Q&A with Bethany Mansfield, National Hereford Women Director red cows with white faces - it was love at first sight. Learning of the docility of Herefords and attending a few production sales sealed the deal. Everything thereafter was for the love of Herefords and our new family we were starting. We want to create a legacy for our two sons, Logan and Landon, to carry forward. Can you tell us a little about your farm and new business venture?
Bethany Mansfield of Liberty, Tennessee was elected to a four-year term to the National Hereford Women (NHW) Board of Directors this past October. She and her husband Josh own Ridgetop Farms and Short Mountain Livestock Testing. I recently had the chance to catch-up with Bethany and ask her a few questions about running for the NHW board and her new responsibilities. You were not raised on a farm or around Hereford cattle, how did your passion for Herefords begin? My husband, Josh, and I always dreamed of living on a cattle ranch. I grew up in rural Kentucky and my great grandparents raised oxen for plowing and working fields. Josh’s grandfather raised commercial cattle in West Tennessee, and he would spend weeks in the summer helping his grandfather tend them. In 2012, we decided to take the plunge and started buying property with my Father-in-law and Motherin-law, Dr. Joseph and Dorothy Mansfield. We began to piece close to six hundred acres back together. It was essentially a blank slate that needed fencing and a lot of work. We purchased a set of eight commercial cow/ calf pairs that we called our “training wheel cows’’. The goal was pretty simple, keep them alive! I attended the Master Beef courses in 2013 then signed up and completed the first UT/Select Sire AI certification program in Spring Hill, TN. While we were busy building our new home & farm, we would drive by our neighbor’s and see the prettiest Tennessee Hereford Newsletter • Winter 2022 • 8
Ridgetop Farms was a dream that has become reality. We have worked hard over the past decade to collect and breed cattle that are both pretty, functional, and efficient. We run close to one hundred head of registered Herefords and practice rotational grazing in effort to maximize the long growing season for grass in Middle Tennessee. We continually seek out the best Hereford genetics in the country and fold them into our cowherd as part of our progressive breeding program. Short Mountain Livestock Testing was an idea spawned from our extensive work with flushing, IVF, AI, and embryo transfers. The more we understood the science behind using these breeding functions, the more information we craved. We wanted to know what “stuck” as early as possible without potentially risking the pregnancy. Blood pregnancy testing is an effective way to achieve this. This new venture allows us to share this service with other breeders in Middle Tennessee and surrounding states. What motivated you to run for the NHW board of directors? We had been attending the annual meeting and taking in the educational seminars for a couple of years and that is where I met several former board members. I fell in love with their mission to invest in the future of our breed and youth. A current member and dear friend reached out to suggest I run for the NHW board of directors. I felt like it was a calling since I wanted to be more involved. I have 7- and 9-year-old boys that love this industry. I am passionate about Herefords and felt like my non-Ag background and Business and Marketing education might bring something different to the table to help positively contribute to the promotion of the breed and our youth. What was your favorite part of the experience?
