The Kahla Family - Region V McCoy's Farm and Ranch Family
Congratulations to the McCoy’s Farm and Ranch family of the month, the Kahla’s! Joe Glenn and his wife Karen, their boys; Jake William and Jack Henry; and Joe Glenn’s mom, Lee Ellen Kahla have owned and operated the Kahla Ranch located right outside of Jasper, Texas since 1972.
Their family business mainly consists of a replacement heifer operation; however, Lee Ellen raises Golden Certified F1 Tiger Striped Heifers, and Joe Glenn has a herd of Corrientes cattle the family uses to raise roping calves, team roping steers and bull dogging steers.
Joe Glenn explained how he manages the Corrientes operation exclusively with his boys, and the entire family helps with the F1 Operation. “This requires attention to the cattle on a daily basis and takes a lot of work to make every day happen,” Joe Glenn said.
Outside of ranching, Joe Glenn is a full time trial lawyer while Karen is an emergency room nurse in Jasper. Balancing life on the ranch with nine-to-five jobs involves quite a bit of dedica- tion and time management. “I don’t know if you will find anybody we know that will say we have our head on straight,” Joe Glenn said with a laugh. “We do not have a whole lot of downtime.”
The family said they do not not spend much time away from the ranch. When they are not at a rodeo on the weekends, they are typically spending their time working around the ranch to catch up on the chores they were not able to complete during the week. In addition to the cattle operations, the family grows hay, and plants oats and wheat for winter pasture.
Now that the boys are older, they play an intricate part in the family business. “The boys help a tremendous amount,” Joe Glenn explained. “Most days when I get home, they have the stock penned and the horses saddled.” Jake and Jack are responsible for taking care of livestock including the horses, cattle, hogs, goats and chickens. They also work cattle, fix fences, bush-hog pastures, and help with anything else that needs to be done on the ranch.
Joe Glenn explained how everyone is expected to do their part in the family business, and if not, it makes it a little harder on everyone else to pick up the slack. “I grew up on the ranch with my three sisters, and we all rodeoed in THSRA; we all had responsibilities grow- ing up,” Joe Glenn said. “I have tried to instill the importance of pulling your own weight with my boys as well.”
While the tasks on the ranch play a vital role in the family’s way of life, being involved in the Texas High School Rodeo Association has also played an important part. The THSRA is a family affair as Joe Glenn was a competitor when we was younger, and both of his boys compete in the organization now. Jake competes in the steer wrestling, team roping and light rifle, while Jack competes in the steer wrestling, team roping and calf roping.
“We spend a tremendous amount of time in the practice pen preparing for the next rodeo,” Joe Glenn said. “We typically practice at least one event on a daily basis during the week, and on the weekends we are home, we practice multiple events.” The family explained how they strive to schedule time consuming events such as working cattle, butchering hogs, hauling hay, etc. around their rodeo schedule to avoid interference.
Outside of ranching and rodeoing, the family enjoys hunting, fishing and taking the occasional ski trip. They said they shop at McCoy’s for all of their livestock equipment needs and they are honored to be selected as the McCoy’s Farm and Ranch Family of the Month. Congratulations to the Kahla’s of Region V!
