Diamond A Ranch began breeding Brahman cattle in 1981 when Jerry Jr. and Julie Armstrong graduated from college with degrees in Animal Science with the goal and determination to produce and market registered gray Brahman cattle.


The use of Brahmans in cross-breeding programs in the U.S. provided a market for good Brahman bulls in the commercial beef industry.

The original herd began with the purchase of 20 gray Brahman heifers from 3X Ranch, one of the oldest Brahman breeders in the U.S. located in the coastal Texas area.


Shortly after this, the purchase of the entire Jack James Brahman herd from central Florida, increased the herd to one of the larger herds in the U.S. The James cattle had a strong influence of old line Beville and U.S. Sugar Corporation breeding.

The James Ranch worked closely with the University of Florida in collecting performance data for over 20 years, well before the use of performance records in Brahman cattle was incorporated into the American Brahman Breeders Association record system.

A few years later the Armstrongs purchased the Eckman Ranch herd in Florida as well as the Five Wells Ranch herd in central Texas. These two herds, totaling over 300 cows, played a very important role in the present genetics of the Diamond A Brahman cow herd today. Both herds had a very strong influence of U.S. Sugar breeding that has proven to be exceptional in performance and maternal ability.

The WWE 431 Poncrata bull, part of the Eckman purchase, became very influential in the Diamond A breeding program, crossing well with the existing bloodlines of the cowherd. He was almost pure U.S. Sugar breeding with very good muscle characteristics, heavy bone, deep-bodied, and very masculine. Among several replacement females that 431 produced was Miss Diamond A 88/2, one of our top donor cows of all time, and probably one of the most influential Brahman cows of the breed in Brazil.

Other bulls that have been important to the Diamond A breeding program include JDH Supercalc Manso 310/2,  JDH Mr. Manso 440/1, Mr. V8 777/4 “Powerstroke”, Mr. Diamond A 183/6, and Mr. Diamond A 138/8.

During the 1990s, Diamond A began a more extensive embryo collection and transfer program using some of the most fertile cows from the herd bred to our best producing herd bulls. This provided great strides for increasing the top genetics in the herd and furthering our goal of consistency and uniformity.

The last acquisition of Brahman cows was the purchase of the entire gray Brahman herd of Hudson Cattle Company which included part ownership in Mr. V8 777/4 “Powerstroke,” a great show ring winner that has had a tremendous impact on many Brahman herds throughout the world.

The philosophy at Diamond A Ranch has always been to select and breed our Brahman cattle for consistency and uniformity in a no-nonsense forage-based environment with emphasis on a balance of growth, milk, fertility structural soundness and hardiness. This focus has helped us produce a herd of deep-bodied, correct functional cattle that have not only survived, but thrived for our customers in the U.S. and throughout the world.

*The Brahman Journal Covers seen on this page are all photos taken by Julie Armstrong of Diamond A Ranch