Seedstock Producer of the Year CEDAR LANE FARM CONTINUES THE WINKLE FAMILY’S TRADITION OF RAISING SHORTHORNS

Story by Amy Beth Graves

At his graduation from the Ohio State University, Jeff Winkle listened closely to advice from one of his mentors.

“Keep your cattle medium sized so when trends get bigger, you can catch them on the way up and when trends get smaller, you can catch them on the way down,” he was told by the now deceased Dr. George Wilson, a distinguished faculty member in charge of beef cattle in the department of animal sciences at The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

It’s a piece of advice that Jeff didn’t just tuck away into the back of his mind but has used many times over the years in the Shorthorn cattle operation that he runs with his wife, Susie, in Cedarville. In 1985 the two moved to Susie’s family farm, which dates back to 1886, to start a family and small cattle operation in Greene

County. Jeff’s family had been raising Shorthorns since 1912, and he was confident that was the breed he wanted to raise on their farm. At first Susie wasn’t sure. She’d grown up raising polled Herefords, and the Shorthorn breed wasn’t as popular at the time.

“When Susie and I moved here, Shorthorns were at their low point. When we were in college, everybody made fun of them and said the breed was dying,” Jeff said. “Because they weren’t getting much recognition, I told her we should raise Shorthorns so we could be more competitive. We decided to come here and try to make it on our own.”

It wasn’t long before Susie was also enamored by the breed. When their first child was around age three, the couple bought a Shorhorn bred cow at the very first Ohio Beef Expo and a bull and started a small herd. Thirty-five years later, not only are the Winkles still showing but they’ve developed a solid reputation for the quality of the Shorthorns that they raise. Their cattle operation, Cedar Lane Farm, is a recent recipient of the Ohio Cattlemen’s Seedstock Producer of the Year award.

“I was shocked that we got this award. We’re just a little guy in the industry. To be recognized with some of the names out there that I really respect is very special. It’s pretty neat to see how the breed has rebounded and gotten birth weights under control to become popular today,” Jeff said.

Over the years, Cedar Lane Farm has worked hard to improve and expand its herd by purchasing embryos and flushes from a few select cows from various herds and become more involved in the national show circuit.

“We invest our money back into cattle. That investment is key to our success,” said Jeff who is manufac- turing engineer manager at nearby Collins Aerospace.

Today, the Winkles have 15 purebred cows that they focus on with five of them functioning as donor cows, which they flush regularly to collect embryos. They have about 20 recipient cows where they perform embryo transfer, and it’s this herd that produces the majority of the high-quality calves that they sell. They also have their own breeding bulls. Five years ago, one of those bulls won both the state fairs in Ohio and Kentucky three years in a row. “He really put us on the map,” Jeff said of that bull.

For the past four years, Cedar Lane Farm has participated in the “Share the Vision” Shorthorn sale in Millersburg, drawing buyers from all over. They also sell some heifers and embryos in the Ohio Beef Expo and Kentucky Beef Expo as well as via private treaty.

Both Jeff and Susie have been actively involved in the cattle and ag industry for decades. They were 4-H advisors when their three children showed. Jeff is the chair of OCA’s Ohio Beef Expo breed committee and is also currently president of the Ohio Shorthorn Breeders’ Association. They recently “converted” a family member to showing Shorthorns and are waiting for their two grandchildren to be old enough to show.

“Our daughter when she was about 18 and it was her last year in 4-H, I bought her a heifer and brought it home and said ‘Hey, I bought you a heifer’ and she said ‘Why would you do that?’ I told her ‘Well, you know all your life you’ve done what you want to and I want you to know my life.’ It ended up that heifer was reserve division winner in Denver and was the start of the best cows we have now,” Jeff said.

The couple’s most recent success came just before they were recognized at the Ohio Cattlemen’s annual banquet – they raised the national champion junior heifer at the Cattlemen’s Congress in Oklahoma City.

“We like the temperament of Shorthorns. We’re selling cattle for little kids to show and that’s important. I got a text from a person last week who bought a heifer from our sale and was so happy their 5-year-old could show it,” Jeff said.

For the Winkles, sustainability is important for them. On their 125 acres, they raise 30 acres each of corn, wheat and soybeans and double-crop and use corn stalks, rye and sudan grass as fodder and bedding since they don’t make their own hay.

“Ground around here is expensive and we make and mix and grind our own feed. We’re more judicial on where we spend money because we have to get profit off every acre,” Jeff said.

Susie, who recently retired from teaching at a local school, spends most of her days tending the cattle, getting up early to feed in the morning and up late at night to help pull a calf. “Without her, we wouldn’t have the farm,” Jeff said of his wife.

When asked what some of their short-term goals are, Susie laughed, saying an indoor wash rack, fewer cows and more time on the farm for Jeff.

“One of the biggest challenges is time. Jeff is working full time and we never have time to get everything done ourselves. Jeff is struggling to get fences built and we hate paying somebody else when we could do it ourselves,” she said. “I love being here; it’s such a down to earth place. We’ve had a great life and the 4-H experience has taught our kids about responsibility and that hard work pays off.”

In 2020, their son, Scott, received the Lawrence Grathwohl Shorthorn Herdsman of the Year Award at the North American Livestock Exposition.

“I’m 64 and happy where we’re at,” Jeff said. “When I was a kid growing up, we had a herd of Shorthorns much like what surrounds me and I’ve tried my whole life to reinvent them, to make better cows.”

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