Photo By Hamilton Photography
Like the Eiffel Tower and the Great Pyramids of Giza, every important structure starts with a solid foundation with the most important layer being the first one. Walks Alone, Fu Man Chu and Daddy’s Money were the first layer of Rodgers Cattle Company (RCC). They not only were highly impactful on the club calf industry but more specifically helped lay the groundwork for one of the most successful operations in the industry. If hanging banners were a paint shade color, RCC would have surely applied many layers by now; as Wade and Kaylene Rodgers along with their children Rhylee, Shaylynn & Layton have built a dynasty that is well known for a winning track record and customer service that is second to none.
Wade Rodgers got his start in the cattle industry showing cattle when he was just 10 years old and he has not looked back since. He started helping his dad AI cows when he was 15 and then at the age of 19, went on to help Mark Copus, and gain a plethora of knowledge for the next 5 years. In the last 15 years, Wade and Kaylene have worked to build one of the best and well-known cattle companies that our industry has seen. Currently, RCC is home to more than 50 club calf sires and 180 cow/calf pairs. Although a small town, Searsboro, Iowa has marked itself on the map thanks to some pretty famous people at the Rodgers Cattle Company residence.
The ultimate goal for Rodgers Cattle Company is to help improve genetics through breeding. Wade says his main goal is to better our business by sorting through the pluses and minuses of everything that we have. He likes to interact with breeders to see what other operations are doing and to figure out what genetics work in different places. Wade tries to find the very best genetics that he can throughout the entire United States, and he brings them into RCC to help make them accessible to all.
It goes without saying that the 2019 Best of the Barns Steer Sire of the Year, Here I Am had to make the very top of the RCC list for Wade when we asked him which his favorite bull was. “The impact this bull has made on our family and families across the country whether it’s the bottom line and increasing the average of your calf crop or winning a county fair to some of the most respectable cattle shows in the country is truly second to none and will be hard to replicate.” Here I Am is fully deserving to not only make the top of the RCC list, but also the prestigious Best of the Barns voting list. Here I Am has sired countless National Western, North American, American Royal, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and State Fair Champions just to name a few, and will continue to make a lasting impact for the RCC and entire industry for years to come.
It is not all about livestock at the Rodgers Cattle Company though. When we sat down with Wade, we wanted to know what he prided himself and RCC most in, “faith and family are two of the most important things to me, probably way more important than cattle are to me.” When you watch the RCC crew in the barns at shows you can tell that Wade, along with his show families live by faith and family, with cattle always following behind those two things. Wade is a big believer in not using our kids to raise cattle but using our cattle to raise kids. Something he instills in his families is that it isn’t about the winning or the losing at the end of the day, but more about the experiences and work ethic that our kids are gaining from this. With values like these, it makes Rodgers Cattle Company and easy pick as the winner of the 2019 Best of the Barns Cattle Operation of the Year.