It’s about People at the JK Pollock Ranch

POWHATTAN, Kan. – On a Kansas farm, you can find Jonathan Pollock holding two of his children’s hands. Kayla, his wife, has one child on her hip and a baby in the other arm. The others can be found running to jump on hay bales and enjoying the summer sun. There are eight in the Pollock family, including mom and dad – Kaytee, the eldest, age 12; then Celia, age 10; JW is eight; five-year-old Maria; two-year-old Kyle (who’s almost three) and last but not least, sweet Grace at just four months. 

“We had another baby,” Kayla said, her neck tightens and eyes well up with tears. “Our first baby was born, but did not live.” 

“That shaped our perspective,” Jonathan said. “That got really personal. All the hard work of the farm. Well, there’s more to life than just that.”

The Pollocks want people to understand there is something deeper than the roots growing beneath their feet at the JK Pollock Ranch (J – Jonathan and K – Kayla). The deeper reason they farm and ranch is simple to them, and sustained with an enduring faith and hard work. 

“It’s about people,” Kayla said. “Kids being safe and happy. People come to me and say, ‘A farm is a great place to raise kids.’ Well, sometimes. It takes work to keep a place. I would like us to be professional about it enough that the farm is not a big headache when they are stepping into our shoes.” 

Kayla and Jonathan stepped into each other’s lives after growing up as neighbors. So the story goes, as Kayla relayed the natural progression of things, “Jonathan was combining dad’s crops. I told my dad, ‘I will ride in the combine to make sure he does a good job.’ That was about when we started noticing each other.”

“I always loved helping dad on the farm,” she went on. “My biggest thrill was going out with him. That’s what I wanted to do when I grew up, have a family and live on a farm – if that was God’s will.”

God’s will it was. Jonathan had these dreams too. Always passionate about the farm as well, he watched his father think differently than other people, “We have to understand how things work, that is our nature. Dad taught us how to fix stuff. ‘Buy the tools and fix it yourself,’ dad would say. We were never afraid to read the manual. We bought from auctions and would go through machinery and rebuild it. That’s how we got by. We never bought anything new, all second-hand stuff. We always had a fairly good lineup of shop equipment we could fix and weld. Dad always challenged us to figure it out.” 

“I was born in the 1980s,” Jonathan added. “I grew up on a basically conventional, row-crop farm with hay, sheep and cattle. Most of the grain we raised was fed to the animals. The corn, milo and soybeans went to town as our cash crop. The milo we also put in the bin to feed the sheep and cattle. Our family didn’t own a lot of farm ground; however, it’s not always how much you have, but how you use it. Dad always encouraged any attempt at a well-educated experiment with farming.”

“We would always go to the state fair and farm shows and pick up farm magazines. I remember dad bringing back triticale from the fair one year and open-pollinated seed corn another year, to try something new,” he recalled. “You’d hear stories from my Grandpa Pollock about how they used to farm. He had a book in his collection about how to grow 100-bushel corn in worn out soils. The book came out in the 1920s and was all about planting hairy vetch. We always had exposure to new ideas and concepts.”

“We got into rye when no one around us was growing rye,” Jonathan noted. “We grew it and kept the seed. We had rye years and years before it was being flown on everywhere and you were getting paid to plant it through the farm programs. My uncle had a dairy who was always playing with different forages. He was not afraid to try things either.” 

When Jonathan was 18, he was considering how he was going to be part of the farming operation and started diversifying with hogs, but the hog market crashed, “So, we invested in a bigger combine than what we had and started custom combining. I did that for five years.” 

Around the same time, his dad said, “Forget growing so many crops, let the cattle graze it. That’s when we got more into cattle. I was also a custom-combiner and then in 2006 we got married.” 

“I was like, ‘Wow, you have all this opportunity Jonathan,’” Kayla said enthusiastically. “I know now, if we want to manage our farms the way we want, we have to have more manpower. It’s not feasible for me to be the main ‘hired man’ anymore. The business has to grow up whether the kids come back or not. So, if something happens to us, the show goes on.” 

Today, JK Pollock Ranch operations include corn, soybeans, and wheat (all non-GMO) on around 1,000 acres. The cattle are the main livestock, and a few sheep, hogs and now chickens fill freezers to help feed the family and are sold direct to their neighbors.  

Far beyond any playground of farming, Jonathan and Kayla are serious about the future. They want to leave a legacy of learning by always improving and innovating their practices in the grazing and farming operations. New to the farm this year are pasture-raised chickens. These chickens add more diversity to the farm. Like all the animals on the farm, they are fed grass and the non-GMO grains they raise. 

“We want to provide nutrition to our family, friends, and customers in the form of great tasting lamb, pork, chicken, and beef. The nutritional and quality aspect of what we produce matters, and we work hard to make it better every year,” Jonathan said. 

The Pollocks are very passionate about working with the land, animals, and people. “Everyone knows we are here, and we are here to help, we try to live with conviction and do the right thing. Sometimes doing the right thing takes longer but it is worth it,” Jonathan said. “That’s how you progress in business. We want to help our family, friends, and neighbors. It’s more than just farming.”

The cattle business is also progressing for the couple. In 2014, the Pollocks purchased a Beefmaster bull and were able to head to Bassett, Neb. to meet Johann Zietsman (founder of the Beefmaster) and Jaime Elizondo and hear them speak about how regenerative grazing practices can lead to profitability and restoration of land.

“That is when we learned how important genetics are, the benefits of pasture management, and the protein/energy ratio needed for raising good cattle,” Jonathan said. 

Superior quality feed is homegrown too. The couple purchased a soybean roaster that consists of electric heating bands on an auger that heats up to 300 degrees. This roaster ensures the feed is of maximum quality for their livestock to eat, Jonathan explained, “We are trying to preserve our feed quality and identity of our feedstuffs, especially when we are selling to an end customer that wants to know where their food comes from and how it is raised. Without that roaster, the soybeans would be just another cash crop.”

Without each other, it wouldn’t be the JK Pollock Ranch either. The Pollock family is honored to share their story and welcome you to their extended family of neighbors and customers they love to serve. The farm will ebb and flow with time, but people will always be the first priority at the JK Pollock Ranch. 

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