Page 48 - Summer 2021

s| ∂ARchIVES Vinnie’s Vault
Editor’s note: The following story about the late Cliff Ward was written by The Oconee Enterprise Publisher Vinnie Williams and published March 2, 2000. Ward, who was the former Georgia Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture, died April 27, 2011 at the age of 96.
Cattleman Cliff Ward led an extraordinary career
Story and photos byy Vinnie Williams
All of his life, Cliff Ward has made the best better. Recently, the Georgia San Gertrudis Association created “The Cliff Albert Ward Recognition” in his honor.
Among breeders of fine cattle, Cliff Ward is considered “the prez,” the best among his peers.
“He’s a man you want as a friend,” said Charles Hillsman, a breeder of Beefmaster cattle. “He is an inspiration.”
Ward not only works his 284-acre ranch, overseeing his 110 head of San Gertrudis cattle, but he does all this at the age of 85.
“He’s up at 5 a.m. and doesn’t get to bed until well after dark,” said local cattleman Russ Page. “He does it all himself. He looks after pastures, breeds his stock, hauls cows to the sale barn, fixes fences and drives a tractor.”
Ward’s down-to-earth manner belies his accomplishments: four colleges and two degrees, state positions in the Georgia Department of Agriculture and a teaching career.
His San Gertrudis bull, Ward’s Redman, was winner of the Reserve Grand Champion Futurity in Dallas, Texas, in 1985.
“One of the highlights of my life,” he said. Now, he looks toward repeating this. Standing on a small hill, its russet hide shining in the afternoon sun, is the 3-year-old calf, son of Redman.
“I have Redman’s semen in the freezer,” said Ward. “This calf is the product of his sire’s semen and a fine San Gertrudis cow.”
Behind Ward are decades of appreciating fine cattle, although he is also aware of the ills that all flesh—cattle and man—suffer.
When he was 85 years old in 2000, Oconee cattleman Cliff Ward oversaw 110 head of San Gertrudis cattle on a 284- acre ranch.
sVinnie Williams was the owner and publisher of The Oconee Enterprise newspaper in Watkinsville, Ga., and OcONEE ThE MAgAzINE. PAgE 46 | OcONEE ThE MAgAzINE | SUMMER 2021