Austin Anderson - ExxonMobil Fellow
KRIRM
MSC 137
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Kingsville, TX 78363-8202
(361) 593-4229
ksaha01-at-tamuk.edu

Austin Anderson, his wife, Ellie, and their three-year-old daughter, Rylee, come to the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management from the RO Ranch in the high desert of Smoky Valley, Nevada. At the RO, Austin was the Cow Boss of their 2,000 cow operation. His duties included management of an 8oo head feedlot facility and a 250 head heifer herd. In December 2004 Austin graduated from Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana with a Bachelors Degree in Agriculture Education. While in school, he worked as a Research Assistant at the Montana State University Research Farm. There, he learned about the essential roles of research and continued education in the advancement of the ranching industry. After graduating from Montana State, Austin worked for two years at the Double T Ranch in Babb, Montana, where he assisted in the breeding program for their Stabilizer bull operation in cooperation with Leachman Cattle Company. Having ranched with his family in Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana, Austin’s entire life has been centered in agriculture. Seeing an animal grow, thrive, and produce is very fulfilling for him. He has acquired skills and character that he desires to pass on to his children through the ranching lifestyle. Through the KRIRM program, Austin hopes to successfully manage a ranch and use his abilities to make the ranching industry better for generations to come.

Delane Atcitty - Clement Fellow
KRIRM
MSC 137
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Kingsville, TX 78363-8202
(361) 593-4104
delane.atcitty-at-students.tamuk.edu

Delane Atcitty signed on to the King Ranch Institute as a new graduate assistant in the fall semester of 2007. He brings with him over 15 years experience in the livestock industry and is a welcome addition to the King Ranch Institute. Prior to joining KRIRM, Delane was residing in Goodwell, Oklahoma, where he attended Oklahoma Panhandle State University and received his bachelor degree in Agribusiness with a minor in Animal Science. While enrolled at OPSU, he was employed as a pen rider for Hitch Enterprises and also a research assistant for the Oklahoma State University Extension Service. As a research assistant, he was involved in a project exploring distiller grain effects on beef cattle production. Delane has held various jobs in the industry ranging from: cowboy work, volunteering in the training of herd health and Beef Quality Assurance, teaching horseshoeing workshops for tribal entities, local ranchers, and running a successful certified farrier service. Delane is a proud member of the Navajo Nation and Taos Pueblo tribes which occupy most of northern Arizona and part of northeastern New Mexico. Delane realized in his youth, while ranching with his grandfather near the Rio Grande River, that working with livestock and nature was his desire. Delane is looking forward to learning how a systems approach to cattle production, business management, range management and wildlife management will produce a flourishing and successful ranching operation.

Steve Udy - Deseret Fellow

KRIRM
MSC 137
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Kingsville, TX 78363-8202
(361) 593-5408
ksspu00-at-tamuk.edu

Steve Udy comes to the institute from Deseret Cattle and Citrus (DCC) in central Florida where he was employed for 13 years. At DCC he was responsible for the north end of the ranch in which he oversaw approximately 50,000 acres of improved and unimproved pastures; consisting mainly of bahia grass. With the assistance of 3 foreman and 5 cowboys, they oversaw the production of 9000 cows, the maintenaence of pastures, and currently the development of 5000 additional acres from native land to improved pastures.  Other responsibilities held in his tenure at DCC were marketing of cull animals, development of replacement heifers, overseeing of stocker animals in Georgia, and organizing the shipping and weaning process.  Prior to DCC, Steve received his B.S. degree from BYU with a minor in business. He grew up in southeastern Idaho on a purebred Hereford and Red angus ranch which was a partnership between his father, Richard and his uncle. The operation also consisted of hay, wheat, and barley production.  Steve is happily married to Lori Welch of Bartow, Florida and they have two kids: Austin 7 and Mikayla 5. They are excited to be in south Texas and are grateful for the opportunities provided by the King Ranch Institute For Ranch Management and for those individuals and corporations that have made this program possible.

