Governor Mary Fallin has appointed and the Oklahoma Senate has confirmed the appointment of Joe Mayer of Guymon to serve a four-year term as a member of the State Board of Agriculture.
Mayer grew up on the cattle ranch his great grandfather established in the Oklahoma Panhandle in 1883. The ranch has grown into a 35,000-acre beef and small grain operation, which has received national and international recognition for innovation and willingness to embrace new technologies. His work to improve his Angus herd through careful breeding and record keeping and DNA testing for specific traits earned him the Certified Angus Beef ® Commercial Producer of the Year Award in 2013.
Mayer is also recipient of the Governor’s Outstanding Achievement in Agriculture award, which is the Oklahoma Agriculture Hall of Fame.
“Joe Mayer brings a great knowledge of the grain and cattle business to the State Board of Agriculture,” said Governor Mary Fallin. “He is at the forefront in the beef industry, and he will use what he has learned from using and adapting the latest technologies to improve ranchers and farmers across our state.”
Mayer and his wife Mary Anne have three children, Paul, Katie and Margie, who all still work for the family farm and ranch business.
Mayer succeeds Joe Farris, of Taloga, a life-long rancher, former vocational agriculture teacher and the Sr. Vice President and agricultural loan officer for the Bank of Western Oklahoma in Woodward. Farris served 12 years on the State Board of Agriculture under Governors Mary Fallin and Brad Henry.
“We appreciate Joe Farris’s twelve years on the Board,”said Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture Jim Reese. “He has a near perfect attendance record for twelve years. He has been active, involved, and conscientious about his service with a particular expertise in the livestock sector. We thank him for his exceptional service.”