STOCKMAN
traight
I’ve been raising cattle my
entire life. First on our fam
ily farm, Dowling Cattle Company
of Dodge City, Kan., a multi-genera
tional family farm. Then upon grad
uating from Kansas State University
in 2005, my wife (Cassi Dowling)
and I began CAT Cattle in southwest
Missouri, by purchasing a base herd
of 20 registered Angus cows. We’ve
continued to grow in quality more
than quantity ever since. From the
beginning it’s been a family affair,
beginning with the name CAT Cat
tle – CAT representing my brothers
and our spouses all being graduates
of K-State WildCATs. Our goal has
always been to breed for quality that
will give our children, the next gen
eration of Dowlings, something to
show and our customers a safe place
to purchase prospect heifers that will
turn into great cows and hopefully
donor cows for their own family op
eration. All four brothers and their
families continue to work together
towards this goal today. With the
youngest brother, Laton Dowling
moving home to Dodge City to help
my father, Kelly Dowling, operate
the family farm – Dowling Cattle
Company. We were blessed to grow
up in the registered cattle and show
community, and it was important for
us to all raise our kids the same way.”
About the Stockman.
What is the most used tool on
your farm? How old is it?
With a smaller footprint –
only 60 acres, we do a lot on
foot with pure family manpower.
But the tool that made the days easi
er and managing our land more effi
cient would have to be the skid steer.
Moving bales and bunks to rotating
grazing pastures, maintaining trees,
ponds and pens, to the abundance of
attachments – post driver, brush hog,
box blade, scoop, spear/fork, etc. - it
is the piece of equipment we spent
our first 15 years without, and hope
to never be without in the future.
We bought it used (much like all the
equipment we buy) and it is about 10
years old, but with care and mainte
nance we hope for it to be around 10
years from now.”
What about the beef cattle
industry excites you the most?
What it all comes down to is
that we’re still out there try
ing to create a nutrient-dense, natu
ral product to keep the world strong
and healthy. What I love about this
industry is that mission is brought to
you by many small families across
the world. Together with families
that are not comfortable with settling
for what’s worked in the past, but the
constant need to improve the beef
product and the production efficien
cies that get us to that sustainable
end product. Feeding the world is our
purpose, we’ve just instilled a com
munity with common goals helping
each other get there, bigger (by using
less) and better than ever before.”
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January 2026 | THE STOCKMAN AG-EXTRA