Animal Science, 1953

 

Hydro, Oklahoma, native Minnie Lou Bradley, now of Memphis, Texas, earned her degree in 1953 after becoming the first woman to enroll in animal husbandry at Oklahoma Agricultural & Mechanical College.

 

It was her achievements as a member of the livestock judging team at OAMC that launched her into a path of success. She won the Top Beef Cattle Collegiate Judge title at the 1952 American Royal livestock judging competition in Kansas City, Missouri, and was first in sheep judging, second in horse judging and top overall collegiate judge at the Chicago International competition in 1952.

 

Starting with 20 cows and 3,300 acres, Bradley and her husband, Bill, started the Bradley 3 Ranch near Childress, Texas. Bradley and her daughter and son-in-law, Mary Lou and James Henderson, operate the ranch, which is one of the nation’s most envied seedstock and commercial Angus operations. The ranch runs about 400 registered Angus cows on a 10,000-acre spread.

 

She was named a Graduate of Distinction from the OSU Department of Animal Science in 1988 and presented the Master Breeder Award from the department in 2010. Bradley was listed in Beef Magazine in both 2004 and 2014 as one of the Top 40 Cattlemen. In 2014, she was inducted into the Saddle & Sirloin Portrait Gallery, a collection of portraits of distinguished livestock industry leaders. Only one person is honored each year.

 

Bradley has spent a lifetime working to create profitable bulls for commercial producers and quality end products for consumers.