Man Made Cattle embraces the cattle industry, looks to be a premiere breeding operation

Sep. 18—When Edward and Sarah Perez, and their four children, moved to Chickahsa just over three years ago, they "accidentally" purchased a farm.

Perez was stationed at Tinker Air Force Base for his last duty assignment and was trying to find a home for the family.

"We could not find anything that would house our family, our large-sized family, that was close to Tinker Air Force Base," Perez said. "So, we ended up having to search farther out."

The family first looked at options in Blanchard but the day they went to view a trailer in Blanchard, a call about a woman in Chickasha looking to sell her home came through. The Perez family viewed the property the very next morning and were greeted with a beautiful, large-acreage ranch, Perez said.

"(We) thought that it would be impossible, but God made his way and we ended up being able to come up with the funds to be able to purchase the home," he said.

"We really appreciate Oklahoma because they kind of build our family up a little bit better," Perez said. "We have dinner at the table, we've learned to pray for rain and we've learned to become more of a closer family."

For over 20 years, the Perez family was involved in breeding pitfall puppies. With the new expansive land, they knew the dogs would enjoy it but felt they could do so much more with it. So, they decided to enter the cattle industry.

"I'm trying to kind of bring over our skills from the selective breeding world of the dogs to the cattle world and learned really fast that the cattle industry is very old school," he said.

They visited local farms and ranches — Wheeler's Farm, Express Ranch, and others — to "get their feet wet" and learn what people were looking for, how the auction world works and figure out what cattle they were going to produce.

The Perez family decided on the black Angus breed.

"We love the way, the confirmation of a black Angus...it wasn't overdone. It's not too big and it's highly sought after by consumers." Perez said.

From there, the family launched Man Made Cattle, a premiere Angus breeding operation.

The company's mission is to elevate the standard of excellence in the Angus industry.

It aims to do so by using meticulous breeding practices, cutting-edge technologies and a passion for the breed, according to the company's website.

Man Made Cattle purchased its first commercial herd and began the breeding process.

"We filled them with embryos so that we could select the herds that we wanted," Perez said.

"That's kind of where our herd is now. We're on our second generation currently... actually, it's (the farm's) first generation of man-made cattle. We produced our commercial herd using embryos from the cattle that we thought was best for our program. Here we are now producing what we think is going to be good for the future of the black Angus world."

In terms of translating their expertise in the dog breeding world to the cattle industry, Perez said marketing is very similar but it's caring for the animals that is vastly different.

He said with dogs, they had to be "on" and paying attention 24 hours a day but can get a little lazy at times with cattle in comparison.

"We can overdo it a little bit with cattle and we're not paying attention to how the cattle industry really works," he said.

They have to be careful not to overspend on feed and care for the cattle as it could result in a loss of profit later down the road when it's time to sell.

"At the same time, in the dog world, we want to produce the best of the best of the best. So in the cattle industry, we're like, 'You know what? It doesn't really matter right now,' We're building our herd. We want to put the best that we can out there."

He and his wife, Sarah, built a large corral by hand for the cattle, which he said was a nightmare at times as the herd they purchased was "crazy" and difficult to herd.

They learned they didn't need four-wheelers or horses to corral their cattle, just "a bag of cubes and some good patients."

They were connected with a traveling veterinarian who has been incredibly helpful in teaching them about how to care for cattle, including a crash case in breached calves.

"It's been amazing," Perez said "We come from traveling the world to settling down and trying to get a little slice of country living. The entire experience has just been really, really nice."

The family lived in Japan, Delaware and throughout the East Coast during the 22 years Perez was in the Air Force.

Before moving to Oklahoma, Perez said he wasn't sure if his children had ever seen a cow in person.

Now, they know about pigs, goats, chickens and turkeys, on top of the small herd of cattle they acquired for Man Made Cattle.

Their oldest daughter just graduated high school and though she likely will not go into farming herself, she enjoys the farm and loves the people in Chickasha.

Their daughter in 8th grade is not a fan of the farm life though, and Perez said she always says she's moving to California when she's older.

But their son loves the farm.

"My son loves Oklahoma," he said. "...He loves Oklahoma. He loves everything about animals."

Perez, who also works as the City of Chickasha Emergency Management Director, said the support from the community had been overwhelming and the smaller farms in the area have been very willing to help them learn the ropes.

Currently, Man Made Cattle has around 35 to 50 head of registered cattle and plans on staying relatively small so it's easier to provide for each cow and their offspring directly.

"We are committed to excellence in breeding. We want to build a reputation of trust and respect for the cattle world," he said.

Looking to the future, Perez said they want to be able to help provide information and resources for new farmers getting into the industry.

"Where does a new cattleman go today to actually get help?" he said. "Step one, like cattlemen for dummies, where would you go to get help that they're actually going to teach you about being a cattleman? A lot of people have misconceptions and they believe that there's these organizations out there that do that. And I've learned the hard way that it really doesn't exist."

Man Made Cattle wants to be able to bridge that gap while maintaining its breeding operation. Despite how the market looks, the difficulties in starting an operation, droughts and other facts, Perez wants people to feel encouraged to enter the cattle industry.

"Small farmers should be encouraged to start..." he said. "You can really start small. If you have land right now, you could get quality cattle, if you just do your research and do your homework."