Michael (Mike) D. Smith
Michael (Mike) D. Smith has extensive expertise in all aspects of ranching, cattle feeding and trading commodities, with 48 years of business, marketing and leadership experience in the agricultural industry. A graduate of Texas Tech University, Mike earned a Bachelor of Science in animal production and was a King Ranch Scholarship recipient—an educational foundation that helped shape his lifelong career in agriculture.
Per the Land Report, he is the 10th largest landowner in Texas and the 32nd largest landowner in the United States. With a total capacity of 211,000 head, the feedyard entities majority-owned or managed by Mike rank as the 10th largest cattle feeding company in the U.S.
Mike’s professional career in the cattle industry began in 1975 as a cattle buyer with Swift & Company in Fort Worth, Texas. He later joined Cactus Feeders in Amarillo, where he served as head of fat cattle sales and advised on risk management strategies, gaining deep experience in cattle marketing and commodity risk. In 1986, Mike became a self-employed cattleman and rancher, transitioning into ownership and management roles that would define his career. In 2000, he co-founded Tejas Trading Co. in Amarillo, establishing a full-service futures and options firm focused on the cattle industry.
In 1986, Mike acquired an interest in, and managed, the first of many cattle feedyards with Tejas Feeders, located in Pampa, Texas. Over the years, the number of cattle being fed in the feedyards that he manages has grown from 20,000 head to over 211,000 head.
In 1989, Mike purchased his first ranch, Mora Ranch, in New Mexico. Since then, he has amassed over 385,000 acres of ranch and farmland in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico through the various entities that he has formed and manages. He manages the expansive ranching and cattle operations on all of the ranches, including, but not limited to, LS Ranch, Quien Sabe Ranch, Proctor Ranch, Houghton Ranch, Broseco Ranch, Buffalo Creek Ranch, Hampton Ranch, Waurika Ranch, Pyramid Ranch and Swenson Flat Top Ranch. Mike also manages farmland and ranchland bought by his father and grandfather west of Dumas, Texas, where he was born and raised. Additionally, Mike owns three ranches in Mexico.
In 2000, Mike, along with his partner, Alvin Fults, formed Tejas Trading Co. in Amarillo, Texas, in the heart of the cattle industry. Tejas Trading Co. was established as a full-service futures and options firm, employing licensed brokers and providing keen insight into ever-changing market conditions and trading at optimal efficiency for their clients. Today the company is owned by Mike’s son, Cody, and Fults, and operates under the name of Tejas Brokerage, LLC.
Mike has also been deeply involved in agricultural leadership and industry service. He served on the board of directors of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association from 1997 to 1999 and later on the board of directors of Where Food Comes From, Inc. from 2016 to 2023. He currently serves as a director and Executive Committee member of the Texas Livestock Marketing Association and the National Finance Credit Corporation of Texas. In recognition of his contributions to agriculture and leadership in the industry, Mike was honored in April 2025 with the Distinguished Alumni Award from Texas Tech University’s Davis College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.
Mike has three children, Cody, Kelley and Nikki, and four grandchildren: Hunter, Audriana, Annalisa and Ashton. To date, three generations of Smiths are involved in the operations that Mr. Smith has built.