Charley Jackson was a Vermont farmer with a passion for both Red Angus and a life of discovery. He was a lifelong learner who was also passionate about leaving what he touched better for those who would come after. This included his land, buildings, herd of Red Angus cattle and community.
By leaving a substantial amount of funds from his estate to the Red Angus Foundation, Inc. (RAFI) Sal Forbes Research Fund, his legacy will live on. It will ensure the breed stays on its path of constant discovery started by its founders; a path of providing seedstock to commercial producers that is unsurpassed in the use of the best available science for objective selection.
This path will help make sure Red Angus customers are buying the optimum genetics for their unique situation and business. Ultimately, it will ensure Red Angus provides genetics to the industry that, when marketed downstream in the form of feeder cattle, the carcasses and, ultimately, the beef consumers buy will meet or exceed expectations at every level.
Jackson spent his life working with both his hands and his mind, as a farmer and carpenter, as well as with the other resources the land could sustainably provide. This included syruping, logging and a small sawmill. His neighbors and friends all describe Jackson similarly as someone who was highly intelligent, fiercely independent, frugal, always asking questions and learning, well-read, possessing a classic dry New England sense of humor, and a good person to have as a neighbor and member of the community. However, his early childhood and training had him steered in a different path than that of a carpenter and farmer.
Having been raised in Boston and receiving his secondary education at the elite Saint Paul’s School in Concord, NH, Jackson was on a path for people’s traditional definition of success. This continued when he received his undergraduate degree from New York University. He then attended Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, and it was from there he set out working as a skilled carpenter in Massachusetts and Maine before settling in Woodstock, VT. It was after he had settled in Vermont that he ultimately bought his beloved Echo Farm in 1980.
Former Vermont livestock extension specialist, Dr. Sam Comstock, said Jackson’s Echo Farm was a typical “hardscrabble” New England hill farm that Charley went about improving with a zeal rarely equaled. He improved the soil, cleared land and repaired or rebuilt all the buildings. Sam indicated that Jackson lived a humble life and cared little of what others thought of him, other than his mentors in the community from whom he learned how to farm.
Echo Farm, under Jackson’s management, was diversified and as self-sufficient as possible. He started sugaring with a neighbor, and he boiled the sap and heated the house with wood. He logged and had a sawmill that produced the lumber for his buildings and facilities. Through it all, he was most attached to his herd of Red Angus.
He had first encountered Red Angus from his neighbor Elfie Forbes, who at the time maintained a small herd. Elfie is the daughter of breed founders Waldo and Sal Forbes, and is well-versed in the philosophy of the breed—a philosophy Jackson found appealing. Jackson built the working chutes and installed scales to collect all the data to improve his herd. He made it a lifelong mission to improve the quality of his herd for efficient beef production and was a regular customer of seedstock from the Forbes family’s Wyoming ranch.
Another neighbor, Emily Grube, knew Jackson well, and even finished some of his cattle, which she described as exceptional to feed. She found Jackson to be a unique, somewhat eccentric soul who made a great neighbor. He served as a local selectman and was a volunteer fireman, and he was always there to help a neighbor when help was needed. When he later moved his farm to better ground in West Haven, VT, he found an equally supportive community.
In light of Jackson’s generosity, the RAFI Board—which is comprised of Bob Hough, Frank Wedel, Tom Brink, Kay Klompien, Cam Forbes, Kelli Brown, Scott Ford and Blake Angell—has been meeting every two weeks on how to be the best stewards of the funds. Jackson bequeathed the monies to a RAFI-restricted fund for research and development named for Sal Forbes, and RAFI is working to see the resources are used to make the long-term positive impact on the breed Jackson intended.
The RAFI board is reviewing the priorities identified by the Red Angus Association of America’s (RAAA) new strategic plan. In addition, the RAFI board is reviewing ongoing priority research being done by RAAA to assure it is fully supported, as well as common interests with other partners, particularly International Genetic Solutions, that fit within the Red Angus breed’s already identified research needs.
Lastly, the board is working with experts to design a format for researchers to apply for grants to make sure that all considerations have been considered in terms of qualification of the investigators, existing knowledge, experimental design, budget and budget justification, and expected deliverables.
Red Angus breeders, commercial customers and the beef industry owe much to Charley Jackson for his generous investment in all of these stakeholders’ futures. It is a fitting legacy for this lifelong learner that his estate will continue to add to the knowledge base that makes Red Angus special; something Red Angus has been since it became the first incorporated performance organization of any kind when it was formed in 1954. This willingness to seek knowledge and take a different road are all traits that Charley Jackson and Red Angus histories have in common, and this legacy will live on with his gift. — Bob Hough, RAFI president
