Jarold Callahan of Edmond, OK, has been named the 2023 inductee of the prestigious Saddle and Sirloin Portrait Gallery. Callahan will become the 378th member of this historic gallery and his portrait will be unveiled during an induction banquet to be held on Nov. 14 during the North American Livestock Exposition in Louisville, KY.
“I am extremely honored and humbled to receive this prestigious award,” said Jarold when told he would be the 2023 inductee. The Saddle & Sirloin Club was established in 1903 to recognize significant leaders in the American livestock industry. Originally housed in Chicago, the portrait gallery moved to Louisville in 1976. It is considered the largest collection of portraits saluting animal agriculture leaders anywhere in the world.
Jarold was born and raised in the Osage grass region of northeastern Oklahoma near Welch on a diversified family farm and cattle operation. As a young man, his passion for farming and ranching was evident. During his teen years, Jarold excelled as a student, an athlete and in livestock judging competitions. After completing his associate degree at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College, Jarold earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Oklahoma State University (OSU) and graduated as one of the Top 10 Seniors in the College of Agriculture in 1976.
Jarold coached the livestock judging team at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M from 1976-82 and served as chair of the Agriculture Division. During this time, Jarold earned a Master of Agriculture, with an animal science emphasis, from the University of Arkansas in 1980.
Jarold returned to OSU where he served as an instructor and coached the livestock judging team from 1982-91. The livestock judging teams he coached won the American Royal four times and the 1985 team set the record for All-Time High Team Score. Callahan won the Outstanding Teaching and Advisement Award for the OSU College of Agriculture in 1990. He served as supervisor of the OSU Purebred Beef Center and Totusek Arena.
During his time in the academic world, Jarold served as mentor and coach to more than 300 livestock judging team students and taught thousands more. His leadership and unparalleled ability as an evaluator shaped the minds of students and had a profound impact on the meat animal industry, particularly “ideal” beef cattle type over the past 45 years. The success of his former students serves as a testament to his commitment to education, mentoring and personal development.
After leaving OSU to serve as executive vice president of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association (OCA), Jarold led the formation of the OCA Foundation and negotiated a founding donation of land and purebred cattle from Billy Yarbrough of B&L Ranch.
For more than a quarter century, Jarold has served as the president of Express Ranches. No purebred breeding establishment in North America has contributed a larger volume of genomic test results or large contemporary group phenotypic weights and measures to the American Angus Association and American Hereford Association databases over the past decade than Express Ranches under the leadership of Jarold Callahan.
Jarold’s involvement in the cattle industry is vast, encompassing commercial cow-calf production, stocker grazing and cattle finishing in addition to his internationally recognized success in the purebred sector of multiple breeds. Jarold, with his wife, Jennifer and their son, Ryan, own and operate Callahan Cattle Company.
Callahan Cattle Company and Express Ranches owned controlling interest of the Excel Feedyard at Watonga, OK, from 2014-21, and Jarold supervised operations and risk management for that 30,000 head one-time capacity feedyard and continues to use those facilities for development of Express Ranches bulls.
Jarold has served as a show judge for virtually every major beef breed and every major livestock show in North America. For more than 45 years, he has enjoyed sustained popularity as a livestock judge having officiated over 1,000 junior and open shows, including breeding cattle, market steers and market and breeding sheep in 33 states and Canada.
In response to the COVID-19 cancellation of the National Western Stock Show in Denver, CO, in 2021, Jarold worked hard to bring together breed associations, breeders and civic leaders to form a new entity and established the Cattlemen’s Congress livestock show in Oklahoma City. Jarold has served as chairman of this event since its inception.
Jarold served as a member of the American Angus Association Board of Directors from 2004-12, serving as president and chairman of the board in 2012. Jarold played a critical role in creating the association’s policies regarding genetic defects and guided the adoption and implementation of policies that allowed the Angus breed and breeders to capture the genetic value of carrier animals while eliminating the deleterious recessive alleles from the population. During his tenure on the American Angus Association Board of Directors, Jarold was an influential driver in the formation of the for-profit subsidiary Angus Genetics Inc., which allowed the American Angus Association to become the purebred industry leader in the development and application of genomic-enhanced EPD predictions and bio-economic indexes.
Jarold has always been generous with his time and talent by investing his effort in roles of leadership and advisement to a multitude of organizations. Serving on the Oklahoma Beef Council Board from 2002-08, Jarold was its council chairman in 2008. In addition, Jarold was appointed by former Gov. Mary Fallin (R) in 2016 to serve as a member of the Oklahoma A&M Board of Regents and he currently serves as the chairman of the Board of Regents.
An original oil portrait of Callahan, painted by renowned artist Richard Halstead, has been commissioned and will be framed and hung when the award is presented at the North American International Livestock Expo in November.
In addition to Jarold’s recognition, he and his family have established a fund at Cattlemen’s Congress to provide financial support to ensure that future livestock industry leaders have access to the educational opportunities offered by the OSU Purebred Beef Center. — Saddle and Sirloin Club
