Features

“If I fence that, will you let me run some cows out there?”

Ohio producer starts with his cows when making a bull sale

After receiving an engineering degree and being in the restaurant business, Bill Roe never thought he would become a cattleman.

Husband and wife Tracy and Julie Leonard each brought specific skill sets to their cow-calf and stocker program.

Little Washburn Creek runs through the wooded hills of Sebastian County, Arkansas, where Tracy and Julie Leonard created a nontraditional ranch.

Single-trait selection is not a good business plan, according to Larry Echols of Gap Mills, West Virginia. Single-trait selection is like shopping for a baseball where the only selection criterion is that “it’s round.” A grapefruit is round too, and that wouldn’t win very many ballgames.

When people think “cattle country,” Ohio isn’t among the first places that come to mind. Between the Buckeye State’s well-known metropolises, 16,900 beef herds can be found across the green pastures of all 88 counties.