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Cattle Breeders and Breed Pioneers

Ben Houston: Colorado Angus Breeder Who Led the National Western

A Colorado herdsman became an embryo transfer pioneer, then president and chairman of the National Western Stock Show.

Who Was Ben Houston of Platteville, Colorado?

Ben Houston was a Colorado cattleman who worked his way from herdsman to ranch owner, and from ranch owner to head of a major livestock show. The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum's Hall of Great Westerners profile gives his birth year as 1929, and his obituary gives the date as August 13, 1929 and his death as February 26, 2016, at age 86.

Readers searching Hereford history should note that the sources describe Houston as an Angus man. His obituary says his father, Walter Houston, was a pioneer Angus breeder, that he showed his first calf in 1938 at age nine, and that he belonged to the American Angus Association for more than 50 years.

From Herdsman to Seedstock Breeder

After graduating from Sterling High School, Houston served four years in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean conflict and attended the University of Illinois while enlisted. His early jobs were all in registered cattle: herdsman at Norgren Polled Hereford Ranch, manager of Hilltop Angus and Haystack Angus Ranches, and a role with the Austin Moody Sale Management organization.

In 1965 he established Aristocrat Angus Ranch near Platteville, on the St. Vrain River, with a feedlot, an embryo transfer center and croplands. A Colorado State University hall of fame page gives 1966 and credits both Ben and his wife Anita with founding it, so sources differ by a year.

Artificial Insemination and Embryo Transfer on the St. Vrain

The Colorado State University page says Houston started an artificial insemination program in 1952, became a pioneer in embryo transplanting, and built a modern lab at his feedlot in 1980. It reports that his staff artificially inseminates 2,000 replacement heifers each year, and that those heifers go to commercial ranches.

The same page says he advised the governments of Turkey, Japan and Costa Rica and exchanged cattle business information with the Soviet Union and Ukraine. These are the claims of a university honors page rather than independent reporting, so treat the scope of that advising as reported.

Running the National Western Stock Show

Houston was appointed to the National Western Stock Show's Executive Committee in 1976, elected president in 1985, and became chairman of the board in 1999. He also served as president of Colorado Cattle Feeders and as a director of the National Cattlemen's Association, the Round-Up Riders of the Rockies and Colorado National Bank.

Education was part of his public service. He sat on advisory and development boards at Colorado State University, was a Weld County 4-H leader, served on the Valley High School FFA advisory committee and on the Weld County Fair Board.

The Key to Houston's Success

Houston's record shows a man who learned every job in the registered business before owning his own operation, then stayed ahead on reproductive technology and gave years to the institutions that market cattle.

  • He learned the trade from inside: herdsman, ranch manager and sale-management work came before Aristocrat Angus.
  • He adopted reproductive technology early, starting artificial insemination in 1952 and building an embryo transfer center and lab.
  • He combined seedstock, feedlot and cropland at one site on the St. Vrain River.
  • He supplied commercial ranches with inseminated replacement heifers, reportedly 2,000 a year.
  • He invested in the shows and associations that move cattle: National Western leadership over more than two decades, plus cattle feeder and NCA roles.

Honors and Legacy

The National Western Stock Show named Houston its Citizen of the West in 1995. He was inducted into the Angus Heritage Foundation in 2001, and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum inducted him into its Hall of Great Westerners in 2020, after his death. The Colorado State University page lists a 1996 induction without naming the body in the portion reviewed, so that honor is noted here only as reported.

For more western livestock history, farm.FM has ranching stories and a story about Angus cattle and stock shows.

Timeline

  1. 1929Born August 13 in Colorado to Walter and Minnie Houston
  2. 1938Shows his first calf at age nine
  3. 1952Starts an artificial insemination program
  4. 1965Establishes Aristocrat Angus Ranch near Platteville (one source gives 1966)
  5. 1976Appointed to the National Western Stock Show Executive Committee
  6. 1980Builds a modern lab at his feedlot
  7. 1985Elected president of the National Western Stock Show
  8. 1995Named Citizen of the West by the National Western
  9. 1999Becomes chairman of the National Western board
  10. 2001Inducted into the Angus Heritage Foundation

Frequently asked questions

Who was Ben Houston?

Ben Houston (1929-2016) was a Colorado Angus breeder who founded Aristocrat Angus Ranch near Platteville, pioneered embryo transfer, and served as president and later chairman of the National Western Stock Show in Denver.

What is Aristocrat Angus Ranch?

It is the ranch Houston established in 1965 on the St. Vrain River near Platteville, Colorado. It included a feedlot, an embryo transfer center and croplands.

What honors did Ben Houston receive?

He received the National Western Citizen of the West award in 1995, entered the Angus Heritage Foundation in 2001, and was inducted into the National Cowboy Museum's Hall of Great Westerners in 2020.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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