Tom and Tammy were selected for the award by their peers – other Hereford herdsmen and breeders – and were honored prior to the selection of the supreme champion Hereford on Jan. 17.

Tom and Tammy both have been involved in the cattle industry all their lives and grew up showing polled Hereford cattle. Originally from Alabama, Tom is a part of the third generation on the Boatman family farm but was the first of his family to show cattle. Following graduation, he began work as a show cattle manager for Tennessee River Music, Fort Payne, Alabama. Tammy is a fifth-generation Hereford breeder from Plain View Farms in Kansas and holds a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Kansas State University.

The couple managed JWR Land & Cattle Co. in Georgia for eight years prior to moving to Illinois, where they’ve been managers for Perks Ranch, a purebred Hereford operation, since 2011.

Tammy is a third-generation Herdsman of the Year, following in the footsteps of her grandfather, Don Riffel, the 1969 winner, and her mother, Margarete Riffel, who won in 1993.

Tom and Tammy have two children, Kade and Kendall, 8-year-old twins, who are active in the National Junior Hereford Association and exhibited in their first Junior National Hereford Expo in 2014.  

—From American Hereford Association news release

PHOTO
Pictured at the 2015 National Western Stock Show (left to right) are Curtis Curry, AHA director; Tammy and Tom Boatman, 2015 Herdsman of the Year; Eric Walker, AHA president; Katie Nolles, 2014-15 National Hereford Queen; and Craig Huffhines, AHA executive vice president. Photo provided by the American Hereford Association.