Hiram Phillips was a trader. He hated buying anything if it could have been traded for instead. He was the editor of The Sheep and Goat Raisers Association magazine, and through that, was able to make connections with ranchers from all over Texas and New Mexico. He was able to trade ranches in Rock Springs, Knickerbocker and elsewhere. He once owned a car dealership in Monahans and then traded it for a 12,000 acre ranch in Vaugn, New Mexico. His wife Delma had the philosophy that land was the only true indicator of wealth. Through her strength and his resolve, the ranch in New Mexico was traded in 1963 for the final 10 section ranch in Irion County south of Mertzon, Texas.
After letting the range rest for a couple of years from the previous owner’s extensive over-grazing by sheep, Hiram and Delma leased the grazing rights to a local cattleman in Mertzon. The cow calf operation headed up by the Wales family operated for decades until the passing of Hiram and Delma Phillips.
Upon their deaths, the ranch was passed down to their four daughters; Ruth Phillips, Anita Monk, Jane White and Debbie McCullough. Through the inheritance by Anita Monk, and the buying of property from relatives and adjoining neighbors by Sherman Monk, the present day Monk Ranch was formed. As with Hiram, the ranch pasture grass was leased to the Wales family. In 2007, after prolonged drought, it was decided that Johnny Wales would remove all cattle from the ranch to let the pasture recover. In 2008, after decent rains turned the rolling hills green again, and after decades of leasing out the pasture grass to others, Sherman Monk and his son David Monk started The Monk Cattle Company. For the first time, the ranch was stocked with family owned black angus cattle.
The physical layout of the ranch pastures made for a back section of land not getting into the normal rotation of cattle from pasture to pasture. After several years of the main herd not getting to graze this back pasture, it was decided to place a stand-alone herd of special breed cattle to stay there full time. After extensive research, the Belted Galloway breed (“belties”) was decided upon based on their hardiness and outstanding flavor of their meat when fed a diet of just grass. With more and more people concerned with the health issues stemming from the typical feedlot grain-fed beef, and with numerous taste tests confirming the superior flavor and juiciness of the grass-fed healthier beltie beef, Sherman and David decided to venture out of their cow-calf comfort zone into the selling of Belted Galloway beef.
Hiram & Delma Phillips
Sherman & Anita Monk with granddaughters,
Riley & Tessa Monk
Kelly & David Monk