LOUISE - Ed Weinheimer went to Texas A&M University, got degrees in finance and speech communications, and took a job in Lake Jackson with an insurance company. His brother, Steve, joined the Army, went to Desert Storm, and then went to Texas State Technical College in Harlingen and got a degree in agribusiness.

They had their own lives, their own career paths. Yet those paths met and became one when they both realized what they wanted was to be back in Wharton County and be in the cattle business.

So, in 1993, after Ed had looked at all the workman's comp case files he could stand, and he felt like he and his wife "were called by God to come back to El Campo," he returned to his hometown and in 1993, he and Steve bought 1,418 acres near Louise.

Although their dad wasn't a fulltime rancher, he did have farmland and ran some cattle, so they weren't totally new to the cattle business.

When Ed first returned to El Campo, he spent a lot of time as a member of a cowboy crew doing day work, and he paid a lot of attention to all the different ways the ranchers he worked for did things.

When Ed and Steve first bought their place, it was in rice production. Steve said it took them four or five years to switch the acreage from rice production to a cattle operation.

"We planted jiggs bermudagrass," Ed noted.

They started with a cow-calf operation, but eventually added a stocker operation, growing out other people's cattle on their pastures.

The brothers plant oats in September and rye in October.

Now, using a rotational grazing system, they run their own cows and calves behind the stockers, letting their customers' cattle have the best grazing.

The brothers say as they gain experience, they make their operation more efficient. For instance, they used to check the stocker cattle horseback, looking for sick animals. When they found one, they'd rope it and doctor it. It was taking them almost all day to check and doctor the cattle.

Now they entice the calves with grain, so they can evaluate them quickly. Steve noted they can check and doctor the cattle within two hours rather than taking a whole day.

When the brothers got ready to build a set of working pens, Ed did some research and found a design he liked. Rather than order a set of pens from a retailer, Ed and Steve went to junk yards to find the materials they would need. Then the brothers and their full-time hand spent six days a week for five months building the pens, doing all of the welding themselves.

They ended up with a set of working pens that will hold 1,200 head of cattle. And they have sick pens that will hold 300 to 400 head.

Steve explained the first two years he and Ed were in the ranching business taught them to look for the most cost efficient way to do things. "You've got to know how to run the numbers," Steve said. "That's the part we hate. Ed and I would both rather be out here working. But to be successful in ranching, you've got to look at the numbers."

Their reputation for running a tight ship is getting around. Steve noted they have received phone calls from people in Florida and North Dakota who want to bring them cattle.

The brothers also raise and sell hay off the ranch.

And there is another facet to the operation, one that Ed says they just "fell into trying to take care of the land," and that's duck hunting.

When they bought the property, the previous owner had been hunting waterfowl and deer, and the place, according to the Weinheimers, was over hunted. So they cut out deer hunting until they can get their numbers up.

They have fenced the woodlands area of the ranch to keep cattle out.

The brothers said they have relied heavily on the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department to help them with their wildlife management.

"We've been in the Land Owners Management Program through Parks and Wildlife," Ed said. "We do deer counts in August. The biologist tells us how many to harvest."

"It's good to get a biologist to tell you which plant the deer eat," Steve added. "He can look at the browse line and tell if the deer were hungry."

As for the duck hunting, the Weinheimers have reduced the number of hunters they allow a year from 30 to 12.

The brothers enrolled their ranch in the Texas Prairie Wetlands Project, and work with Ducks Unlimited and the Natural Resource Conservation Service.

In 1991, Ducks Unlimited, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Natural Resources Conservation Service partnered to create the Texas Prairie Wetlands Project to help deliver the habitat objectives set forth by the Gulf Coast Joint Venture. The GCJV is a regional partnership composed of individuals, conservation organizations, and state and federal agencies that are concerned with conserving migratory birds and their habitats along the western U.S. Gulf of Mexico from Brownsville, Texas, to Mobile Bay in Alabama

The wetlands project works with private landowners, providing cost-share and technical assistance for levee construction and installation of water control structures to restore, enhance and create shallow-water wetlands throughout 28 counties.

Under the guidance of the experts, the Weinheimers set a hunting schedule of a half a day a week on half the ponds. "That way every pond is hunted only every other day," Steve said. "We have 11 ponds over 1,400 acres. We have two close together, and they're hunted on the same day."

The Weinheimers made a commitment to Ducks Unlimited and TPWD to keep water in the ponds from November to March.

They keep two ponds full through June. "The blue wing teal migrate back at that time and it gives them some place to go," Steve said.

Ed noted most people in the area pull their ponds down in February to get their rice crop in. By leaving their ponds up longer, the Weinheimers are giving the ducks a place to hatch.

The brothers work with a biologist who tells them what's in the ponds and how to manage what is in there as far as meeting the ducks' needs.

Biologist David Lobpries calls the Weinheimers' operation a "mottled duck factory deluxe." The topography of hay pastures and interspersed 250 acres of wetlands, along with the Weinheimers' habitat management has created one of the premier mottled duck production areas along the entire Texas coast, according to the biologist.

The brothers are now working to get three cabins and a lodge built by August, to better accommodate their hunters. Teal season starts Sept. 15. Big duck and grouse season starts in October.

They are putting in a 10-acre fishpond that they will stock with bass and catfish, in hopes the hunters will bring their families out.

The brothers also hope to have inner city youth out at the ranch to experience hunting and the outdoors. "If someone has children with specific needs looking for recreation, we'd be willing to work with that," Steve said.

The dedication to the waterfowl also works to the advantage of the Weinheimers' stocker cattle clients. When they drain the ponds, the cattle have access to the grass in them. "The cattle love it," Steve said. "You can really put weight on cattle letting them graze through a duck pond."

Although, you have to stay on the lookout for hoof rot, Ed added.

But any challenge at the ranch suits Ed. "I get a lot of satisfaction from it, unlike a stack of files sitting in front of you."