This national award is presented annually to a producer to recognize their dedication to improving the beef industry at the commercial level. 

Rezac Land & Livestock, founded by Don and Barbara Rezac, is a diversified ranch located on the northern edge of the Kansas Flint Hills. In 1986, their son Jay, his wife, Stacy, and Jay’s older brother Lance and wife, Debra, formed a partnership. 

Since that time, the operation has grown substantially and today includes six partners – Jay and Lance; Jay’s sons, Russell and Matthew; and Lance’s children, Nicole and Garrett. Jay, Russell and his wife, Tiffany, and Matthew and his wife, Alexa, manage the cattle and rangeland near Onaga, Kansas. Jay’s daughter Jayme and her husband, Corey Lundberg, live on the Olsburg, Kansas, division, where Corey manages the cow herd and a starting lot. 

The cattle operation consists of 900 Simmental- and Angus-bred spring-calving cows. Once the calves are weaned, they are either sold or shipped to a commercial feedyard or finished in the family-owned feedyard. The cows graze year-round on native grass, stalks and cover crops. By following a strict grazing management plan, the Rezacs can maintain their cows with limited supplementation, while also keeping their natural resources in excellent condition.  

In addition to their cow herd, they purchase about 5,500 calves each year for their stocker and backgrounding operations. Calves are bought from Missouri to North and South Dakota. The majority are sold as feeder cattle, with the remaining retained for finishing in the family’s feedyard.

A clear set of goals and dedication to the management practices needed to meet those goals have made Rezac Land & Livestock a truly progressive commercial cow-calf business. Rezac Land & Livestock was nominated by the Kansas Livestock Association.

The award is presented by BIF and sponsored by Drovers.

More than 300 beef producers, academia and industry representatives attended the organization’s 54th annual research symposium and convention in Las Cruces, New Mexico. BIF’s mission is to help improve the industry by promoting greater acceptance of beef cattle performance evaluation. 

For more information about this year’s symposium, including additional award winners and coverage of the meeting and tours, visit the Beef Improvement Federation’s website.

—From a Beef Improvement Federation news release

PHOTO: Rezac Land & Livestock, Onaga, Kansas, was recognized as the Beef Improvement Federation Commercial Producer of the Year on June 2. Pictured left, presenting the award is 2022 BIF President Matt Perrier, Eureka, Kansas. Accepting the award (left to right) are Russell, Tiffany, Stacy and Jay Rezac. The Rezac family was honored at the organization’s 54th annual symposium and convention in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Photo courtesy of the Beef Improvement Federation.