This past Saturday, May 9, 2026, marked the complete and total dispersal of the 7 P Ranch Simmental and Simbrah herd. I don’t normally take the time or space to talk about past sales. Those are usually taken care of by the sale reports.

But this sale was different. And I am going to take the opportunity now to talk about a man and his operation, that I have served for 40 years.

My first 7P Ranch sale was in the fall of 1986. That’s right. 40 years ago. Some of you also know that Jim Banner and I started the Southern Livestock Standard in August of 1989. And it was around that time when the ranch started having both a spring sale and a fall sale. So, we at Southern Livestock have been running advertising for EVERY sale they had since 1989.

The proprietors of the sale were Joe and Mary Prud’homme. Mary passed back in the summer of 2009. But Joe is still going strong, although perhaps not as strong as Joe would prefer. From all my sources, I believe they started the ranch back in 1972. This fall’s sale would have been the 51^st Annual sale, so that makes his first fall sale was in 1975. For as long as I can remember, the fall sale was always held on the last Saturday in October. The important distinction there is the last Saturday—not the 4^th Saturday. Sometimes there are five Saturdays in a month. Again, I’m not sure what year we started having a spring sale as well, but to my knowledge, it had always been held on the 3^rd Saturday in February.

Joe and Mary had five children—Carol, Sharon, Joseph Jr, Steven and Sheila. To my knowledge, I never met the oldest Carol, but I cannot remember a sale that I worked there when both Sharon and Sheila were not there helping out. We would see Joesph Jr and Steven from time to time but they were also out busy with their own careers as well.

The thing I want to say about Joe is this, and I am glad I got to say it to him while he is still with us. Dr Joe wasn’t just a loyal customer. He was and is a loyal friend. I will never forget what he did for our good friend Bill Dutton prior to his passing, but there are countless other stories about others he has helped out in one way or another. Back in the early 2000’s, my folks had just moved from Oklahoma to Oakwood, Texas. My dad had been up north on South Dakota at a sale and collapsed in the cattle pens. At the time, we didn’t know what it was or what needed to be done. And my folks hadn’t lived in East Texas long enough to establish doctors.

I made one call to Joe Prud’homme. Before dad had made it back, he had already been set up with a doctor and specialists, and the appointments were already made. Joe had taken a very stressful and worrisome time for our family and had put our minds at ease. That’s the Joe we all know and love.

So, I’m grateful to have an avenue where I can share with you what a guy like Dr Joe Prud’homme and 7 P Ranch has meant to our company and me personally. The sale was incredibly successful with 547 lots of Simmental, SimAngus and Simbrah cattle that averaged $5065/head. That’s cows, calves, bulls, herd sires and open heifers. It was a very strong sale. And no one has deserved it more than Joe.