It starts with family…
Thomas was a second generation Angus cattle rancher with several generations of farmers and cattle raisers behind him. He was born a farm boy. He grew up on what many would call the “little farm” in Duncanville. He spent his high school days playing football and being involved in FFA.
Evie was born and raised in Lockhart, and is the 4th generation on the “river farm” which is now Kemp Angus Farm headquarters.
After they married and started their own family, they knew they wanted to raise their kids in a small town and be involved in agriculture. Thomas’ first job after graduating college was as an Ag-Science (FFA) Teacher. Evie’s father was the long-time Ag-Science teacher at Lockhart, so raising their three kids in the show ring involved in 4-H and FFA was a given.
When Thomas’ parents bought a section of land in east Texas in Alba near Lake Fork in the late 1970s, they purchased registered Angus cattle for that property. And Kemp Angus Farm got its start.
Not too long after being married, Thomas and Evie found themselves in north Texas, working and raising kids. All three siblings, Kristi, Katy and Kyle showed cattle. The first show steers and heifers Kristi and Katy put a halter on came from Papa and Grandma’s farm in Alba. Kyle’s first bred-and-owned bull would be named “Pine Drive” from the bloodlines our Papa had in the herd in east Texas.
Evie grew up in Lockhart and enjoyed weekends at the river in Staples with her grandparents. The property sits on the San Marcos river in a farming community and is where Thomas and Evie wanted to retire with the cattle. Moving the herd and operations to south-central Texas would also come with a shift in raising Angus cattle.
The robust bull market Kemp Angus Farm had in north Texas was a different market than south-central Texas. However, where there are challenges, there are opportunities and Thomas had a vision.
The river property may be rural, but it’s also centrally located to urban areas. Thomas saw a need to transition from selling registered bulls to fulfilling a need for local high-quality beef. Kemp Angus Farm started selling our farm-to-table beef in 2018 and each year we continue to grow.
Through the years the herd grew, the cattle Kristi, Katy and Kyle owned from their show herd, started from their Papa and Grandma’s herd, grew too. Then came a day we needed to move our grandparents’ entire herd from east Texas to the Decatur area. Decades later with a herd more than doubled the size from its small start in Alba, Thomas and Evie made the decision to retire from their careers in the DFW area and become full-time farmers and cattle raisers. But to achieve this would come with a move and relocation.
Today, Kemp Angus Farm is the full circle of generations of farming and cattle from Thomas’ side and the fertile river farm ground from Evie’s side. When we say we’re a “family-farm” we truly mean that. We’ve been working on improving the cattle herd for more than 40 years while always trying to increase the sustainability of the land and natural resources.
Transitioning from primarily raising and selling breeding stock with a few feeder steers a year to only keeping a handful of calves born as bulls for breeding stock and feeding out the rest for farm-to-table beef has only made us more particular and critical of animal selection tools. We’ve never believed in the “born a bull stay a bull” mindset, but now, our bull calves have to be something pretty special to stay a bull. They have to have the right pedigree, the right genetic potential, the right phenotype and kind, they have to be sound and they must have good temperament. If any male born calves don’t excel in our criteria, they are steered and fed out. So, when we say we’d use every bull we raise and sell ourselves, we mean that, because we already sort hard.
Our philosophy has also helped excel our beef business. Because better cattle means better beef. It’s that simple. You get quality out when you put quality in. The cattle we feed and sell as beef hands down beat the national average on grading High Choice and Prime. It’s not just a matter of family heritage, it’s pride in doing what’s best for the cattle and resources today for a better tomorrow.
And we’re already looking ahead at all the tomorrows raising the 6th generation right here on the farm, starting them in the show ring and beginning their own herd to grow.