Fourth-generation Hereford breeder Mark Largent manages the family business, Largent and Sons, in Kaycee, Wyo.

The family has 115 years of Hereford involvement, with the family first purchasing registered Herefords in 1902. Today, the fifth and sixth generations are living and working at Largent and Sons.

Mark oversees a 225-head registered cow herd. He markets 125 bulls per year through the annual production sale, in its 35th year, and private treaty. Largent
and Sons also sells 50 heifer calves each year through the production sale. The operation utilizes ET, AI and an exacting expected progeny difference (EPD) criteria for improvement. Mark focuses on carcass merit, reproduction traits, performance and feedlot efficiency.

He has judged livestock on both the local and national levels including the National Western Stock Show (NWSS) carload and pen show, the NWSS junior show, the NWSS Red Angus show, the North American International Livestock Exposition (NAILE), the Wyoming State Fair and numerous field days and state fairs. Mark has also participated in feedlot feedout Certified Hereford Beef seminars and showed and consigned cattle to most major shows and sales across the United States.

In the Hereford industry, Mark has served as president and vice president of the Wyoming Hereford Association and was a member of the direction committee. In his community, Mark has served as a Johnson County Co-op Board director, a Northeast Area Wyoming Southern Baptist Association president, and the Faith Community Church of Gilette pastor for 19 years. Mark and his wife, Cathy, have three children — Dave and his wife, Heather; Laura and her husband, Toby; and Sherry and her husband, Brad — nine grandchildren and one great-grandson.

Elections for the three vacant spots on the AHA Board of Directors will be held Saturday, Oct. 28, at the AHA Annual Meeting in Kansas City, Mo. Mark represents the Northwest Region.