Managing nearly 1,400 acres in the Texas Hill Country means there is rarely a shortage of work for Colton Richardson.
As ranch manager of Ransom Ranch in Spicewood, Texas, Richardson oversees the day-to-day operation of the property, from caring for cattle to maintaining roads, controlling brush and rebuilding miles of fence across rocky terrain.
Ransom Ranch is a growing cattle operation with a Wagyu crossbred program. The Spicewood property supports approximately 48 head of cattle, with the herd continuing to grow as the operation develops.
“A lot of it is property maintenance, brush cutting and cutting cedar trees,” Richardson said. “But we're always taking care of cattle.”
Much of that property work is performed with a skid steer and attachments from I Dig Texas.
Ransom Ranch uses a variety of I Dig Texas attachments, including trenchers, brush cutters, augers, hay forks, a Texas Post Driver, road grader, tree shear and broom, along with a Hay Cactus Jack attachment for removing cactus.
“If I'm running that skid steer, I'm hooked up to one of their products,” Richardson said.
Building Fence in Hill Country Rock
Among those attachments, the Texas Post Driver Premium TPD-1250 has become particularly useful as Ransom Ranch rebuilds its interior fencing.
Richardson said much of the property's older fencing was only 36 to 40 in. high. The ranch has been replacing it with 52-in. fencing and has completed approximately 3 mi. of interior fence.
The rocky Hill Country terrain can make that work difficult.
“We used to auger holes, concrete the posts in, then you've got to let them sit overnight,” Richardson said. “Or we'd hit a rock, and have to jackhammer the rock out so we could get the post deep enough.”
The I Dig Texas TPD-1250 is rated at an energy class of 1,250 ft.-lbs. and can be equipped with interchangeable tools for driving posts or breaking rock.
Richardson said he typically uses 2 7/8-in. drill stem for fence posts and uses the post driver's breaker point when he encounters rock.
“They sent it with a bit, and it's great at breaking rock,” Richardson said. “You sit on that tool long enough, it'll drive through anything.”
The biggest difference for Richardson has been time.
Using the previous process, he estimated that constructing a mile of fence could take a week to a week and a half. With the post driver, he said he can complete approximately the same distance in three days.
“Now I can just punch the post in and be done,” Richardson said.
The post driver also has been put to work on other projects around the ranch. Richardson used it to construct a water gap, driving 6-in. pipe approximately 10 ft. into the ground before building the remainder of the structure.
Another water gap damaged by heavy rain is among his upcoming projects.
Fencing represents only part of the work Richardson handles with I Dig Texas attachments.
For Richardson, working with I Dig Texas is also about being able to explain the job he needs to accomplish and discuss which attachment fits the application.
“If you need something, I'll call in and say, 'This is what I need to do. Do you guys have something that'll fit the application?'“ Richardson said. “We'll sit on the phone and talk through several different attachments and what would work, what would work better and what's just not really going to work for me.”
That approach has helped Richardson find equipment for the different demands of Ransom Ranch, from fencing and road maintenance to clearing brush, cedar and cactus across the property.
“They're very customer first,” Richardson said. “They're not just trying to make a dollar. They're trying to actually help you.”
For Richardson, that means spending less time figuring out how to tackle the next job and more time getting it done.