Doug Wilmeth - Tio Kleberg Fellow
KRIRM
MSC 137
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Kingsville, TX 78363-8202
(361) 593-5409
jack.wilmeth-at-students.tamuk.edu

Doug Wilmeth was born and raised in southeastern New Mexico in what is primarily ranch country. His family was involved with cow-calf and stocker operations as well as the feed yard industry. In 1988 he graduated with an Associates Degree in Electronic Engineering Technology. He worked 10 years installing and maintaining computer network systems, satellite communication systems, and video teleconferencing for the military as well as academia and commercial industry. After layoffs in the 90’s his roots of agriculture called him back to college where he graduated with a B.S. in Animal Science from Texas State University in 2000. Upon graduation he went to work as a foreman on the historic Callaghan Ranch in Webb County down by Laredo Texas. He worked in all phases of this 2500 head cow-calf and commercial deer hunting operation. He was also in charge of heifer development as well as weaning, processing, and assisted as a guide during deer season. Doug has spent his last four and half years working with the USDA as a meat grader in Amarillo, Texas. He has worked in all the major plants in the U.S. from Swift, Excel, Tyson, and National Beef. He personally graded 1000 head per day providing quality and yield grades to carcasses. He has provided carcass data for producers, feeders, and college research teams. His duties included the certification of carcass programs such as Certified Angus Beef, Certified Hereford, Nolan Ryan, and all A40 maturity carcasses for export to Japan. The knowledge gained of looking at daily and evaluating good and bad cattle and knowing what the industry wants has been priceless. Doug has come full circle in the beef industry from cow-calf to feed yard to the packing plant and with King Ranch Institute would like to tie it all together to become a ranch manager who can utilize the systems approach in ranch management.

JD Radakovich - Bass Fellow
KRIRM
MSC 137
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Kingsville, TX 78363-8202
(361) 593-4229

jason.radakovich-at-students.tamuk.edu

JD Radakovich was raised on an internationally known multigenerational purebred and composite seed stock cattle operation in Iowa where he was exposed to cattle production from all over the world.  JD received a B.S. in Animal Science with a minor in Agricultural Economics from Colorado State University. While at Colorado State University, he walked on the football team and earned a scholarship and varsity letters.  After Colorado State University, JD worked for nine months for an internship/working experience on stations throughout eastern Australia.  Since then, he has spent ten years in northern Nevada working on ranches.  Most recently, JD has been managing the Squaw Valley Ranch for Barrick Gold Inc.  He was in charge of capital improvements on 380,000 acres of mixed private and BLM land ownership including 15,000 acres of flood irrigated meadows.  He helped organize and manage leases of 4,000 head of yearlings and 500 to 2,500 head of cows annually all done in a way to improve the ranches environmental qualities for mine mitigation. The first five years were spent as assistant to the manager of Ellison ranching company, a cattle and sheep range operation spreading over a million acres of private and BLM land.  JD was exposed to all aspects of a historic high desert ranch and spent time on the wagon with the buckaroo as well as developing grazing applications for federally grazed land.  JD believes that land managers today have an inherent obligation to maintain and create better choices for future generations of land managers.  He believes that coming to the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management will expand his knowledge and improve his management ability so that this belief will become a reality.  JD and his wife Elizabeth have four children, two boys and two girls.  

Brent McCann - Hilliard Fellow
KRIRM
MSC 137
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Kingsville, TX 78363-8202
(361) 593-4104
brent.mccann-at-students.tamuk.edu

