Carl H. Kent graduated from Arizona State University in 1962.  He took a management position on the K-Ranch, a 100-section cattle ranch and farm in Northwestern Colorado.  The next year Carl married Donnette Pearce and they continued to manage the ranch together for the next seven years.  In 1971 Carl took out a loan to buy the ranch from Bill and Jane Thorne.  They ran Herefords and used Lucky Blanton- bred horses to manage the cattle.  Carl claims “the Lucky Blantons had great dispositions and were good all-around cow horses.”  The Lucky Blanton mares were bred to thoroughbred studs to get colts with more endurance for the rough, mountainous terrain.

            To attain hybrid vigor in the cowherd, Carl bought a set of pure-bred Gelbvieh bulls to cross on his Hereford cows.  He felt like the Gelbvieh influence would enhance the maternal traits in his replacement heifers.  He used this method for eight years before changing to purebred Red Angus bulls.

In 1991 the K-Ranch was sold and the Kent family moved to the strong grass- country of Eastern New Mexico.  Carl kept a group of commercial Red Angus heifers and has been breeding them back to purebred Red Angus bulls for the last sixteen years.  Today they reside at their San Jon Ranch headquarters, five miles south of San Jon, NM.  The calves sell in the Superior Livestock Auction every year, with the heifers often outselling the steers.

The San Jon Ranch mare band is primarily by Solid Sugar Bars (an own son of Colonel Freckles out of a daughter of Sugar Bars) and out of Lucky Blanton mares.  They have all been broke to ride (and in some cases shown) and proven themselves for the day to day handling tasks on the ranch.  Carl’s daughter, Holly Gundlach, has been actively training and promoting our genetics.  We have two four-year old colts showing in National Reined Cow Horse and American Stock Horse Association events for 2011.