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P R O F I L E<br />
The next generation of ranch leadership will<br />
be entirely female. Biedenharn and Caroline were<br />
gifted with a “classroom” ranch when they were<br />
in high school. It is theirs to manage. Because<br />
they are both working away from the ranch<br />
currently, Richard is the consistent physical<br />
presence, but they are the sole decision makers.<br />
“We get to learn about everything on a<br />
smaller scale,” Biedenharn said.<br />
One of the many lessons that Biedenharn has<br />
learned is the value of technology in what many<br />
perceive as a hidebound industry. One industrychanging<br />
example is RFID (radio frequency<br />
identification system) tags. The tags implanted<br />
soon after a calf is born allow the family to<br />
gather and record production information as<br />
well as trace the whereabouts of that animal<br />
through the entire production chain. The family<br />
members adopted the technology early on and<br />
it is impacting the way they do business.<br />
“The general public has no idea how<br />
technology is changing our business,”<br />
Biedenharn said. “It is making<br />
us much more efficient—and<br />
illuminating other efficiencies<br />
that can be gained.”<br />
As a next generation<br />
rancher, she is clear-eyed<br />
about the future. Rising<br />
land prices that prompt<br />
sub-division of large tracts<br />
will make it more difficult for<br />
the sprawling ranches that<br />
shaped the culture of Texas<br />
to exist.<br />
“I think the law of supply and<br />
demand is going to sort it out,”<br />
Biedenharn said.<br />
Those large ranches that<br />
remain will not be the ranches of<br />
lore that were the sole domain of<br />
hard-riding, whooping and shooting<br />
cowboys on horseback.<br />
“The romantic notion of ranching<br />
is just that—a romantic notion,”<br />
Biedenharn said. “People tend to forget<br />
that we ranchers are in the business of<br />
raising beef to feed people. I don’t<br />
think people are going to quit eating<br />
beef, so I think the ranching industry is<br />
here to stay. It may look different, but it will<br />
be here.” °<br />
a favorite memory<br />
“That’s a hard question because I loved growing up on<br />
the land. The first answer that comes to my mind is driving<br />
with Dad. We were always going to check on something<br />
or headed to a working somewhere—and that generally<br />
involved traveling a distance. When we’d be pretty far<br />
along into our seven or eight hour trips, we’d always<br />
find a convenience store and buy some of those weird<br />
triangle sandwiches and snacks. Through the whole<br />
trip, we just talked and talked. We solved the world’s<br />
problems and spent hours imagining great inventions<br />
we could engineer. Those were just some of my favorite<br />
times because we were truly together.”
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