Home / About / Bill King
Bill King

Bill King


Bill King started his Hereford herd as a highschooler in 1968 with the purchase of three heifers from Marshall Sellman. After graduation from high school, Bill attended New Mexico State University. Bill then returned to the family ranch, where he began buying feeder cattle and selling fat cattle for his family’s 16,000 head feedlot. Bill has three daughters: Becky and her husband, Tom; Jenny and her husband, Josh; Stacy and her husband, Anthony, and six grandchildren: Jordan, Abby, Cash, Charli, Hayden and Lincoln.

For more than 100 years, the King family has been ranching in Stanley, N.M. King Ranch is a diversified operation consisting of 30,000 acres of pasture, 4,000 acres of farmland and about 1,200 registered Hereford, Charolais and Angus cows, along with 300 commercial cows. The ranch sells more than 350 bulls a year to mostly commercial producers and buys back customer cattle for finishing in the family-owned feedlot. Bill was honored as the New Mexico Cattlemen of the Year in 2010, his family was recognized as the New Mexico Ranch family of the year in 2015, and he was recognized as a Golden Breeder by the American Hereford Association in 2018.

Bill comes from a long line of public servants; Bill’s father was governor of New Mexico for three terms. Bill currently serves on the Hereford Youth Foundation of America (HYFA) board of directors and the Hereford Legacy Fund board. An advocate for the beef industry, Bill is a past president of the AHA, New Mexico Cattle Growers Association and New Mexico Livestock Board. He’s a former regional vice president for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), and a past board member for the Texas Cattle Feeders Association and Cattlemen’s Beef Board. Bill served on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board executive committee for four years. One of Bill’s daughters, Becky, currently serves on the AHA Board of Directors and Bill’s granddaughter, Abby, served on the National Junior Hereford Association (NJHA) board of directors.

The King Ranch has been featured in the BEEF Magazine Seedstock 100 for several years. Beyond the range, Bill’s cattle have experienced success at national shows across the country. Bill is an owner of numerous grand champions at the National Western Stock Show, Fort Worth Stock Show, American Royal, Arizona National and New Mexico State Fair. He’s also an owner of several impactful bulls that didn’t step foot in the showring, like Loewen Genesis G16 ET and NJW 98S R117 Ribeye 88X ET. Bill’s impact can be felt across all facets of the beef industry. He’s been a leader, public servant and influential voice for agriculture. His passion for Hereford cattle is second-to-none.