Episode Details

One of the things I enjoy most about this business is the people you get to know along the way. 

I've known Jeremy Leister for quite a while, and I always enjoy the opportunity to catch up and talk cattle with him. Jeremy manages Pollard Farms in Waukomis, Oklahoma, and when you start talking about the Pollard program, it doesn't take long before the conversation gets back to one thing - the cow families. 

That seems especially appropriate as Pollard Farms prepares for its annual female production sale on September 19. 

Most Angus producers are familiar with the Pollard Farms name. Dr. Barry and Roxanne Pollard have spent more than three decades building a program recognized across the Angus breed for producing cattle that combine strong numbers, phenotype, and, most importantly, usefulness. 

But it started pretty simply. 

Barry grew up in Hennessey, Oklahoma, where his father taught vocational agriculture, and his mother was a schoolteacher. He went on to become a board-certified neurosurgeon, returning home to Oklahoma and opening his medical practice in Enid in 1982. 

Ten years later, he purchased several bred heifers and yearlings and started an Angus herd. 

A lot has changed since 1992, but I think one of the strengths of Pollard Farms is that the basic objective has remained pretty straightforward: to produce better cattle that can help their customers be more profitable. 

Jeremy and I talked about the depth of this year's female offering, and there is certainly plenty to talk about. But something Pollard Farms hears repeatedly from its bull customers says more about the program than any sale listing ever could. 

They buy Pollard bulls because they believe in the cow families standing behind them. 

I think that's pretty powerful. 

We spend a lot of time in the seedstock business talking about the bull and rightfully so. A bull can influence a lot of calves in a hurry. But behind every good bull is a cow, and behind the most consistent breeding programs are generations of females that have proven their ability to work. 

That's what makes a female sale like this interesting. 

You're not simply looking at individual females. You're getting an opportunity to buy into cow families that have been developed and tested over generations.

Pollard Farms has worked hard to build those families without losing sight of the commercial cattleman. They want females that stand out numerically and phenotypically, but they also want females capable of producing the kind of bulls their commercial customers come back to buy. 

That balance matters. 

There are plenty of ways to make cattle impressive on paper. There are plenty of ways to make one look good standing in a picture pen, The challenge is putting everything together in cattle that go home, reproduce, raise a calf, and ultimately make somebody money. 

That's still the business we're in. 

This year's Pollard offering reflects that philosophy, with females representing several ages and stages of production. There are young fall pairs and heavy-bred females, fall yearling open heifers, spring open heifer show and donor prospects, donor dams, spring-bred cows with calves, and spring-bred heifer. 

That gives cattlemen an opportunity to study the Pollard program from several different angles and find females that fit their own breeding objectives. 

Knowing Jeremy, I also know how much work goes into getting to sale day. 

A program like Pollard Farms doesn't happen because of one person. Barry and Roxanne have built something special, but Jeremy is quick to recognize the crew behind it. Raising cattle, developing them, collecting the data, preparing for a sale, and taking care of customers takes a team and it takes a lot of days when nobody outside the operation is watching. 

That's part of what I enjoy about these Producer Profiles. we