SEEDSTOCK PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
Jones Show Cattle
FOCUSES ON RAISING PUREBRED CATTLE FOR JUNIOR EXHIBITORS NATIONWIDE Story and Photos by Amy Beth Graves It didn’t take long for Troy Jones to figure out that he was meant to have a career in raising cattle. The year was 1998 and he’d just graduated from high school. He’d started working on the excavation crew of his father’s business when he realized his heart wasn’t in it. He didn’t really like working with the general public and wanted to be his own boss. That’s when he realized that the perfect job was right before his eyes – raising cattle. He already had 50-60 cows, which were raised mainly for the showring, and it was the perfect way for him to stay in the family business. His father had three words of advice: quality over quantity. “Dad always had a motto: ‘Start with the best animals you can afford. Don’t just go out and buy animals to breed them up and try to make them great. You have to start with the best ones you can afford,’” Troy recalled his father advising him. 22 | Ohio Cattleman | Expo Issue 2022
Troy took to heart the words of advice from his father who for decades has run a successful excavation company, RD Jones Excavating, in Allen County. Over the years, Troy and his father, Randy, have worked hard to build up and improve their show cattle operation, Jones Show Cattle located in Harrod, just east of Lima. Their hard work resulted in the cattle operation being named the Ohio Cattlemen’s Seedstock Producer of the Year. The Jones raise and sell Angus, Simmental and Maine-Anjou bulls, show heifers and bred heifers. “It’s exciting to be recognized for something we do every day. It makes you feel good and that you’re doing the right thing,” Troy said as he showed off a showring attached to his office filled with photos and awards showcasing their successes over the years at the state and national levels. During the first weekend in November, it’s all hands on deck for the Jones family. That’s the day of their High Standards Female Sale where
since 2005 they’ve offered some of their most elite show heifer prospects and bred heifers. Even though Troy describes the day as “mass chaos,” he notes that there’s a feeling of camaraderie among everyone even though they may be bidding against each other. “The sale barn is a place where people can get away from the chaos in the world and not listen to the news and they can be with a bigger family – the cattle community,” he said. This past year was one of the most successful years for Jones Show Cattle, and its sale brought in about 500 people from as far away as New York. By the end of the sale, the animals were headed out to farms in 24 different states. “These show heifers and bred heifers are ones we would keep in our own herd,” Troy said. “Our goal is to produce the best purebred cattle for junior livestock exhibitors so they can get a head start in starting their own herds.”
