The History of Diamond C Ranch

Family History

John B. Collier, Jr. (Papo) was a self-made and successful entrepreneur in Ft. Worth, Texas. He was known across Texas and the U.S. for his production of poultry, eggs, butter, and cheese. He also formed and operated Diamond C Oils and then in 1939 purchased and expanded the Diamond C Ranch in Stephenville, Texas. He and his wife Ruth (Mamo) provided the foundation for building the Diamond C Ranch Legacy, which is proudly carried on to this day by the John B Collier IV family.

Six Generations of Colliers

Left to Right: John B Collier, Jr., John B Collier IV, John B Collier, Sr., John B Collier III

Six Generations of Colliers

Left to Right: John B Collier IV, John B Collier, Jr., John B Collier V

Six Generations of Colliers

Left to Right: John B Collier IV, John B Collier V, John B Collier VI

The Rominger Family

Family of Ruth Rominger Collier known affectionately as ‘ Mamo’. Mamo is credited as the driving force in creating the excellence that permeates throughout the 80+ year history of the Collier Diamond C Ranch.

The Rominger Family

W.O. Rominger, Mamo’s father, raised horses and mules on their ranch near Bridgeport, TX that he contracted to the US Army.

The Rominger Family

Mamo could ride a horse and work cattle with the best of the cowboys.

Ruth Collier & Sons

Mamo & Bobby Collier

Ruth Collier & Sons

Mamo & John B Collier III

Ruth Collier & Sons

Bobby was a 2nd Lieutenant and pilot in the US Army Air Force. He flew B17’s and later the B25’s. He is credited with taking out five Japanese navy vessels and three bombings on Japan. He was awarded a Purple Heart Medal for his last mission on 12.29.44, along with the Air Medal and Bronze Star. He was one of the thousands of brave Americans who have given their lives protecting the liberty and freedom of all US citizens.

Ruth Collier & Sons

Bobby, top center, and five crew members

John B Collier, JR. (Papo)

Papo standing beside a new saddle his employees had given him.

John B Collier, JR. (Papo)

Papo & friends rounding up steers on Ft. Worth’s North side.

John B Collier, JR. (Papo)

First Diamond C Oil Company oil well.

John B Collier, JR. (Papo)

Turkey’s were contracted across Texas.

Processed turkey’s at one of Papo's four Texas plants.

John B Collier, JR. (Papo)

Ft. Worth Poultry & Egg Plant where an average of over 8,000,000 pounds of turkey’s were processed each year.

Six Generations of Colliers

Left to Right: John B Collier, Jr., John B Collier IV, John B Collier, Sr., John B Collier III

Six Generations of Colliers

Left to Right: John B Collier IV, John B Collier, Jr., John B Collier V

Six Generations of Colliers

Left to Right: John B Collier IV, John B Collier V, John B Collier VI

The Rominger Family

The Rominger Family

W.O. Rominger, Mamo’s father, raised horses and mules on their ranch near Bridgeport, TX that he contracted to the US Army.

The Rominger Family

Mamo could ride a horse and work cattle with the best of the cowboys.

Ruth Collier & Sons

Mamo & Bobby Collier

Ruth Collier & Sons

Mamo & John B Collier III

Ruth Collier & Sons

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Family History

The Beginning of Diamond C

Having purchased the original Diamond C Ranch property in 1939, Papo made the trip from his Ft. Worth business offices to the ranch almost every weekend for the next 50 years. Over the years the Diamond C Ranch has had a dairy, a hog operation, as well as the main, and current, staple of the Ranch, its cattle herd.

Through Papo’s close relationship with Armour & Co (the largest meat processors in US at that time headquartered in Chicago), Collier Diamond C Ranch took a major leap to becoming a premier beef producer. Since that time the cattle operation has gone through many development phases and has raised many cattle breeds. It’s a continuing effort to breed the best cattle possible and has led to the development of today’s Unique Red Angus and Red SimAngus herds.

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The Beginning of Diamond C

Mamo and Papo riding their Arabian horses.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Papo made the drive from Ft. Worth to the Diamond C every weekend for almost fifty years.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Papo & John B Collier IV (Cowboy)

The Beginning of Diamond C

Mamo standing beside one of her favorite riding horse

The Beginning of Diamond C

Mamo & John B IV on holiday at a Galveston beach. Note the beach attire! Thus the nickname Cowboy!

The Beginning of Diamond C

A restored house that came with the initial property purchase in 1939. It was the original Collier Diamond C Ranch Headquarters.

The Beginning of Diamond C

A picture taken several years later showing how the Headquarters had grown with additional guest houses built for the many and frequent guests.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Boots Teague, the first (1st) Diamond C foreman.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Boots sorting cattle.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Boots roping a calf.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Boots and two ranch hands branding a calf.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Dan Cox, Hog Farm manager, with his family at the Diamond C Hog Farm Headquarters.

