a rich heritage
Ranch History
The history of Tehama Angus Ranch is steeped in a rich heritage of people and cattle. We are one of the very few seedstock operations that has four generations of family behind it.
1909
In 1909 the Francis Sheldon Borror family purchased a Jersey dairy in Fordland, MO. F.S. Borror had a son Mark, Bill’s Uncle, who had just graduated from Kansas State University where he learned to measure milk production of individual cows. In 1918 when the family moved to California to be nearer Francis’ siblings, milk production testing continued with the acquisition of a herd of Holsteins. During the 1930s and ’40s Mark and his brother Dale, Bill’s father, developed the Sequoia Stock Farm into one of the leading sources of Holstein genetics in the West, by focusing their breeding techniques to improve butter fat poundage throughout their herd.
1943
Upon witnessing the adaptability of Angus cattle in a neighbor’s commercial herd, Mark’s son Bruce purchased an Angus heifer for his FFA project in 1940. Subsequently, the Sequoia partnership purchased females (many tracing to the Rosemere herd of the legendary Otto V. Battles). In 1943, Bill began his herd with the purchase of Kern’s Blackcap 4, a direct ancestor to the famed Tehama Bando 155 born in 1980. As a result of the successful performance program in the Holstein herd it was only natural that the new Angus herd was enrolled in the University of California Record of Performance Program, a precursor to the California Beef Cattle Improvement Association program. Performance testing of beef cattle was in its infancy, the technology rudimentary, but the foundation was laid for rapid improvement of the breeding process.
1948
In 1948 Dale and his family moved to Gerber where Tehama Angus Ranch was established with cattle from the partnership and Bill’s Angus herd. With a desire to work in the “family business”, Bill and wife Sandy formed a partnership with his parents in 1958 after Bill’s 1955 graduation from UC Davis with a degree in Animal Science and a tour in the US Army. Bill and Sandy have four sons and one daughter, of which three have chosen to carry on the family tradition of ranching and farming. Son Kevin and his wife Linda have been active in ranch development since 1979. Linda manages the office and records. Son Aaron and his wife Rebecca operate their own 9 Peaks Angus Ranch in Fort Rock, Oregon. The youngest son Eric manages the farm operations which include almonds, walnuts, corn, and alfalfa. Daughter Alda Borror is currently living in Japan teaching English.
2009
Kevin and Linda’s children Callie, Bryce, and Rochelle are the 4th generation to be raised on the ranch. In family tradition, Bryce returned home in May of 2009 after graduating from Colorado State University to manage the cowherd. Bryce's wife Erin is an economist for the US Meat Export Federation. They have two boys, Clayton and Nolan that enjoy being outdoors.
Tehama Angus Ranch continually strives to be at the forefront of adopting new technology to improve the acceptability of Angus cattle and their position in the industry through performance testing, artificial insemination, embryo transfer, utilization of genomic enhanced EPDs, and the measurement of body composition through ultrasound. All of these processes along with the first ever private Angus bull sale in California (1975) were established in the Tehama program when the opportunities first arose. Now as we continue on this road we are continually blessed with exciting opportunities to further enhance the genetics supplied to the commercial beef industry in the west.