About Us
THE LA MUNECA HISTORY BY CARLOS X. GUERRA
I would like to start by THANKING our ancestors for having the foresight to invest in land in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. My widowed great grandmother, Antonia came from Mier, Mexico in the early 1870’s looking for a better life for her family. My grandfather Arcadio was a young teenager at the time. Our La Muneca brand was registered in 1873 by our great grandmother. We are extremely proud to still be branding our cattle with this world renown brand 146 years later. They started investing and improving in ranch land then and we have not stopped since. A BIG HEARTY THANKS to Mom and Dad for their support and for giving us the opportunity to continue ranching in the Guerra tradition.
La Muneca is a family owned and operated business that started in 1989 when my wife, Sister and our four children bought out the Guerra Bros. registered cattle. We did not have any operating money, but we financed the cattle through Guerra Bros. and our operating line with Bruce Kroeker. We weaned the calves, fed them for 100 days and had our first production sale in January 1990 and have not looked back since.
I started in the registered cattle business in 1963 when my Dad, my brother Felo, my Tio Mike Chapa and our dear ole buddy Scott Martin went to Cotulla to invest in some Red Angus pairs from Mr. E. R. Cotulla. My first 4-H project, a bull named Pancho was in this group of nine pairs. I have been actively involved in registered cattle, 4-H, FFA and helping our youth ever since. I am blessed to live a dream life doing what I have always dreamed of doing.
We have bred Red Angus, Red Brangus, Red Brahman, Indu Brazil, Gyr, Black & White Zebus, Gelbray, Simmentals, Braunviehs, Polled Brahmans and Simbraviehs along the way. The best part of this experience has been the many solid relationships that we have built through the years. In the registered cattle business, you will have the opportunity to meet some of the finest folks on earth. The most rewarding experience has been seeing our cattle work for others with them coming back for more plus working with our youth from a ranch to local to state to a national level.
We have been involved in every type of junior cattle activity that you can imagine and are most proud of those that we have helped start especially those having to do with education and scholarships. Our children have been blessed to have had so many positive opportunities through these junior activities. They have learned how to win, lose, learn, teach, share and most importantly how to communicate and get along with people. I recommend that you get involved with your kids and animal projects and build a great lifetime of memories that your family will cherish and benefit from forever.
Our oldest child Laura is the proud mother our oldest grandchild, Gabriela Cristina Ramirez and our third grandchild, Mia Carmen Ramirez. Laura is a graduate of St. Mary’s School of Law and has her own law practice Law Office of Laura Guerra Ramirez, PLLC. Carlos Jr. is our Ranch Manager and is the proud father of Carlos X. Guerra III, also known as “Pops” and Cecilia Guerra. Our third child, Victor is our PR man here at La Muneca, a graduate of St. Mary’s School of Law as well and manages his own law practice Victor G. Guerra, PC when he is not working on the ranch. Cristina is married to Justin LaGrange, who is a farmer here in the Rio Grande Valley and they are the proud parents of Justin Boone LaGrange who keeps us all hopping around here. Cristina is a graduate of the Gemology Institute of America in New York City and owns her own jewelry business, Tina G.
Sister and I are proud to have graduated all four of our kids from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. We have been blessed to have four great kids who love to work, appreciate family, friends, the ranch life and our many business relationships. Justin is big hearted, hard-working and has been a wonderful addition to our family. We appreciate all that he does. We have especially enjoyed seeing our grand kiddos grow up here at the ranch and become involved in the operation through their show cattle projects.
Sister and I continue to be involved with volunteer organizations like the South Texas Agriculture Roundup, Linn San Manuel Community Improvement Committee, various scholarship programs and our church but are slowly turning over these opportunities to the next generation. We are proud to see our kids getting involved with these organizations, as well as several others including the Texas FFA Foundation, Brahman Foundation, Texas Junior Simmental/Simbrah Association Education Trust, American Junior Simbrah Roundup Scholarship Committee, Vannie Cook Children’s Hospital and several others.
Our junior program continues to improve as we get more and more positive thinking families involved that appreciate the many benefits that we offer our juniors. We work year-round and pride ourselves in sharing our knowledge with our customers, as well as do our best to support you at several shows throughout the year. Our benefits, include: (1) a good selection of top quality show calves at affordable prices, (2) the La Muneca raffle where a junior can earn lots of money for themselves keeping 50% of their ticket sales with the balance going into the LMC Futurity pot, (3) the junior that sells the most raffle tickets, wins a $1,000 credit for his next calf, (4) the La Muneca Jr. Round-Up & Futurity where our juniors learn hands on how to judge, evaluate, feed, fit & show their Simbrahs plus compete for an average of $8,000 in prize money & buckles, (5) the Simmental-Simbrah Super Bowl held in conjunction with the San Antonio Jr. Show which awards an average of $15,000 in premiums, awards, etc., (6) we accept calf scramble certificates and (7) the right to two units of semen from any of the La Muneca bulls available each year to breed your show heifer to until you graduate from high school.
As far as the cattle go, we are running 300 plus registered Brahman, Simbrah and Simbravieh females with an extensive ET program that has been very successful thanks to Carlitos, Javier Moreno, Jonathan Chachere and several others. We market our cattle, embryos and bull semen all over the world. Our markets have improved with each year as have our cattle. Every year we try new genetics in an effort to produce the best Brahman and Simbrah cattle we can produce.
At La Muneca, every day is sale day. We stay excited about our cattle and look forward to sharing them with you. VISITORS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME AT LA MUNECA where a positive buying experience is GUERRANTEED!! WE WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND A BIG HEARTY THANKS TO ALL OF OUR BUYERS AND SUPPORTERS THROUGHOUT THE YEARS.