King Ranch Ag & Turf has been serving customers in Robstown, Texas, since 1981 but the dealership’s roots date back to 1913 when Robstown Hardware Co. was founded. Additionally, King Ranch Inc.’s history spans 173 years and 8 generations. While the John Deere dealership operates 13 stores today, it was a single-store operation up until 2020. 

Following sizable growth from 2016-19 at the original Robstown store, the dealership made a strategic decision with the board and company to start investing and growing its Deere business, explains Lance Hancock, vice president of King Ranch Ag & Turf. The first step was to open the Corpus Christi store in 2020 at which time the dealership officially changed its name from Robstown Hardware Co. to King Ranch Ag & Turf.

That was followed by another single store acquisition in 2022, and the big growth came in 2023 when King Ranch acquired Brookside Equipment Sales, a 9-store dealership in the Houston market. The dealership wasn’t done yet though. It built 2 more stores in 2025. 

“We’ve seen a lot of growth through acquisitions and new stores, but also through increased market share. Compact construction has been a really bright spot for us as well,” Hancock says. “Houston is just blowing and going in construction. Industrial and commercial construction in particular have been really strong.”

Diversified Customer Base

King Ranch Ag & Turf sells and services everything from large ag to mid-range tractors and small tractors, along with a large commercial mowing customer base and a large compact construction equipment business. Hancock says in a normal operating environment the sales break down to a third large ag, a third small tractor and a third commercial mowing, CCE and everything else.

“Obviously in this current ag environment that we’re living in, our small tractor B2C business has really carried the water, and the CCE business is probably more like 40%,” he says. “Some of the smaller equipment has carried us quite a bit as large ag has gone into the trough.”

Of the 13 stores, the Robstown location is the only dedicated large ag store, with the other stores predominantly handling residential and commercial mowers, small tractors and mid-sized tractors.

Measuring the Business 

While market share is the big metric King Ranch monitors, Hancock says the dealership is watching commodity prices and input pricing from a macro perspective as well.  

“At King Ranch, we’re producers ourselves, so we look pretty hard at commodity prices and input pricing to understand where our producers are and where opportunities may exist,” he says. “But I would tell you the market is still really tough. There’s still a lot of used equipment in the market, so we’re still making our way through it.”

King Ranch Ag & Turf’s Robstown, Texas, store is the main large ag location for the 13-store dealership group. King Ranch Ag & Turf

In 2025, King Ranch had 72% market share for large ag, 26% for small tractors, 60% for mid-sized tractors and 20% in its CCE business. 

From an aftermarket perspective, the dealership is zeroed in on absorption, effective labor rate and technician productivity. In the parts department, they are looking at zero-turn parts. These metrics are measured and reported out on a monthly basis with store managers. Each store receives a scorecard that’s reviewed with staff on a weekly basis, so they know how they stack up to other stores.

In 2025 King Ranch Ag & Turf had a 69.2% absorption rate, which represented a 13% year-over-year improvement. The dealership pushes to have its techs at 100%+ efficiency. 

“We have put an increased emphasis on absorption in the downturn and it produced more margin dollars than what decreased from our decline in complete goods,” Hancock says. 

King Ranch Ag & Turf’s diverse customer base, including commercial mowing and CCE, has provided balance during the current ag downturn. King Ranch Ag & Turf

In an effort to increase its absorption, King Ranch has focused on getting the right systems and people in place. “So hiring really good service managers, really good parts managers, making sure we have the right parts at the right time and making sure our techs are trained appropriately have been key to us. All of the gross margin that we lost in large ag when the trough hit, we’ve made back. Our aftermarket business has really pushed us through.”

He adds that absorption was lower due to the large acquisition in 2023 that added 9 new buildings, along with 2 new buildings constructed in 2024 that increased depreciation expenses. “We’d like to be at 100% absorption. That gets difficult when you build new stores and do M&A, but we’re working toward it,” Hancock says. 

For zero-turn parts, the goal is to have them below 10% of total inventory in a 12-month window. “We’re aggressive about parts returns and pricing out to get rid of stuff if it’s not turning,” he says. “Once it hits the 12-month mark, we get pretty hyper vigilant about it.”

Tire Business Adds to USP

In an effort to take care of the whole farm, King Ranch Ag & Turf also has an extensive tire shop at its Robstown location. While the company has been selling tires for the better part of 30 years, in 2022 it built a new facility that included a dedicated tire warehouse. The dealership keeps a large inventory of tires and tracks and has a field service truck dedicated to the tire business. 

King Ranch Ag & Turf carries Michelin, Firestone and Goodyear tires along with Camso tracks.

“Our goal there has always been to be a one-stop shop to take care of our farmers,” Hancock says. 

When King Ranch Ag & Turf built a new facility for its Robstown, Texas, store in 2022, it included a 12,000 square-foot tire shop. King Ranch Ag & Turf

The tire business is quite different from the equipment business, he says, but it adds to King Ranch’s value proposition. “If you blow a tire out at 10 p.m., well, we can take care of it,” he adds, noting that most of the dealership’s farm customers do all their truck and implement tires with them. 

The tire business falls under the King Ranch Ag & Turf umbrella as part of the larger King Ranch Inc. business, but as a department it carries its own standalone P&L. 

While the dealership has seen tremendous growth in the last 6 years, its dedication to its people and serving its customers has remained steadfast. “Our people drive this business and take care of our customers,” Hancock says. “We’ve got a lot of experience and a lot of folks who know what they’re doing, so we’re very fortunate.”

When King Ranch acquired Brookside, Hancock says the cultures were aligned from the get-go. As a result, they’ve had good employee retention. 

“That made it as easy as it can be. Those transitions are never easy, but I think the folks obviously were excited to work for King Ranch.”