ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Kerry and Brigid Clift and their daughter, Cora, raise registered Charolais cattle on their ranch near Ellensburg, Wash.

“I grew up on a ranch just south of Yakima. My dad had a commercial herd and used Charolais bulls,” said Kerry.

His grandfather, Harlond Clift, played professional baseball in the 1930s and early 1940s for the St. Louis Browns, he said. “After he retired from baseball, he purchased a ranch near Yakima and bought 1,500 Hereford cows — shipped from Texas by rail cars.

“My dad was raised on that ranch, and so was I,” Kerry said.

“After I finished college in 1996 with a degree in ag econ and a minor in animal science from (Washington State University), we bought purebred Charolais and gradually built a registered herd,” he said.

“I enjoy the seedstock business and the camaraderie of competition in the show ring,” he said.

Kerry moved to Ellensburg in 1997 and met Brigid; she grew up on a ranch there.

They got married in 1999.

“Our daughter, Cora, shows at many regional shows and Charolais Junior Nationals. She raises and sells club calves and has her own business — Cora’s Cattle Company,” he said. “Our vacations are always cattle oriented. We go to cattle shows!”

Their bulls are sold the third week of February in Ellensburg.

“We partner with a couple Angus producers for the sale,” Kerry said. “We offer embryos and semen, and sell a few show heifers to kids.”

They also sell some females privately and most of the bulls are sold in the February sale.

“The top-selling bull went to Iowa this year,” he said.

Kerry enjoys the genetic aspect of the purebred business.

“The bulls we buy must be structurally correct to make show cattle, and need good temperament,” he said. “With Cora working around the cattle as she grew up, I couldn’t have anything that didn’t have good temperament.”

Customers appreciate how calm these cattle are, and easy to handle, he said.

“We strive to have bulls with moderate birthweights that are built correctly so cows don’t have a hard time calving but the calves grow fast to produce high weaning weights,” Kerry said.

The Charolais breed has always been the main choice for a terminal cross on commercial cattle, especially on crossbred cows, using Charolais as a third breed to create the most heterosis — producing calves with better weaning weights and muscling.

“Many people in our area run black cows and use Charolais bulls on them,” he said.

“My wife and I also work full-time. I’m the business manager of the McGregor Company in Quincy and Ellensburg — a big fertilizer, seed and chemical company,” he said.

Brigid is the regional archivist for the Washington State Archives in Ellensburg.

“The cattle are an overgrown hobby that became our passion,” he said, adding that visitors are welcome at the ranch.

“We have a Facebook page and Instagram with photos and things we are doing. We also started TikTok with Clift Livestock,” he said. “We try to target all ages and interests and put a lot of fun things on there. We use social media and our website for advertisement.”

For our bull sale and female sale we do a podcast under Clift Livestock on Spotify,” he said.

He recently started a podcast focused on Charolais, the cattle industry and other topics.

“We’ve now recorded almost 50 episodes, on iTunes and Spotify. We have followers in 50 states and 30 countries, with a huge following in the U.S. and Canada,” he said. “We invite breeders to highlight their programs.

“In July I got a call from the Charolais Association; they are starting a podcast because they liked what we were doing with our Charolais Chatter podcast,” he said. “They said they don’t want to copy it, but want to add to it and provide more information.”

Daughter Cora just turned 21 and is now in college.

“She showed at the Charolais Junior Nationals in St. Paul, Minnesota, this year, and has one more year of eligibility based on age,” Kerry said. “The Charolais business has been fun because it’s something we do together as a family. We don’t have hired help; we do it all ourselves.”