Craig Bauman and Dr. Robert Schenken developed a friendship while Bauman worked at Llano National Bank.

That friendship turned into a business partnership three years ago, when the two struck a deal for Bauman to manage Schenken’s ranch.

“The next thing you know, I was doing what I always wanted to do in partnering with him on that deal,” Bauman said. “I was leaving the bank, jumping off the cliff and seeing if I could make it work.”

For Bauman, the move to full-time agriculture work was something he wanted to do ever since he was a youngster. He raised hogs from his youth into adulthood, even while he was in college, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and father.

The interests of Schenken, who is a medical doctor, lies on the other end.

“He’s one of the top human reproductive specialists in the world,” Bauman said. “He’s world-renowned. They take him to meetings all over the world because he’s so well-known. That’s his interest, he enjoys the genetics and that part of it.

“I enjoy the stock show end of it and the agriculture end of it, working with the kids. I love going to the shows and showing with my kids and other kids, helping them with their projects.”

Schenken Genetics is much more than the average hog farm. Nestled along Hwy. 16 north of Llano, the ranch is a hog operation which features advanced genetics in breeding and raising show pigs, raising Akaushi cattle, and a ranch that offers both white-tailed deer and exotic hunting.

A Yorkshire hog by the name Amped Up is what really put the hog portion of the operation on the map, Bauman said. They purchased him for $45,000 two summers ago, and since that time Amped Up has become “very, very famous” due to his offspring.

“Since that time, that boar has produced more champions than any other Yorkshire in probably the last 20 years,” Bauman said. “His first set that showed last summer, he produced a boar that was champion at the summertime conference, who brought $350,000, a world-record selling Yorkshire boar. I wish we would’ve raised him, but we didn’t. It was our boar, some semen sales on that.

“This year, he’s already produced the champion boar at the world pork expo that we bought for $150,000; the reserve champion gilt at the world pork expo and at the summertime conference, he produced the reserve champion boar that brings 30-some odd thousand and the champion guild...He’s winning across the board very consistently, so that’s been a huge highlight for us.”

Amped Up is part of the stud operation. They keep about 20 boars on hand, collect their semen and ship them all over the United States.

They also have about 50 sows a year dedicated for show pig production. They take them to breeding shows all across the country -- from local county stock shows all the way to national shows.

Bauman said about half the operation is pure breeds - Yokrshire, Hampshire and Duroc. The other half is crossbred.

While they show and sell pigs at national shows in places such as Iowa, Minnesota and Kentucky, they also sell pigs for show at junior stock shows for children.

Bauman said he was lucky enough to travel and visit with some of the top hog breeders throughout the country while he was in college, and has developed those relationship even more since getting into the business full-time. He said his parents called him “crazy” at the time for doing so, but he said it’s the best thing he’s ever done.

“They have taught me so much..I just really listen to what they say,” Bauman said.

The field is something the whole family can get involved with, which is something Bauman also enjoys. In addition to Craig, his wife, Devyn, and all five of their children are involved in some aspect.

“All the kids show, they love to show,” Bauman said. “It’s farrowing season now, and the little ones love seeing the baby pigs. Now they don’t enjoy the clean-up as much.

“But it’s definitely very much a family thing. When Devyn gets off work, everybody comes to ranch. It’s definitely a family thing.”

The Akaushi cattle part of the operation got its start after they bought some cattle from the Slator Ranch in Llano County.

“It’s the best beef on earth, really,” Bauman said.

Most of their beef is sold through the American Akaushi Association to HeartBrand Beef, which is based in Flatonia, Texas.

“We sell directly to HeartBrand. They feed out and market through their association and channels,” Bauman said.

HeartBrand then markets and sells the beef to restaurants, meat packers and grocery stores, including Miiller’s Smokehouse, locally.

Schenken sells almost all of its Akaushi cattle - about 99 percent, Bauman said -- to HeartBrand. However, someone can buy directly from Schenken.

“If someone wanted us to feed out and then butcher it, we would do that,” Bauman said.

They would also sell its breeding stock directly to someone who wants to get into the business.

Schenken built a lodge for its hunting lease operation. The lodge is large and allows those who want to spend time away from the city, Bauman said. In addition to hunts, people may also go fishing.

“It allows people to have a real get-away,” he said.

Animals on the property available to hunt include white tail, axis, fallow, black buck and red stag from New Zealand.

“We have a lot of hunts,” Bauman said.

Schenken also breeds deer on the property. Bauman said they had a lot of day hunts when they got started. They looked for a group of hunters for a long-term lease, and when they found them, they wanted to make the deer population better.

They built a deer breeding facility on the property. They breed them there and release them on the ranch.

“We’re not selling commercial deer, we’re just trying to make deer better on our ranch,” Bauman said.

The genetics they use are aimed at improving antler growth on white tail deer for hunting purposes.

They also have exotics available to hunt on the ranch, but they don’t breed them.

The ranch is about 530 acres with 2-3 acres devoted to the hog operation. The rest is for cattle and hunting.

One of the biggest surprises for Bauman on getting things started is the amount of support he’s received from those in the industry.

“It’s been a pretty humbling experience for me, because when we did this, I guess I didn’t realize the breeders who bought into what we’re doing would help me the way they had,” he said. “They’ve come and done farm visits. The people who I look up to, who are my heroes, in my opinion in this industry, they’ve come here and done a tour of our place, and I’m just like, I never dreamed they’d be here, even though they are what I’d consider very close friends.”

The jump from banking to agriculture came with its risks, but it’s also provided some huge rewards.

“My middle son, you ask him now, ‘What are you going to do when you grow up, he says, ‘I’m going to raise hogs like my dad.’ My mother and dad and wife are like, you’re crazy. I think the same thing, but then deep down inside, I also think, that’s awesome, because I hope I can make this thing successful enough that my kids can come home and do this business, that it can work, that we can make it last a long time,” Bauman said. “That’s my goal, because I guess I’ve always been willing to stand out on a limb and do things that others in my family thought I really shouldn’t be doing, because that for sure deal.”

And it’s certainly the type of life you’d expect to find from a guy who says he’s got hogs in his blood.

“This is definitely the biggest risk I’ve ever taken,” Bauman said. “Everybody says, is it stressful? Yeah, it’s crazy stressful. But it’s a totally different type of stress. When you stress about something you love doing, you still love doing it. But if you stress about something you don’t enjoy at all, you’re just miserable.

“I haven’t gone to work in three years, as far as I’m concerned. And I’ve worked harder than I’ve ever worked.”