Brooks Hereford Ranch

Ranch

Inducted 2014

James Brooks married Goldie Tittle in 1924 and farmed the land in Lansforth ND that became Brooks Hereford Ranch. Their sons Loren and Robert used money from selling a bum lamb to purchase a sow whose litters became the seed money to buy registered heifers from breeders. The ranch increased to 12,000 acres with land purchased by Burlington and had 250 Registered Herefords. The Brooks brothers built a new herd of first-rate 100 percent clean-pedigreed Herefords by studying bloodlines after a dwarf gene affected the herd. In 1958 Brooks Ranch implemented a performance test for the herd and joined the ND Beef Cattle Improvement Assn. program and American Hereford Association’s (AHA) Total Performance Records program. Brooks Ranch sales were among AHA’s top ten bull sales.

The Ranch was recognized as a 50-Year Plus Golden Breeder in 2004 by AHA. The Brooks herd of cattle brought in buyers from Canada to TX and sold in FL and Mexico. Top sires owned by the ranch included the grandsire of the 1975 Denver Champion, top bulls from Midland Bull Test in Montana, a Calgary Bull Sale Champion and a Kansas City American Royal champion. Loren and Robert were members of the ND Hereford, ND Stockmen’s, ND Beef Cattle Improvement, MT Hereford and MT Stock Growers Associations serving as President in their states. Bob served as a NDCHF trustee. Loren judged cattle shows in Canada and the U.S. The family continues to ranch on the land homesteaded in 1904 by Loren and Roberts parents.

The spirit lives on as the great-great grandchildren continue contributing to the cattle industry.