Rancher Minnie Lou Bradley dies at 93
Legendary rancher Minnie Lou Bradley died in Childress, Texas, on Aug. 5 after a short illness. She was 93. Born Minnie Lou Ottinger on Dec. 15, 1931, in Hinton, Oklahoma, Bradley graduated from Hinton High School in 1949. She attended Oklahoma A&M College—which later became Oklahoma State University—and was the first female in the animal husbandry program.
She was also the first woman to be a member of the OSU livestock judging team and was high individual at the International Livestock Judging Contest during the 1952 International Fat Stock Show in Chicago, Illinois. She graduated in 1953 with a degree in animal husbandry and a minor in agriculture journalism.
After graduation, she married Bill Jack Bradley in 1955, and they moved to a ranch in Childress County, Texas, that would become the Bradley 3 Ranch. Bradley and her husband were still involved in the ranch at the time of her death, although their daughter and son-in-law had taken over most of the business. The Bradley-3 Ranch is nearly 70-year-olds and consists of 13,000-acre and an Angus and Charolais seedstock operation.
Bradley became a role model for others in the cattle industry, specifically women, because she held many leadership positions in a time when few females were involved in animal agriculture. She held positions with the Texas Angus Association, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, serving as vice chairman of several committees and she was the first female elected to the American Angus Association board of directors in 1998. Bradley is still the only female to have served as their president and chairman of the board in 2005.
Bradley was inducted as a member of the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 2006 and the National Saddle & Sirloin Portrait Gallery in 2014. In 2019, she was recognized as an Outstanding Alumnus of the College of Agriculture at Oklahoma State University. In 2022, she was named an Outstanding Alumnus of OSU.
Services are planned for 2 p.m., Monday, Aug. 18, at 2 at Mashburn Event Center in Childress, Texas.
Lacey Vilhauer can be reached at 620-227-1871 or [email protected].
Reflections on life and livestock from Minnie Lou Bradley
Minnie Lou Bradley, famed owner of the Bradley 3 Ranch, has strived for profitably and efficiency since her cattle operation started almost 70 years ago.
