Passion
As Shadows Began to Grow long upon the prairie landscape of the Oklahoma panhandle, a white pickup truck moved slowly through a CimarronCounty pasture, cattle flanking it on every side. As Idella Maschino piloted the feed truck through the grass and cattle like a canoe through a lake, her husband, Roger, surveyed the cow herd that is the product of years of seemingly unending hours, careful planning and a constant focus on delivering a quality product to American consumers. The cowboy-hat-wearing couple run their cow-calf operation from Guymon, Okla., the longtime home of Roger’s family and just a short drive – by panhandle standards, at least – from Idella’s family’s farm located in southeastern Colorado.
The Maschinos have dedicated their lives to careful stewardship of their natural resources and first-rate care for their animals. With the possibility of a drought seemingly always around the corner, the Maschinos’ steady hand and careful management have led them through times of difficulty and times of plenty during the couple’s 46 years of marriage. “We have tried to achieve quality – and premiums – for the products that we raise,” Roger said. “Part of our job as being farmers and ranchers is not only to feed the United States the most nutritious and safest product in the world, but we are also very instrumental in trying to feed the rest of the world.” This work, effort, and dedication was recognized at Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s 2016 annual meeting in Oklahoma City,
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where Roger and Idella were named OKFB’s 2016 Farm Family of the Year by the OKFB Women’s Leadership Committee. Roger, a lifetime Farm Bureau member and current Texas County Farm Bureau Board member, said receiving the award was, “humbling, but very honoring.”
The maschinos have carved out a life for themselves in the Oklahoma panhandle through a relentless pursuit of quality in their animals, starting with careful and measured animal selection. Roger pores over harvest data from his own animals, which has been collected since 1992, and genetic data to make decisions on what animals to keep, which bulls to buy, and how to best manage the herd.