Brent McCann was born and raised along the Milk River in northcentral Montana. As a teenager he helped his family with their commercial cattle operation, as well as their irrigated and dryland farming. He spent much of the '80s and '90s cross-fencing rangeland in coordination with BLM and state land agencies. Later, he attended the University of Montana where he studied history and literature. During his summer breaks, he worked on a Forest Service fire crew in the Yaak River drainage in the northwestern corner of Montana, where he helped fight fire, conduct prescribed burns and thinned forests. After completing his bachelor's degree in liberal studies, an interest in writing took him back to school and he earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of Montana. During the late '90s, Brent took opportunities to write for two daily newspapers in Montana and then for Radio Free Europe in Prague, Czech Republic. He returned to central Montana and since 2000, Brent has been in the commercial cow-calf business. For the past six years, he has worked at the Flat Creek Ranch of the Dearborn Ranch Company, located between Wolf Creek and Bowman's Corner, Montana. Brent was responsible for the cattle allotted to Flat Creek each year, either 400 heifers or 500 mother cows, and maintaining the grazing system they required, anywhere from 12,000 to 15,000 acres. He also was responsible for the ranch's irrigation system and flood irrigating about 400 acres. The rest of Brent's time was spent branding, trailing, doctoring and processing cattle throughout the Dearborn Ranch. Brent brings to Kingsville his wife, Wendy, also a native Montanan whom he met through journalism, and a one-year-old son, as well as two border collies, Rita and Izzy. He is a member of the AQHA as well as Society for Range Management. He appreciates this opportunity provided to him by all those involved with the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management and looks forward to the chance to learn more about successful resource management.

Conner Wilson - 6666 Fellow
KRIRM
MSC 137
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Kingsville, TX 78363-8202
(361) 593-5409
conner.wilson@students.tamuk.edu

Conner Wilson grew up in northeast Texas where he became acquainted with land and developed a love for the outdoors.  He graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science in Animal Science.  During college Conner was able to work for TAMU Extension, Padlock Ranch, and a number of central and east Texas ranches.  In his working career he has diversified his employment to encompass land improvement, cattle, and wildlife.  After college he started with Southern Brush SW, Inc. where he supervised right-of-way maintenance and reclamation across Texas.  Through Southern Brush he was able to learn land and employee management strategies.  From there he went on to own and operate a small contracting company where he expanded from ROW maintenance to include land improvement and development.  Needing more stability for the growing family he spent a year as a high school teacher and coach before transferring back to his ranching roots.  Conner has spent the last year working for the historic King Ranch.  At King Ranch he was able to use his brush management background to help implement an Individual Plant Treatment program.  Working for the range and wildlife department also allowed him to work with forage monitoring programs and wildlife management.  While at King Ranch he also worked for the King Ranch Feedyard.  There he broadened his cattle experience from cow/calf and stocker operations to a finished feeding program.  Conner looks forward to the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management where he hopes to maximize his various experiences to implement specific management strategies for future ranching operations.  Conner and his wife Kristin have 2 girls, Alli (19 months) and Peyton (2 months).

Armando Caballero - Deseret Fellow

KRIRM
MSC 137
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Kingsville, TX 78363-8202
(361) 593-5408
armando.caballero-at-students.tamuk.edu

Armando Caballero was born and raised in Weslaco, Texas. Throughout his childhood, he spent his summers working for a farmer in Wharton, Texas. It was here that he gained a love for production agriculture, which inspired him to be the first in his family to attend college. In December 2002, Armando graduated from Texas A&M University-Kingsville with a Bachelor of Science in animal science. While attending TAMUK, he worked at the King Ranch feedlot, then on the quarter horse unit. In January 2003, Armando moved to southern Utah to work for Circle Four Farms, a large hog operation. During the five years he spent with Circle Four Farms, he had the opportunity to work in many different areas of swine production. However, most of his time was spent in sow production, where he managed a 5,000 head sow unit. Armando spent his last year with Circle Four Farms as the senior recruiter, which allowed him to travel to many different places from American Samoa to Veracruz, Mexico. In the fall of 2007 Armando decided to pursue a career path in cattle and began working for AgReserves, Inc. at Elberta Valley Ag, a 5,000 head dairy in central Utah. His responsibilities included managing human resources and the milking parlor. Working for the dairy has introduced Armando to a new field of agriculture production that he has truly enjoyed. Armando has come to the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management to acquire the tools and skills needed to become a greater asset to the field of production agriculture.  Armando married Ann Genho on December 27, 2002, just a few weeks after graduation. They now have three children: Paul (3½ ), Joseph (2), and Isabelle (5 months).