Hereford breeding goes back four generations in Kathy's family. Her great grandfather raised Herefords in West Texas. He found the breed to be versatile and marketable, and by the early 1900s the Wolcott Ranch dealt exclusively in Herefords. Her father, a full-time rancher, is a past-president of the Texas Hereford Association while her mother was president of the American Hereford Auxiliary and Texas Hereford Auxiliary. In keeping with family tradition, Kathy was very active in the Texas Junior Hereford Association as a child. She showed Herefords in high school and later attended Texas A&M, receiving a BS in animal science as well as a Masters degree in land economics.



Gary, having moved from Illinois to Frisco as a child, also participated in the junior program. After graduationfrom high school in De Soto, He attended East Texas State University in Commerce and received his degree in agricultural education. He took a job running the vocational agriculture department at Duncanville High School. He married Kathy, and after eleven years of teaching agriculture, he decided to devote his time fully to the cattle business. Gary and Kathy first ran BBS Shorthorns, south of Bardwell, and sold Shorthorns to juniors. However, they eventually sold a majority of their Shorthorns in favor of the more gentle Herefords.



Gary and Kathy have served as National Advisors to the Shorthorn Association, as well as Texas Advisors for both breed's youth associations. Kathy was the Vice President of the Texas Hereford Auxiliary and served as a National Director to the American Hereford Women. With this impressive resume, in 1998 they started the GKB Company in Bardwell with the intent to build a Hereford business that catered to ranchers oth present and future.


The GKB Cattle Company has a forward-thinking, two-fold business plan. First, they continue to stalwartly support future cattle breeders and exhibitors. As Gary says, "the main thing is to help them with the total program." For beginners, they identify the needs of the client, and provide guidance and assistance in selecting the proper calf for the customer. They teach juniors how to take care of their calf, how to feed it, how to show it, and how to breed it, even offering semen from any of their bulls.


But the "total program" isn't just in the how-tos. Gary and Kathy make themselves readily available to their customers for all manner of advice and support, and many of their clients do choose to keep in touch year round. This dedication to customer service pays off. They keep existing customers, as well as create new generations of Hereford breeders and develop relationships with families that last a lifetime.



Not only did Gary and Kathy both grow up in the junior programs, but they have watched their families go through the process as well. Their oldest niece, Kristen Buchholz, 20, showed heifers and steers from 1994 to 2004. She is currently a sophmore at Blinn College. Her sister, Stephanie Buchholz, 16, is in her third year at Avalon High School in Avalon, TX. She hopes to attend Texas A&M, and has been showing heifers since 1999. Most recently in the San Antonio Stock Show Junior Heifer Show, Kristen won ribbons for Supreme Campion Female and Champion Shorthorn, and Stephanie won for Champion Hereford Heifer. Gary and Kathy's nephew, Garrett Buchholz, 11, is in the sixth grade in Avalon and has been showing heifers for the last three years.

The junior program, however important at the GKB, is only ancillary to the foundation of the ranch, which is of course their cattle. "Good cows never let you down," says Gary. "Average cows, produce average calves." He and his wife are in the business of "big-league powerful cows that prove themselves year after year." With an emphasis on quality over quantity, they have constructed a program concerned with not just the show ring in mind, but also performance. "We don't revolve everything around whether or not they can take in the blue ribbon," he says, but rather he is concerned with building superior cattle.



When creating their cowherd, the Buchholzs traveled throughout the country, collecting genetics from the top Hereford families at ranches such as Colyers, Hoffmans, Barbers, Morgans, and Rocking Chair, to name a few. Then, having secured daughters from these herds, they purchased the 146 Bull to use as their major herd sire. To bolster their numbers, GKB has made extensive use of artificial insemination with genetics from bulls like Pure Gold, Moler, and Game Day. After a cow is artificially inseminated by one of these herd sires, it is typically pastured with 146 as a clean up.. And finally, to take further advantage of up-to-date genetics within the industry, embryos of top producing dames are flushed and transplanted to a select group of GKB recipient cows. With careful attention paid to the genetic bloodlines, family history, and the Expected Progeny Difference numbers, Gary and Kathy hope to build a balanced, powerful, and top-notch herd of Herefords.


"We're always trying to breed three to four years down the road." Gary says. "Our goal is to take our best 10 to 15 Herefords and establish a herd of about one hundred registered cows." Ultimately they aim to produce a sort of master-herd of Herefords from which anyone can obtain genetics for seed stock. Ideally, their top-end will be comprimised of one or two bulls marketed to registered breeders for herd sires, for which he predicts there will be a higher demand. Gary and Kathy have seen an increase over the last year and a half in the number of breeders of other types of cattle who are just beginning to show an interest in Herefords.


The GKB Cattle Company is primed for the future of the Hereford industry. By providing for the needs of burgeoning Hereford raisers, the Buchholzs have taken a leading role in fostering that future. "In short," Gary says, "we've nerver been followers. We're always out on that cutting edge."



Article By Christopher Elam as published in Texas Hereford, February 2006