COLUMBUS, Ohio — This year, The Ohio State University (OSU) Dept. of Animal Sciences will induct Beverly Wagner Roe into the Animal Sciences Hall of Fame. Inductees into the Hall of Fame have demonstrated superior skill and achieved success in the Animal Science field for themselves and their families. They have also practiced service to others by giving their time, energy, and thoughtfulness to the local community. 

Bev and her husband, Bill, own and, with herdsman Michael Everett operate Pedros Angus Farm in southwestern Ohio, a successful seedstock operation. They have about 250 Angus on their farm. They market bulls and bred females to individuals and commercial cattlemen in a multi-state area.

Bev grew up near Fremont in the cattle industry. Her dad, Nick Wagner Jr., raised Angus and Herefords. Bev, the youngest of six, showed Angus in 4-H. That way, she never competed directly against her brother, who showed Herefords. Her mom, Marie Wagner, gave her a lifetime membership in the American Angus Assoc. It cost $25. Today the cost of life membership is $1,500. 

“The cattle business has been important to my family,” Bev Roe said.

Bev graduated from Ohio State in 1975 with a degree in Animal Science and Agricultural Communications. She worked as a writer and editor for the Ohio Farmer magazine. Then she met and married Bill, who was in the restaurant business, and she soon joined him in that field.

The couple bought a rundown farm in 1994;  Bev’s dad was retiring from the cattle business; they wanted to buy some of his cattle. They got six cows and a bull. They retell the story in a tag-team account.

“We wanted to grow the herd,” Bev said. “That first year, we had five bulls and one heifer. Being family, they (her parents and sister) traded us four steers for five heifers. We ended up growing kind of exponentially. I wasn’t sure what the farm would be. I thought it would be a hobby farm because we were so busy in the restaurants — we had five at that time.

“It was only after a year Bill said we could make money, or we could lose a lot of money,” Roe said. “We’ve got to figure out how to make money. The farm was rented as cropland. Fencing was non-existent. The barns were falling down.”

Added Bill: “Everything we were doing was taking money. We were still expanding our restaurants. But it looked like long-term, the cattle were something that we could make money and enjoy. Every night we brought corn chips home from the restaurant for the cows.”

Bev continued: “It was our relaxation. The cows just grew. We started selling bulls and got into the Certified Angus Beef (CAB) Program in 1998.”

That jump-started the farm, Bill said. They added Certified Angus steaks to the menu at their restaurants. 

“We started to realize that there was a demand for Angus bulls because of the CAB program,” he said. “We understood that eating experience, and most cattlemen didn’t have that option. We put that plate in front of you and then we had to come back and ask you, ‘How was it?’”

Bill and Bev had an opportunity to visit cattle farms in Brazil and the West. In Brazil, someone asked them about their health plan for the cattle. “What do you mean?” they asked. So, they sat in the crowded mini-bus and wrote up a health plan. 

They decided then that they would make it a mission to provide opportunities to make cattlemen aware of the coming changes in the industry. Over the years, they brought in experts on various topics and held workshops for local producers at their farm.

“And part of that was because if they don’t succeed, we don’t succeed,” Bev said. “If our buyers aren’t successful, they won’t come back and want another bull.”

Coming from the restaurant business, the Roes are very aware of that final product. To that end, they weigh all of their calves at birth. In addition, they began to ultrasound their animals early on, and now they have taken that to the next step with genetic testing.

“We now have animals that rank in the top 1 percent of all Angus animals,” said Bill.

Bill is proud that Bev is receiving this honor. He said: “Bev will take a project, and she just won’t give up until she completes it. She just works and works, and she has the ability to bring people together that normally wouldn’t even talk to each other.”

While growing their own farm (they eventually got out of the restaurant business), Bev still made time to be involved with cattlemen’s organizations. She served on the board and then as a director of the Ohio Cattlemen’s Assoc., she was the chairperson of the Ohio Beef Council. She provided leadership to many organizations, including Butler County Cattlemen’s Assoc., The Ohio Angus Assoc., The American Angus Assoc., and the Certified Angus Beef LLC program.

Elizabeth Harsh, Executive Director of the OCA, nominated Bev for the award. 

“The OCA takes our nominations seriously,” Harsh said. “We like to lift up the best among Ohio’s beef industry that fits the qualifications, and Bev certainly does that for many reasons. Bev has tremendously deep roots within the beef industry. She is a quiet but well-respected leader.”