PAYNE MIDYETTE: A LIFE DEDICATED TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF FLORIDA & BRAFORD CATTLE,

from Braford News | Volume 35 | Issue 2 | Summer 2021

by United Braford Breeders

CONSEQUENCES OF LONG-TERM COMMITMENT TO ESTRUS

Payne Midyette

A Life Dedicated to Improving the Quality of Florida & Braford Cattle

By Bob Stone

In 1706, ancestors of Payne Midyette Jr. sailing from Canada to New Orleans were shipwrecked off the

North Carolina coast near Cape Hatteras. As a result of the wreck, the Midyettes chose to settle in North Carolina. Today, there are dozens of descendants of these early settlers – about half of whom changed the spelling of their surname to Midgette – still living in eastern North Carolina. Payne’s father, Payne Midyette Sr., moved from North Carolina to Tallahassee in 1922; Payne’s mother, Charlotte, followed in 1923. Payne Sr. started an insurance agency in 1922, then partnered with Frank D. Moor to form the Midyette-Moor Insurance Agency in 1932. Payne’s father also raised cattle. “There were some registered Hereford bulls at that time,” Payne recalls. “But my father brought the first registered Hereford females into Leon County. That was in the early 1930s.”

An excellent businessman, Payne Midyette Sr. achieved great success with the insurance agency. Also adept in governmental affairs, he represented Leon County in the Florida House of Representatives from 1945 to 1947. Through a charitable gift, the Midyettes fund the permanent Payne H. and Charlotte Hodges Midyette Eminent Scholar in Risk Management and Insurance Chair at Florida State University as an expression of gratitude to the community, the insurance industry, and the university.

Payne Midyette Jr. was born Aug. 13, 1927, in Tallahassee. From as far back as he can remember, he helped his father with the family cattle. His passion for raising cattle – especially red cattle – remained strong ever since. At an early age, Payne showed a talent for caring for cattle as well as good business sense. “When I was a kid, I used to buy old Pineywoods cows that everybody was selling, because the price was so good. I would bring them to pasture in my dad’s truck, de-worm them with a drench, put them on a good pasture, and in about 90 days I’d take them back to the market and sell them. I’d make spending money as a kid that way.”

In 1940, Alto L. Adams of Fort Pierce was appointed as a Florida Supreme Court judge. When he relocated his family to Tallahassee, Payne quickly became close friends with Judge Adams’ son, Alto Jr., known as “Bud.” “Bud and I rode our horses all over the southern part of Leon County and Wakulla County, and camped and explored,” recalls Payne. “We worked in the summertime for Mr. Irlo Bronson. He was one of the great cattlemen of his time and a wonderful mentor. It was a great experience. I had a good time and learned a lot.” Payne and Bud remained lifelong friends.

After graduating from Leon High School, Payne joined the U. S. Navy Seabees during the latter days of World War II; he was stationed in Rhode Island, Oahu, and several locations in the South Pacific. The war soon ended, and he was discharged on his 19th birthday, Aug. 13, 1946. He then enrolled at the University of Florida and graduated with a degree in Agriculture Economics.

Payne then went to work for Bud Adams and his father at the Adams Ranch in Fort Pierce. As was the case with Payne’s father, Bud Adams saw the potential in red cattle, and went on to produce the foundation Braford herd. Payne enjoyed the work and wanted to live in South Florida, but fate intervened when he injured his back riding a bucking bull in a rodeo. Unable to ride a horse for ranch work, he moved back to Tallahassee; it took about one year for him to recover.

Payne formed a partnership with his father and took over management of his purebred Herford cattle. He married Jean Jarrett in 1951, and they had three children: Payne III, Mary Hill and Aren. As a family man with growing responsibility, Payne realized in 1956 that he was not earning enough money in the cattle business to support his family. He sold some of his cattle and reluctantly went to work for the Midyette-Moor Insurance Agency. MidyetteMoor became one of the top insurance agencies in Florida. In 1972, the partners sold the Midyette-Moor agency to Alexander and Alexander, one of the largest insurance brokerage firms in the world. Payne continued to run the Midyette-Moor agency until he retired in 1992.

During his tenure with the insurance agency, Payne continued to raise cattle, albeit on a reduced scale. “We bought our first Braford cattle from Bud Adams in 1981 – four bulls and 125 heifers,” recalled Payne. After his retirement from the insurance business, he ramped up his cattle operation.

Payne operated the Running M Ranch with the help of his grandson (Aren’s son) Will Moncrief, and veteran cowman Kit Storey. Payne was given a Cracker horse by his good friend, Okeechobee veterinarian Dr. Jim Harvey, who is also a Braford breeder. “Jim sent me a little Cracker filly. He said I didn’t charge him enough for a bull I had sold him. And we started riding them, and that’s what we ride today. I’ve got a really nice Cracker stud horse.”

Throughout his decades of cattle ranching, Payne maintained a passion for the Braford breed. He was the last president of the old International Braford Association

(IBA); he was instrumental in bringing the IBA and the American Braford Association together to form the United Braford Breeders (UBB) in 1994, and served as its first elected president. At the Annual Membership Meeting in Houston, Texas, in 2012, he was honored by the UBB with the Robert R. Buescher Memorial Award, the UBB’s highest honor for persons who have made significant contributions to the UBB and/or the beef cattle seedstock industry. He served as a wise and steady force on the UBB Board of Directors for years.

“We have come a long way with the Braford breed, I think, mainly because of Payne Midyette and Bud Adams, two originals,” Kit Story declares.

Throughout his ranching career, Payne was active in the Florida Cattlemen’s Association, having served as president of the Leon Cattlemen’s Association four or five times. He began attending the annual Beef Cattle Short Course at the University of Florida in the 1950s. “He was always very interested in the talks that were given over those three days and very quick to adopt practices that would improve his production,” Dr. Warnick notes. He was also an early member and president of the Florida Beef Cattle Improvement Association, a pioneering organization that did much to improve cattle quality and success in the cow/calf business through record-keeping and improved management practices.

Payne was also an enthusiastic supporter of the Florida Cattlemen’s Foundation in its mission to support research, education and leadership development, and preserve our ranching history and heritage. “I think it’s great. I send the Foundation a donation every year.”

Payne Midyette left a lasting impact of Florida’s beef cattle industry as well as the Braford breed. A Friendship of a Lifetime

The Florida cracker way of cooking the steaks with indirect flame is used when the only wood that will burn is lighter knot or other sappy wood. Bud and Payne rode horses many miles together through the years. As teenagers, they would ride out from Tallahassee and try to reach the Gulf. A little later on, they both worked for Irlo Bronson, where camping out sometimes meant soaking a burlap bag in diesel just to keep the mosquitoes and flies off your horse. They both went into the service and then graduated from the University of Florida. They worked together again when Payne was hired by Alto Sr. “Judge” Adams. Among other things, they roped and doctored a lot of screwworm cattle.

“Grandpa told me of one memorable time often. Apparently, Mr. Bud had an angry sharp-horned steer caught and Grandpa doctored it. Before Grandpa could get on his horse, Mr. Bud turned the steer loose. The steer chased Grandpa up a thin little myrtle bush and kept him up there for a good while. Mr. Bud always maintained that it was an accident. Grandpa was convinced that he did it on purpose. Either way, they always had a good laugh whenever it was brought up. Until the very end, every time Mr. Bud came across a picture or cartoon of a cowboy up a tree with an angry bovine underneath him, he would cut it out and send it to Grandpa. They both went on to raise Braford cattle on their respective ranches. The two were instrumental in the UBB being where it is today. Despite being some distance apart, they always maintained a good friendship.” -- Will Moncrief