Grit and dreams

She was right. After meeting Tate, she jumped headfirst into his dream of growing TW Angus. When they married, the TW Angus herd had grown from Tate’s half dozen to around 30 cows. Just nine years later, Tate and Calli now run 70 registered Angus cows and live on the acreage they purchased with that FSA loan.

To sustain the ranch, both Tate and Calli have jobs outside of TW Angus. Tate works for his family’s business, Williams Masonry; and Calli is a livestock field representative with the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Calli works remotely, which she says has been a huge blessing. 

“It takes a lot of balance,” she adds. “But working from home does give me that flexibility to create my own hours for the most part … I’m kind of the boots-on-the-ground girl that is here full-time.”

Calli says the biggest challenge they face in their operation has been building a customer base. Establishing a name in the industry is hard when competing with generational ranches. 

“We are not that fourth or fifth generation having a bull sale that’s been every year for 50 years,” she says.

TW Angus hosted their fourth annual bull sale in 2025, proof that what they are doing is working. As one method of building their brand, Calli and Tate exhibit their cattle at the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo in Rapid City, S.D., to network with potential customers and promote their genetics.
Calli is also leaning into digital marketing, using social media to promote their business and lifestyle.

“It’s a tool that’s in our hands, literally,” she says.

As they built a client base for their seedstock operation, the Williamses saw another opportunity to make their ranch sustainable and profitable in direct-to-consumer beef sales. 

“We say everything born here has a purpose,” Calli shares. “Anything that does not make our bull sale, those are steers that enter our feedlot program.”

TW Angus sells beef shares in quarters, halves or wholes, but they also sell retail cuts of steaks. Customers come to their operation, which has a restaurant-grade walk-in freezer, and stock up like they would at a grocery store. 

“It’s really fun to see them walk in and their eyes just get huge over the selection of meat that they can shop from,” Calli says.

Although they only butchered about 10 steers last year, TW Angus beef made its way into more than 70 households.

A generational legacy

As they continue to grow, Calli says there’s a mantra the Williamses live by: “We take care of the land and livestock, and they’ll take care of us.”

That statement came full circle a few years ago when Tate injured his hand in a baler, and doctors used beef collagen in one of the procedures to try and grow the tissue back. 

Calli says, “I thought, well, it’s the beef industry coming back to help us.”

She wishes more consumers understood how dedicated ranchers are to their cattle.

“A cattle rancher is always doing what is best for both the land and their livestock,” Calli explains. “Sometimes there are things that make it into social media that are negative, and it’s unfortunate because there are so many ranches out there doing the right thing every day because they love it.”

Calli and Tate are instilling that mindset into two little cowboys of their own, Jack and Tommy. If you ask Calli, they’re what fuels the dream behind TW Angus every day. 

“It’s a really big goal of ours to make it an opportunity for the boys [to run the ranch]. We always say we’re working really hard so that maybe they can reap the benefits,” she says.

Jack and Tommy certainly seem to love the lifestyle and aren’t shy about sharing it with others.

“It’s so fun when people come to visit our ranch,” Calli says. “I kind of joke that they’re almost a Vanna White of the farm because … whether someone wants it or not, they will take you across our acreage and give you the full tour.”

The boys are young, but they’re already living out the advice Calli offers to adults looking to start their own operation from scratch. 

“Create relationships,” she says. “The best way to learn about the industry is helping different ranchers … you never know what opportunities will come your way once those relationships are there.”

It’s the kind of wisdom that comes from having been knee-deep in the hard days and seeing how a little help from someone who’s walked the path before can make all the difference.

Nothing about the Williams’ story is ordinary — and maybe that’s what makes it so unforgettable. From a chance encounter at the state fair to a ring and a ranch loan, TW Angus has been built on grit, vision and more than a little love.

It’s not the glossy romance dreamed up in bridal magazines. But for Tate and Calli, the life they’ve built is picture-perfect. Because at the end of the day, TW Angus isn’t just about cattle; it’s about creating a life you’d gladly hand off to the next generation. 

Editor’s note: Williams family photo is by Sampson House for Hungry for Truth A South Dakota Soybean Initiative, courtesy of Calli Williams.