The Beginning of Diamond C

R.L. Woods, Dairy manager & his crew, who milked 150 cows daily.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Mamo with one of the Diamond C Champion Jersey cows.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Papo receiving the prestigious Texas Poultry Federation Golden Feather Award. The 'Golden Feather' award is the highest honor the TPF can bestow upon an individual for service "above and beyond the call of duty" to the state's poultry industry.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Papo being presented the Exchange Club of Ft. Worth’s 'Outstanding Citizen' for 1975.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Banquet ticket to Exchange Club Banquet.

The Beginning of Diamond C

The last roundup of Diamond C Ranch calves being shipped to feed lots before the Beef Cattle Improvement Program partnership between the ranch and Armour & Co began.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Boots Teague, foreman, at his retirement party. John B IV may have grown taller than Boots in height, but he had a lot of growing to do learning the beef cattle business.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Albert Ester, ranch employee, and Boots together one last time.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Papo and Gene Taber, the new ranch foreman.

The Beginning of Diamond C

John B Collier III with Gene Taber.

The Beginning of Diamond C

New foreman, Gene Taber with ranch crew ready for the new era on the Diamond C.

The Beginning of Diamond C

John B Collier IV was also ready to do his part in the transition to performance testing, AI Breeding and other new technologies coming to the changing Beef Industry.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Mamo and Papo riding their Arabian horses.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Papo made the drive from Ft. Worth to the Diamond C every weekend for almost fifty years.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Papo & John B Collier IV (Cowboy)

The Beginning of Diamond C

Mamo standing beside one of her favorite riding horse

The Beginning of Diamond C

Mamo & John B IV on holiday at a Galveston beach. Note the beach attire! Thus the nickname Cowboy!

The Beginning of Diamond C

A restored house that came with the initial property purchase in 1939. It was the original Collier Diamond C Ranch Headquarters.

The Beginning of Diamond C

A picture taken several years later showing how the Headquarters had grown with additional guest houses built for the many and frequent guests.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Boots Teague, the first (1st) Diamond C foreman.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Boots sorting cattle.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Boots roping a calf.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Boots and two ranch hands branding a calf.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Dan Cox, Hog Farm manager, with his family at the Diamond C Hog Farm Headquarters.

The Beginning of Diamond C

R.L. Woods, Dairy manager & his crew, who milked 150 cows daily.

The Beginning of Diamond C

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

The Diamond C Ranch was chosen by Armour & Co. as one of their three progeny testing herds in the U.S.A. Armor purchased a number of the best beef bulls in America, collected semen from them in Morris, Ill., then shipped the collected semen to the three chosen progeny testing ranches. Each of the three ranches used the semen on their test herds for breeding purposes.

John B IV had the opportunity of a lifetime when he turned 14 yrs. to travel with Harold White (head of BCI Research at Armour) for three summers. They traveled across the U.S. looking at and evaluating all the top purebred bulls among all the breeds. By the time he was 17 yrs. he had visited most of the best purebred herds in 43 states and had the opportunity to listen to Harold White evaluate those cow herds. He looks back on this experience as the best education he could have had in preparation for his future in the seed stock cattle industry.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

Left to Right: Boots Teague, foreman, John B Collier IV, John B Collier, Jr.
Bottom: Harold White & Ted Tressler, both with Armour and Company. Evaluating sires to be used on the Diamond C cows.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

Cowboys rounding up cows for a photograph in one of the thirteen (13) progeny testing pastures at Armour-BCI's Diamond C Ranch, near Stephenville, Texas. Rough terrain makes good proving ground.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

Armour-BCI's Progeny Test Station on the 14,000 acre Diamond C Ranch was used for checking the ability of bulls to produce their good characteristics to the calves they produced.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

Armour-BCI stud is on a 620-acre farm near Morris, Illinois. Here, nearly 100 bulls, representing 15 breeds, were kept. Many sires already were fully proven: others were in a three-year process of becoming Gold Star Sire.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

BCI Annual Herd Sire Directory cover.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

A page out of the 1965 Herd Sire Directory.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

Another page out of the 1965 Herd Sire Directory, showing the semen stored in ampules instead of today's mini-straws.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

The bull shown was the premiere phenotype in 1965.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

Mamo & Papo standing in front of what was the precursor to today's ultra sound testing. It was called electrogrammetry.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

Armour & Company beef cattle staff with the Diamond C crew.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

Top executives in the U.S. food industry meeting at the Diamond C.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

Left to Right: Boots Teague, foreman, John B Collier IV, John B Collier, Jr.
Bottom: Harold White & Ted Tressler, both with Armour and Company. Evaluating sires to be used on the Diamond C cows.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

Cowboys rounding up cows for a photograph in one of the thirteen (13) progeny testing pastures at Armour-BCI's Diamond C Ranch, near Stephenville, Texas. Rough terrain makes good proving ground.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

Armour-BCI's Progeny Test Station on the 14,000 acre Diamond C Ranch was used for checking the ability of bulls to produce their good characteristics to the calves they produced.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

BCI Annual Herd Sire Directory cover.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

A page out of the 1965 Herd Sire Directory.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

Another page out of the 1965 Herd Sire Directory, showing the semen stored in ampules instead of today's mini-straws.

Navigate the slideshow using the left and right arrows. Click a photo to view full screen.

Beef Cattle Improvement (BCI)

More History of Diamond C