2025 Cowbelle of the year award

At the young age of 5, Connie declared to her parents she was going to be a Farmer/Rancher when she grew up. Well, she did that in grand fashion, beginning with creating scrap books of collected horse and dog pictures. She was later invited by a neighbor to ride at a stable with her and her children. The future of Connie’s ranching business was solidified.

The family moved to San Leandro from Oakland when Connie was 10 where she continued to rent a horse to ride every chance she got. Connie managed to convince her parents to rent horse by the month when she was 15 and later to buy a horse of her own. Having her own horse, she joined the Jr. Eden Colts mounted Drill Team. The drill team performed at Fairs and Rodeos. One night on a drill team sponsored night ride she met Joseph (Joe) John Jess. After dating for a year and a half they were married. 

Joe and his family were raising hay and cattle in the Hayward California hills. They also had a small ranch in the Tracy hills that Connie and Joe rented from his parents and worked toward starting a Dairy. By 1967 their family had grown to 3 boys, and the Dairy was milking 76 cows.

When the decision was made to sell the Dairy Cows and begin a Beef Cattle operation, Connie and Joe were able to rent ground nearby and purchased 34 commercial Hereford cows from a ranch in Oregon. The herdquickly grew to over 100 cows and a daughter was added to the family.

A trip to Hermiston Oregon to purchase a Registered Herford Bull and 2 cows, blossomed into 26 head coming home with them. Connie and Joe joined the California/Nevada Hereford Association, and the kids became Jr. Hereford Association members. Soon they began to host Field Days and Judging Contests at the ranch that included local 4-H and FFA and Colleges in the activities promoting Beef and Registered Herefords. The Field Days spanned from the 1980’s with the final event in 2010. 

In addition to Registered Herford cattle, in 1982 the first Wind Farm in the Bay Area became a feature and the 1990’s brought permits to build the first "Composting Facility" to recycle waste for the Bay Area. The ranch was diversifying but wasn’t done yet. Cutting Horses and an indoor arena were added in 1998.

For promoting cattle and sponsoring youth events for over 30 years, Connie was honored as the First "Cattle Queen" at the Grand National Livestock Show in San Francisco, Ca. 

The ranch moved from the Tracy Hills to "Jackson Valley" in Ione, Ca. in 2011, where the cattle graze irrigated pastures and hay fields today.

Bio submitted with permission of Connie Jess