Director Spotlight

FOLLOWING HER PASSION

TSCRA Director Missy Bonds shares her voice on behalf of cattle raisers.

By Sarah Harris

At the ripe age of eight, Missy Bonds informed her father she would grow up to be a rancher. Since then, the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association director has worked hard to fulfill that declaration — serving in a prominent role within her family’s beef cattle operation and rising through the leadership ranks of member organizations.

“I love this industry,” Bonds says. “I love being involved and feeling that my voice has made a difference.”

She was raised on the family’s Bonds Ranch, a commercial cowcalf, stocker and feeding operation headquartered in Saginaw. Today, she helps manage the ranch’s herds spread across 26 Texas counties and 13 states. She is also in charge of qualifying any of their cattle within process verification programs, including the non-hormone treated cattle program, which allows cattle raised without growth hormones to be exported to the European Union.

Through her involvement and proximity to DallasFort Worth, Bonds says they have hosted several foreign dignitaries at the ranch. Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association recognized her interest and knowledge in foreign markets from some of these visits and selected Bonds to represent the organization on the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s international trade committee.

“I was a part of that during one of the most exciting times, during the Trump administration, when we saw more free trade agreements than any other time

in history,” she says. “Because of my involvement on that committee, I was fortunate enough to represent cattlemen, the committee and TSCRA on the White House lawn for the signing of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement in 2020.” Bonds and her two sisters are thirdgeneration ranchers. She is a Texas Christian University Ranch Management program graduate and a recipient of the Mitzi Lucas Riley Award from the Missy Bonds, pictured second from National Cowgirl Museum. right, stands in front of the U.S. Capitol Before being elected to the Texas & after the signing of the U.S.-MexicoCanada trade agreement. Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association board of directors, Bonds was part of a team that established a student membership and later helped develop the organization’s Young Leadership Series. She looks forward to putting her leadership skills to further use within the association. “I am living proof that if you want to be involved with TSCRA, all you have to do is show up and say ‘I want to be involved,’ and they will put you to work,” she says. “I’ve helped bring the YLS program to some college campuses and host ranch gatherings for these groups. It’s important to take the message of how networking leads to career success in agriculture. “My involvement in TSCRA and NCBA has allowed me to find some of my closest friendships, and I don’t come away from a meeting without finding a new business relationship.” T C Sarah Harris is a freelance writer who splits her time between Austin and her family’s ranch near Tilden.

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