Tyler's Story

If you know me, you know I don’t like to talk about myself much—especially not about the military. But this farm, what my wife and I are building with WD Cattle Co., didn’t come out of nowhere. It’s something I’ve been working toward quietly, and stubbornly, for as long as I can remember.

I didn’t grow up on a generational ranch.

I was born in Ohio, raised in a family that didn’t come from agriculture, but I’ve always had the pull. As a kid, I lived for the outdoors—fishing, camping, tending the garden with my parents. We didn’t call it farming, but that’s where the seed got planted.

It really started to take shape when we moved to southern Ohio. I spent nearly all of my teenage years working on local farms, usually more than one at a time. I was a farmhand, and later, a trusted hand—handling horses, cattle, chickens, pigs, sheep, goats, and alpacas, running tractors, fixing fence, you name it. By the time I was 19, I wasn’t just helping—I was running hayfields and managing full properties while the owners took time away. Those years gave me a foundation I’d never forget.

After graduating from the University of Cincinnati with a criminal justice degree, I went west. Montana first—working cattle on horseback, branding calves, trailing herds through the mountains. Then Colorado, where I lived and worked off grid in a high-country cabin through a brutal winter, caring for sled dogs, horses, and the land while guiding hunts and managing conservation. It was hard living, but it solidified what I already knew deep down: I wanted to farm. Not “someday”—definitely, when the time was right.

I spent time in Montana as part of a dude ranch to fulfill a long-held dream. We worked cattle on horse-back, branding and vaccinating calves, and moving the herds across the mountains to winter pastures.  Although it was just "vacation" I grew so much from the experience and my passion towards agriculture.

After this, I took a job in Colorado as a hunting guide through the winter and spring of 2017. We were on top of a mountain, without main road access to the local town over 40 miles away in a cabin without heat or power. It was a primitive environment that served as the living quarters during the end of hunting season through winter. I was responsible for the care of the horses on property including food, water, shelter, general care and handling until the snow was too deep for us to travel with them. Once this happened, I managed the property and guests by dogsled.

I cared for these dogs on a daily basis; managing feed rations, water, warmth, pen repairs or snow removal as needed, as well as exercise and a surprise litter of puppies born in the dead of winter.

And after this job concluded, I joined the Navy in 2017. My farming dream didn’t disappear; it just got delayed.

While I was deployed, I kept the vision alive. I sketched out land layouts, pasture rotation plans, coop designs, fencing diagrams—whatever I could do to keep that future front and center. Some guys blew off steam with video games or TV. I built farms on graph paper and notebook margins. The military taught me discipline, adaptability, leadership under pressure—but farming? That was always the plan.

In 2021, I met my wife, Kelsey. We got married in 2023 and jumped into the farm life just two months later. We both worked full-time jobs—me commuting to NAS Jacksonville, her at Amazon—and built the business in our off hours. Cleared land. Set fence posts. Fed chickens by flashlight. And little by little, WD Cattle Co. came to life.

I launched our chicken line first—built the mobile coops, raised the birds, processed and packaged them under our Florida poultry license. We trialed beef processors until we found the right one in northwest Florida. I even brought in a pork producer to meet the demand we were hearing at markets. Every step came from customer feedback, trial and error, and a commitment to quality I wasn’t willing to bend on.

By 2025, we’d moved cattle onto leased and owned pastures and expanded our lineup to serve more customers at markets across Florida.

I’m not a loud guy. I don’t post a lot and only when Kelsey makes me (I love you!). But every time I walk the fence line or talk to a customer at market, I’m reminded I’m doing exactly what I was meant to do.

Farming wasn’t an accident. It was the plan all along.

—Tyler
WD Cattle Co.