Family: wife Allison, and sons Will, 13, and Cutter, 5.
Hometown: Inola, Okla.
In Town: “I walked into RCB Bank in Inola, Okla., to borrow money just after I graduated from Northeastern State University with a degree in business. I talked to Larry Dalvine, who was sitting exactly where I am now. He suggested I send in a resume and six months later I had a job learning every department as part of my training. I am now market president of the Inola, Catoosa and Coweta branches, and have been based at the Inola branch since 2013. My wife Allison runs the farm fulltime, in addition to being a mom to our sons. I am a member of the Inola School Board and a member of the Inola Chamber of Commerce and the Education Enrichment Foundation.”
In the Country: “My wife and I have been around cattle all of our lives. Allison was raised on a ranch and my father Rick had an Angus-based cattle ranch. We now have a fair-sized ranch outside of Inola with both Angus-influenced commercial cattle, and several breeds of registered cattle. I use Hereford bulls for natural breeding with my commercial herd. Our smaller fall calving season comes from good cows who skipped a cycle. We like spring calving because in the fall you are fighting the cold and poor forage, as well as higher feed and medication costs. The last couple of years we have used a certified preconditioning program with regimented health protocols. While we sell some calves at weaning, most are kept for 90 days afterward and fed with a four-way mix containing corn and distillers grain. Our registered cattle are Angus, Simmental, Charolais and Hereford. We breed them by AI, though some of our best commercial cows are bred by AI with Allison doing most of the research for semen selection. From the registered group, we sell show heifers and bulls. Our boys show heifers, with Cutter’s current heifer being a miniature Hereford. We do pretty well in the show ring, with one Charolais heifer winning her division at nationals in Tulsa. All cows receive 20 percent protein caked cubes and hay we raise ourselves, Bermuda and bluestem. Allison earned an animal degree at Oklahoma State University.”
Future: “Our ranch is located on land that belonged to Allison’s family. The boys seem to really enjoy ranch life and our hope is they will be interested enough to continue the heritage ranch we love so much.”
