However, his father, Gary Alexander, insisted Clay not come back to the operation until he had a college degree under his belt. So Clay stayed in school until he got one – in horticulture and turf grass, as that was the quickest route through.
Clay now wishes he had used his education a little differently.
Gary says, “One of the things we did, as you begin transition and are fortunate to work together the way Clay and I have, you see situations in the area with father-son transitions and some of them went real well and some did not. So one of the things we did when we started expanding cattle was I basically handed Clay the seed money for cows and told him ‘You make your own payroll.’ As we’ve expanded this and got some full-time help, his duties included what he’s taken for granted what his mom did all these years of making payroll, so this bookwork transition and checkbook management has not been all he thought it would be.”
It’s been a learning curve for Clay, but one he’s still eager about tackling. And he has a herd of 365 mama cows to show for it, with room for expansion and growth. 
View the slideshow below, and read more about the operation here.
Photos by Lynn Jaynes and Carrie Veselka.
