Many of the award-winning cattle that lined the pens at this year’s Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo were raised on rural ranches across Texas, but some spent their time grazing between corporate campuses and a private golf course.
Hillwood Land & Cattle, part of the real estate behemoth known for huge developments like AllianceTexas, nearly swept its part of the 2025 competition. Judges on Feb. 7 named the company’s black Brahman crosses the overall reserve champion and first place in their division in the stock show’s commercial heifer division. Hillwood’s heavy-bred Brangus heifers, located in a pen nearby, also placed first in their division.
Though Hillwood Land & Cattle raises animals near civilization, make no mistake, it still operates in a manner similar to what’s found on other ranches across the state. A team of cowboys, decked out in hats and boots, raises and manages about 1,500 head of cattle across roughly 10,000 acres.
At the 2,500-acre Circle T Ranch, the animals graze in between a nine-hole private golf course and corporate campuses for Charles Schwab and Deloitte University. Executives at Hillwood consider the caretakers of the company’s undeveloped land a major asset, both from a financial standpoint and as a symbol of founder Ross Perot Jr.’s affinity for the Western lifestyle.
rett Burton leads the team, overseeing more than 60 pastures. Each day holds a range of responsibilities, from planning spring crops and cutting hay to checking on herds and lines of fences.
“This is a full-blown working ranch that you’d find if you went to West Texas right now,” Burton said. “It’s set in a very different setting, of course, being with all the urban stuff around. But it is no different.”
It’s no easy feat to raise reserve champion heifers. Ranch manager Sawyer Smith said each competition is two years in the making — from the moment a heifer calf is born and weaned to when breeds with a bull and carries calves of its own.
“It’s watching your product hit the ground as a newborn baby calf,” Smith said. “And then you think, OK, my product’s here. No, you have to tender, loving care for it for the next six months ’til they wean. And then once they wean, it’s another two month process on top of that, and that’s the hardest two months of their life, is being pulled off the mother.”
Care and good genetics go a long way in competition, and pay off during auction. Burton said if he looks at a group of cows and can’t tell the difference between them, it’s a good sign. He picked the animals for the competition a week prior.
During the auction the day after the show, Hillwood Land & Cattle’s reserve champions pulled in $5,600 per pair, much higher than the average of $4,109, said Robert Schacher, owner of Schacher Auction Services. The company runs livestock auctions across the country, including at the Fort Worth Stock Show.
“It’s kind of funny how you judge yourself as a rancher,” Burton said. “You know, if you’ve got good cows, how do you do it? You only have one of two ways. It’s either they’re going to bring more money than somebody else’s and/or you have to compete.”
That’s why Ross Perot Jr., chairman at Hillwood, wants them to compete, Burton said — to strive to run a quality cattle program.
Hillwood’s cattle operations aren’t just for show — they play an important part in the company’s real estate strategy. Especially at the company’s 27,000-acre AllianceTexas development, which has had a $130 billion economic impact on the region since 1990. Circle T Ranch is located a few miles east of Alliance.
Charlie Campbell, executive vice president of finance and operations at Hillwood, said the cattle save the company substantial sums because they qualify the land for agricultural property tax exemptions. When land is classified as “agricultural use,” property taxes are based on the agricultural productivity value of the land, rather than the market value. The higher the market value is for the land, the greater amount of property tax savings.
“That’s a huge benefit for undeveloped land,” he said. “The carrying costs of undeveloped land would be prohibitive if it weren’t for that.”
Beyond that, Campbell said, it’s good branding. Burton said Perot, who’s net worth Forbes pegs at $4.6 billion, has a real passion for the Western lifestyle and is a good horseman who comes to ride at Circle T. Signs of that passion can be seen inside the Hillwood Land & Cattle office, where black-and-white photos of a young Perot with a horse hang on a wall.
Campbell and others acknowledge that as Hillwood continues to develop the open land it owns, the cattle have less land to graze upon. Fences have to be shifted, herds have to be moved.
About 3,200 acres near Denton will eventually be turned into a massive residential and mixed-use community called Landmark. Since Perot bought Circle T from the Hunt family in 1993, some of the expanse has been turned into office campuses. The ranch’s website advertise more acreage that could eventually host other corporate hubs. At the same time, Perot dedicated a large swatch of the ranch as a preserve in 2016 in recognition of land stewardship.
“I think there will always be a land and cattle program here,” Campbell said. “It kind of speaks to the heart of the overall development.”
After winning awards at the Fort Worth Stock Show, the Hillwood Land & Cattle team doesn’t have much time to celebrate. The herd needs attention and more competitions around the state await around the corner.