John C. Oswald Inducted Posthumously Into Gelbvieh Hall of Fame

Photo caption: Ken Schmucker (left) and Andy Oswald (middle) accept the 2015 AGA Hall of Fame award, presented by AGA board member Brian Dunn, St. John, Kansas (right), on behalf of John C. Oswald.

John C. Oswald of Hutchinson, Kansas, was inducted into the American Gelbvieh Association (AGA) Hall of Fame posthumously for 2015. The induction took place on Saturday, January 10 at the AGA's Impacting the Beef Business™ with Maternal Influence Annual Convention. John's son Andy Oswald and herdsman Ken Schmucker were present at the convention to accept the award.

The purpose of the Hall of Fame is to recognize individuals for their lasting contribution to the growth and development of the Gelbvieh breed. That contribution is through the influence of the cattle they have bred, their breed promotion efforts and the leadership provided to the AGA.

John C. Oswald has been a part of the Gelbvieh breed for over 25 years. He, his wife Liz, their son Andy and his family own and manage The Land of Ozz – John C. Oswald and Sons Gelbvieh and Balancer in Hutchinson, Kansas. Herdsman Ken Schmucker handles the ranch's day-to-day operations. John passed away on January 26, 2012.

John was very involved with several organizations throughout his lifetime including president and long term board member of the Kansas State Fair Board, president of the American Polled Hereford Association, member of the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Committee, Kansas State Alumni Association, Hutchinson Chamber of Commerce as well as many others. He also served on several American Gelbvieh Association committees throughout the years and was past president of the Kansas Gelbvieh Association.

In the late 1980s, John switched his breeding program from Polled Herefords to Gelbvieh, seeing a brighter future in the Gelbvieh breed. John C. Oswald and Sons has been a member of the American Gelbvieh Association since 1989.

Today, Ken and Andy are leading The Land of Ozz from the lessons instilled by John. John's legacy to the operation is powerful performance, strong maternal traits, good temperament and absence with problems. John C. Oswald and Sons Gelbvieh and Balancer select for value and profit and feel that is the most important direction for the operation.

Many breed-leading animals have carried the OZZ prefix, perhaps the most noteworthy of which is OZZ EXT Govenor 3N. Born in 2003, Govenor currently has 2,153 progeny recorded in the AGA herdbook. Today, Govenor's EPDs rank him in the top 25 percent or better of active Gelbvieh sires for birth weight, weaning weight, yearling weight, milk, calving ease maternal, heifer pregnancy, dry matter intake, yield grade, carcass weight, ribeye area, marbling and total maternal; in the top four percent of the breed for $Cow; and the top two percent of the breed for 30-month pregnancy and feeder profit index.

Nominated for this honor by the Kansas Gelbvieh Association, the American Gelbvieh Association recognized John C. Oswald as its 2015 Hall of Fame Inductee.