This all started in July of 1996, when I bought my husband a seven-month-old Longhorn heifer as an anniversary gift.  At that time, we lived on a small three-acre ranchette in Brookshire.  Little did we know this colorful bovine could have so much personality and so much impact on our lives.  To sum it up, Longhorns are like a certain potato chip- "Bet you can't have just one!"

By October of the following year, we had sold our home and moved to a more rural setting in Schulenberg.  We had to do this as our "addiction" to Longhorns had caused our collection to grow to a small herd of 23!  During this time, we read as much as we could find about the cattle, attended several shows, and spent countless hours talking to other breeders.  We were fascinated about the way calves can literally change colors as they mature and how each animal can be so different in looks and in personality!

As we got started in this, we noticed when visiting various breeders' ranches, that upon looking over their cattle, most of what we saw was solid red, solid white, or dun colored cows.  I told Ted we wanted to have a variety of pretty colors in our cattle- something that would really attract the potential buyer's attention.  I wanted our Longhorns to look like someone took a paint brush and just splattered beautiful color on them.  Hence, the name "A Splash of Color..."  However, we breed for the whole package of Longhorn traits, not just color alone.

We feel we have developed some incredible foundation stock- each of which has to represent the "total package" of characteristics we believe are important to the breed:  great horns, gentle dispositions, proven production, top conformation, and, of course, having lots of pretty color.  We breed to provide improved foundation animals to other breeders and ranchers, whether they are shopping for bulls or for females for their herd.

Ted and I are committed to delivering outstanding customer service, so we developed a website for our ranch back in 1998, long before it had become the trendy thing to do.  Our site contains an "Information Section" that includes a variety of helpful articles on everything from how to care for cattle to building a good fence to reporting livestock earnings on your taxes.  The information section is an on-gong project for which I am continuously updating and adding more selections as free time permits.  It has proven to be a valuable resource to many new Longhorn raisers.  If there is some topic on which a customer needs information, I will do the research and put it on the site if it seems it might be beneficial to other ranchers.

Today, our ranch consists of 86-acres with two spring-fed ponds, six rotation pastures, covered working pens and six holding areas around the barn.  We are running four herds of about 22-25 cows per herd.  We have retained three of our 2004 bulls for future ASOCL herdsires.

At present, all of our cattle are bred naturally by our own sires.  Our bulls carry some of the best genetics in the industry and are all currently getting A.I. Certified.

While we are active in working and helping at various sales around the state, we seldom consign at sales as we have been fortunate to sell most of our cattle by private treaty.  This is as a direct result of our successful marketing through our website and also by word-of-mouth advertising from our customers.

In 2001, we were named as the #1 TLBAA Movers & Shakers for our division and also named as one of the top three breeders in this category nationwide.  Since that point, and even though we have cut back our herd numbers considerably, we have again been chosen for the #2 spot for our division and included on the list of the top six Movers & Shakers in the nation for 2002, 2003 and 2004.  We consider this to be quite an honor considering most of our competition for this award are individual breeders or partnerships with ranches on a much larger scale than our operation.

To increase the value of our breeding program, we became Millennium Futurity Partners in January 2004.  We are strong believers in the concept of "it's what's bred in, not fed in" that will make the Longhorn breed stronger and more lasting.  We have customers who are showing calves they've purchased from us and are doing well on the show circuit.  Our cattle are known as winners in the pasture and winners in the show ring as well.

Kay and Ted Roush