Dr. Don Gardner

Dr. Don Gardner was first introduced to a life in agriculture in childhood, where he grew up on a cattle ranch just west of Madill, OK. His father worked as a foreman and Don's role was to get the cows ready each day. Eventually, he moved to Lone Grove, OK, where he became involved with FFA before continuing his education at Oklahoma State University.

After Don graduated from OSU, he and his wife bought a piece of property that at first only had 10 acres of open land. The two spent many years clearing the land, putting in grass and cropland and fencing in the farm. They started out raising beef cattle, but Don saw an opportunity to refine aspects of the dairy heifer industry. He began managing a farm with 60 head of cattle, and today that number has grown to 800 dairy heifers.

Don built a thriving business from the ground up and his Chickasaw heritage has guided his success. "It's been a motivator to look back on the past, see what's happened in the present and hopefully what will happen in the future, too."