is blessed with a supporting wife, Carol, and 7 grandchildren. His children Watkins III, Myra, and Mason will someday take over Johnston Cattle Company and Johnston Brangus. The Family is excited about the future of the business, as well as being a partner in the CDP Brangus Organization.
Letohatchee, AL
Gary Sewell
Sewell Cattle Company, Inc.’s (SCC) philosophy is simple…breed the best herd sires in the industry to the best cows we can raise. Gary Sewell has been involved in the cattle industry all of his life. Since 1975 his family has had either a stocker or commercial cow-calf operation, so he understands the importance of cattle that will grow and grade and those that will raise a calf and breed back quickly. In 2009, SCC began artificial inseminating a handful of their commercial cows to registered Brangus bulls and were very pleased with the results. Within a single generation they noticed calves were born easier, grew faster to finishing weight and returned a higher yield during processing. They were so impressed with these first Brangus-sired replacement females that in 2011 they began purchasing registered Brangus females too. The Brangus cows have further increased the quality of the Sewell cowherd being outstanding mothers, who’s milking ability and breed-back time is second to none.
Today, SCC artificially inseminates (AI) 100% of their cows, both commercial and registered, to the leading IBBA sires. They consider their success a testament to what a substantial impact a good AI program can make in a cowherd. “With AI we have access to the most cutting-edge sires in the breed and we were able to quickly improve our cowherd’s female base. Like the 4-H motto, ‘always making the best better,’ we strive to do that with each mating decision that we make,” states Sewell.
In the fall of 2019, SCC invested in a young herd sire, DMR Investment 535F40. Investment is an Empire son that combines phenotype, numerical balance and reliable, proven genetics into a very attractive package. He was exactly what SCC was looking for in a herd sire. They are excited for his impact on their program and believe that by bringing in this premium herd sire, they will be able to add another layer of depth and usability to their cattle.
As of 2020, SCC has 170 head of registered Brangus cattle and are continuing to grow. Their goal is to have 250 of the best Brangus females they can own. “We are very critical of our cattle and select for phenotypically pleasing, numerically balanced cattle that will work well for our customers in a variety of scenarios. We are proud to say that this year’s calves are outstanding. We are very excited about presenting these calves as well as future offspring at the CDP sales.
El Dorado, AR
Jimmy Trice & Family
TTT Ranches, LLC – located in Fayette, Alabama – is a proud fourth-generation cattle operation. Their roots in cattle ranching go back to the 1940’s when James H. “Gaggy” Trice started a commercial cow-calf operation deep in the Alabama agricultural “Black Belt” that grew to over 400 head. From the beginning, ranching was a family business and TTT founder, Jimmy Trice, learned to raise cattle at his Grandaddy’s side. When Gaggy finally retired and sold his herd in 1979, it became Jimmy’s dream to someday return the family to cattle ranching.
In 2010, that dream became a reality when TTT Ranches was started as a commercial cow-calf operation. Each of the “T’s” represents a family member from a different generation and our brand connects us personally to every animal we raise. Jimmy’s vision for producing the best cattle in Alabama to represent what his family stands for culminated when he converted TTT Farms into a Registered Brangus operation in 2014 and became TTT Ranches. Jimmy became convinced Brangus was, and still is, the optimal breed for the modern cattleman and TTT Ranches was created to deliver the livestock to keep ranchers profitable while producing the food that supports our families and society as a whole.
The goal of TTT is to produce high-performance, functional bulls for the commercial cattleman with an emphasis on top-end Registered Brangus females for the seedstock producers. We are relentless in our drive to be progressive and our pursuit to produce top quality cattle with carcass merit that is second-to-none. TTT utilizes artificial insemination and embryo transfer to build their herd and bring the best, most powerful Brangus bulls and females to market. They have built their herd by finding, purchasing and breeding the most promising and powerful donors and donor prospects to develop best-in-breed inventory and have partnered with the Brangus industry’s leading genetics producers to produce cattle worthy of the family’s brand. To this end, we are proud and humbled to be a partner with CDP Brangus and believe this group will lead the way in Brangus genetic performance for years to come.
As TTT Ranches has grown over the past several years, they are most proud that they have done it as a family-owned and operated business. Today, TTT Ranches runs over 400 head across multiple farms and are blessed to continue growing. TTT’s Ranch Manager is Jimmy’s son, Nolan Trice, and on any given day there are four generations of Trice’s in the fields and working cattle. In the end, they most value the relationships they’ve developed with ranchers across the Southeast who have come to rely on the TTT brand and their family is proud to stand with them.
TTT is excited for the future and look forward to producing the world’s best Brangus cattle for generations to come. Look for TTT Ranches bulls and females offered by CDP Brangus as this exciting partnership transforms the breed and the market to meet the performance ranchers’ need.
Fayette, AL
Raul Elias & Family
Elias Brangus
Settled in the heart of the Sonoran Desert in Northern Mexico, Elias Brangus has been in the cattle industry raising commercial Brangus since 1987.
In 2014, Elias Brangus acquired their first registered Brangus and Red Brangus from distinguished breeders in Mexico and the United States to incorporate into their breeding program.
Being at the forefront of breeding technologies, such as artificial insemination and embryo transfer, has been a priority for them in order to meet the high standards of their Mexican clients.
Elias Brangus knows that quality genetics is the key to modern successful breeding and that has brought them closer to prestigious fellow breeders in the US. A major turning point for Elias Brangus was acquiring an outstanding group of donors, embryos and several bulls from elite breeders in the US. The potential that Sonoran land has for raising cattle, combined with the advantage of being about 100 miles away from the Arizona border, Elias Brangus reaffirms that Any Country is Brangus Country.
Sonora, Mexico
