Phone: 712-684-5216

E-mail:  hatranch@gliddenwildblue.com

Meet the HAT Ranch staff

HAT Ranch, Inc.

2261 B Ave.

Coon Rapids, Iowa  50058

To contact us:

Doug Honold is the owner and co-founder of the HAT Ranch.  He has raised purebred Angus since 1958 and Tarentaise cattle beginning in 1986.  Doug farmed for many years, but always loved working with cattle.  As the HAT Ranch system began to grow, he was able to devote more time to cattle at the Ranch and to traveling about the customer base.  Doug and his wife, Linda, have three grown sons and five grand-children.

Gordon Fordyce began working with Tarentaise cattle in the 1970’s, and introduced the breed to the HAT Ranch in 1984.  He is an expert in the breed, having served six years on the Tarentaise board, organizing the first Tarentaise to be performance & carcass tested, and introducing Tarentaise cattle into hundreds of commercial breeds.  Gordy was inducted into the American Tarentaise Association Hall of Fame, a well deserved honor.

They took a great idea and ran with it.  In 1984, current owner Doug Honold and Gordy Fordyce met, shared thoughts about the cattle business, and began planning to raise top quality cattle.  To their partnership, Honold brought a lifetime of experience in breeding Angus cattle and Fordyce added his expertise in feed sales, nutrition, and management.  After 21 years of hard work, they’ve formed a network of producers who own 30,000 mother cows.  The HAT Ranch program now has hundreds of producers in eight states and sells about 250 bulls and 400 replacement heifers every year.

Kevin Sothman’s father, Clair, was one of the first in Iowa to see the value in the Tarentaise breed.  This early knowledge of the breed and his good eye for the right cattle, plus his people skills, makes Kevin a great representative for the HAT Ranch.  Kevin works with the customer base and he owns a cow-leasing company called Superior Leasing, LLC.  He and his wife, Kathy, live in SW Iowa and are blessed with seven children.

“We Build Better Cow Herds”