One Heifer Then-Now AHerd For The Mullins Family

(Lto R) Graceann, Jason and Amanda Mullins; Emily, Ross and Mason Wintters.

One Heifer ThenNow A Herd For The Mullins Family

By Martha Hollida Garrett

For the Mullins family, it can all be traced back to a junior heifer project. That heifer is the reason the family now runs 35 plus head of Simbrah cattle in Golden, Texas.

Jason and Amanda Mullins, along with their daughters, Emily and Graceann own Golden Star Simbrahs in East Texas and say, “it’s all been a learning experience.”

“Jason and I grew up in this area, but neither of us were exposed to the cattle business. In high school, I became interested in showing. There was a lady in the area that raised Simmentals and she let me show some of her heifers. I would ride the bus after school to her place, work with my heifer, help her with various chores and that was my introduction to the cattle business, “ recalled Amanda.

When Amanda wasn’t at the barn, she was working at the local McDonalds and so was Jason. They began dating and the high school sweethearts were married in 1995. Cattle were not a part of their discussions, as both began building careers and today she is a director of rehab skilled nursing facility, while he is a machinist.

Fast forward and Emily arrives in 1996, followed by Graceann three and one-half years later.

“We were living in a house with large back yard in Mineola, when the girls were little. They began asking for calves they could feed on a bottle, “ Amanda remembered.

The girls’requests were met, as the family went to the nearby sale barn and purchased two bottle calves.

“This became our cattle business for a while, as we would raise them on the bottle, get them on feed, then sell at the sale barn and buy new bottle calves. Our interest in cattle really grew from this backyard business,” added Jason.

By the time Emily was old enough to show cattle, the Mullins family had acquired more land and decided to enter the junior show world. Amanda led the breed selection process and recalled seeing Simbrah cattle in high school.

“When I was in high school I attended a sale with the breeder of the Simmental heifer I was showing. I saw a heifer there that impressed me and she was a Simbrah. I remembered that and began researching the Simbrah breed for Emily’s first heifer,” said Amanda.

The family liked what the breed had to offer and how they fit their East Texas environment. They also found out that the largest breeder, Pine Ridge Ranch, at the time, was just down the road from them.

They went to Pine Ridge Ranch and visited with owners, Bill and Jane Travis and bought a Simbrah heifer to kickstart Emily’s show career. Their program today includes females This is a 14-year-old Red Moves sired female and her heifer (Continued on page 14) calf at side is sired by 6G/LMC Golden Boy.

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that trace back to that original heifer.

As the saying goes, “the rest is history.” The entire family loved the cattle, loved the show ring competition and the challenges of breeding better cattle.

“Looking back, we knew so little about the business. We figured out almost everything on our own, mostly through trial and error,” said Amanda.

Both girls loved the show ring and the educational contests offered at the Texas Junior Simmental/Simbrah Association Futurity and American Junior Simbrah Roundup. Their show careers boast several class and division wins at all levels. In 2010, Emily showed the reserve grand champion at the Houston Livestock Junior Show, which was a Pine Ridge bred heifer. In 2019, one of Golden Star’s junior customers showed the grand champion at the State Fair of Texas.

While the girls were busy showing, Amanda and Jason decided they wanted to expand beyond the show ring and build a program.

“Our herd today has two percentage Simbrah females and the rest are purebred. We also have 10 pregnant recipients, as we have just started flushing three of our females. We also utilize AI to raise the quality of the herd and I would say we are at about 40% AI. We do all the setup work for both the AI and ET. The AI and IVF work is done by Clayton Lennon with Cryogen, located nearby in Alba, Texas,” said Jason, adding that their first IVF embryo calves are due this fall.

Their senior sire is 6G/LMC Golden Boy, a bull that was a many time champion with Graceann at the halter. He was the 2017 National Reserve Grand Champion and is sired by LMC Justice 5Y/127.

In addition to retaining the girls’show heifers, they have made purchases over the years from Pine Ridge Ranch, La Muñeca Cattle Company, Hagan Cattle Company, Larson Cattle Company and Reavis Farms at the Synergy Sale.

“We never selected a female with the idea of winning a banner. We concentrated more on what she could do outside of the competition and what she could add to our program. We like our females to have lots of power; we like them to be big boned with a lot of natural body and we want them to be sound,” emphasized Amanda.

While Jason and Amanda still work full time, the now empty nesters plan to grow their herd. Emily and her husband, Mason Wintters and their son, Ross live nearby in Lindale, Texas where, they both are ag teachers in the Winona ISD. Graceann is now in the final year of college pursuing a degree in social work. They both continue to help with many of the aspects of Golden Star Simbrahs and Amanda says “everyone has a say about each selection and evaluates each calf born.”

“We have no trouble selling our females. We have a strong local private treaty market and we have participated in the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo event, sponsored

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Roy Baring 210/867-6650 Ryan Baring 210/867-6653 roybaring@yahoo.com

Simbrah-Simmental Superbowl Sponsor

BCC Delightful Lady, a percentage Simbrah sired by FBFS Wheel Man 649W and bred in the Baring program. She was shown by Ryder Baring to the 2021 Texas Simmental/Simbrah Association Southern Showcase Grand Champion Percentage Female honor in both the open and junior shows, in addition to many other wins this past spring.