TM
The Largest Privately Owned Hereford Newspaper in North America
The one that’s read “from cover to cover.” • Visit us on the web at: www.herefordamerica.com Vol. 26, No. 4
January 2023
Published by: Hereford America, Inc. • 13823 Beaver Creek Place • Reva, SD 57651 • Est. 1996
Editorial Comments... Jill Bayers Hotchkiss
We’ve just come through another epic Dakota snow storm. Lasting for about four days, it brought incredible wind, Jill Hotchkiss large amounts of snow and cold temperatures to a 7-state area. Here where we are the drifts are about 5-7 feet tall in places. We don’t really know how much we got because it blew so hard, upwards of about 45 mph at times. Livestock fared well in our area due in large part to advance warning, planning ahead of the storm and the fact that people aren’t calving this time of year. Still, it’s a tough kind of storm to get through. Advance preparation is crucial and after the wind and snow stop coming, everyone goes out to check on things and see where the cattle and horses are, make sure their water is open and feed some hay or cubes. People in other areas of the country have other issues to deal with but this is how it goes in our neck of the woods in the winter. You just never quite know what Mother Nature will have in store. Thank you to those friends who contacted us to see how we were. At the same time, other parts of our country endured tornadoes and torrential downpours, and those are things you can’t really prepare for in advance. The coming bull sale season is shaping up to be a good one. The late fall bull sales in our area have been strong even in drought country. The calf market was quite good this fall as were crop prices so I’m sure that has a positive affect. (continued on page 8)
Nebraska’s Ridder Family Dedicated to Hereford Breed for Over 115 Years grandparents, Theodore and Elizabeth (Praest) Ridder moved from northeastern Nebraska to Custer County in 1907 in search of more land for their growing family. Mary Ridder’s Irish and Moravian ancestors settled near Schuyler, in eastern Nebraska, working hard to be able to own land. “My parents raised row crops and hay and fed cattle,” Mary said. “My brothers still farm there. John’s grandparents emigrated from Westphalia, Germany in the late 1800s.” Theodore Ridder bought his first Here ford bull in 1908, and the family has raised Ridder sale bulls out on grass.“We want cattle that all sectors of the industry can use,” says John Ridder. (cont. on page 12) by Ruth Wiechmann The Ridder family motto could be: ‘If you want it built right, build it yourself.’ They steadfastly apply this pas-
sion and work ethic to their registered Hereford cattle and building the health of the rangelands in their stewardship near Callaway, NE. John Ridder’s
AHA Recognizes Hall of Fame, Hall of Merit Honorees
Bill King AHA Hall of Fame
Odell Gelvin AHA Hall of Fame
KANSAS CITY, MO – Odell Gelvin, Fairland, OK, Bill King, Moriarty, NM, and Loyd Whitehead, San Angelo, TX, were inducted into the Hereford Hall of Fame, Oct. 23 in Kansas City,
Loyd Whitehead AHA Hall of Fame
Dale Stith AHA Hall of Merit
MO, during the American Hereford Association (AHA) Annual Meeting and Conference. The Hall of Fame honor annually recognizes breeders who have dynami-
Don Birk AHA Hall of Merit
cally influenced the direction and advancement of the Hereford breed.
Odell Gelvin Odell Gelvin has spent a lifetime working in the Hereford breed, beginning when he was 12 years old working on the W.E. Harvey Ranch in Ada, OK, before and after school. After his father’s death, he moved and began caring for the commercial herd and working in the show barn at the Colvert Ranch in Millcreek, OK. Then, Odell worked in the Gus Delaney Ranch show barn in Ada until 1945, when he (continued on page 16)