Purchasing the foundation of their Angus herd from Jody’s father in 2001, the family prioritizes raising high-quality bulls for their customers. In February, Martens Angus Farms will host their fourth annual production sale and celebrate 25 years in the seedstock business. 

“It really is a family operation,” Jody says, emphasizing each family member plays a part in their success, no matter their age. 

Like many families, the Martens take pride in an all-hands-on-deck approach. In addition to helping ensure they are prepared to welcome folks in February, he says Laurie plays a key role in advertising for the farm. Mckenna can attest to this, recalling instances when school friends have asked her about happenings on the operation after seeing posts on social media. 

“Mom and dad must be very good at marketing,” Mckenna says. “Mom posted something about [breeding by artificial insemination] on Facebook, and the next day at school, several kids asked me how breeding went.”

Mckenna continues to take on more responsibility herself. Beyond sale book illustrations, she assists with as many farm tasks as she can. 

“Mckenna has been awesome with helping with the cow work,” Jody says. 

From recently helping process her first calf to convincing her parents to let her help clerk at last year’s sale, Mckenna eagerly embraces a variety of responsibilities.  While she might find some jobs less interesting, like cleaning the barn for sale day, she finds excitement in others, including helping on picture day. 

“She’s so good in the pen — getting the cattle’s attention and making them stop and look at her,” Jody says. “I kind of rely on her now.” 

Although only 6, even Mckayla takes part in making it all happen. Beyond tasks like sweeping the shop and caring for bottle calves, the youngest member of the Martens family serves as the welcoming committee for visitors on sale day.

“She’s one of those people that’s never met a stranger,” Jody says. “She has a sparkling personality and if somebody walks in the door, she hands them a [sale book] and says, ‘Thank you for being here.’”

A new tradition

Jody says when contemplating ways to help set their sale book apart, Mckenna’s creativity and knack for art came to mind.

“I told her, ‘We need to do something to be different — something that could stand out a little,’” Jody says. “I asked her to draw me a picture, and she embraced that challenge.”

Mckenna has been creative for as long as she can remember, and she credits time spent drawing and doing crafts with her aunt and mom for cultivating her interests.

“I was very excited, because I like to draw and do crafts,” Mckenna recalls. “I like drawing cows the most because I’ve been around them my whole life, and they’re familiar to me.”

Her first cover paid tribute to her upbringing, depicting a cattleman looking over a pasture of Angus cattle at sunset.

“I wanted to thank Dad for letting me draw the back cover,” Mckenna says as she describes her inspiration for the illustration. 

Jody recalls submitting Mckenna’s artwork to their sale book designer, Kim Tibken with Angus Media. 

“She was head over heels — she thought it was the greatest thing ever and really encouraged us to do it,” Jody says. “She was excellent to work with.” 
When it came time to create her next illustration, topping the previous year might have seemed like a tall task, but Mckenna rose to the occasion. Inspired by the patriotic feelings of election time and her ideal Angus female, she drew the profile of a heifer set against an American flag. 

Jody laughs as he recalls Kim’s reaction when he submitted the image. 

“I think she got on the phone immediately and said, ‘You’re kidding me, right? Your daughter drew that?’” 

He says Kim was so impressed, she advocated for incorporating the image on the front cover, and when he received the proof, he couldn’t argue. 

This enthusiasm for Mckenna’s artwork was shared by those who saw the sale book. After her first illustration, Mckenna was asked by several to sign their copies, and giving autographs has become another “job” she looks forward to on sale day. 

Anticipation is already growing for Mckenna’s next illustration, and Jody looks forward to seeing what she creates next. 

“As long as she’s willing to appease her father and make a cover, I’m going to keep asking her to do it,” Jody says. “Her younger sister has said she wants Mckenna to do it as long as she wants to, but if she stops, she wants her shot at it next.”

When she’s not sketching her next masterpiece, Mckenna stays busy with numerous other activities, including wrestling, cross-country, band, 4-H and FFA, and enjoys showing livestock and livestock judging. On top of it all, she has her own herd of cattle, which allows her to play an active role in handling management and breeding decisions, even artificially inseminating her first cow recently. 

“She does as much of the labor as she can,” Jody says. “She spends a lot of time researching sires — I’m pretty sure Cattle Visions is a tab on her computer that’s always open.” 

Mckenna hopes to pursue livestock judging collegiately, continuing her education and eventually finding a career in agriculture. She knows the work ethic instilled in her growing up on her family’s farm will continue to serve her well in the future as it does in her current activities. 

“I feel like I’ve been pushed more than other people,” she says. “When we’re asked to do more things than we normally do in practice, it’s extra work and it’s tough. But I don’t complain about it — I just do it.”

For the Martens, the ability to impart these values to their daughters is priceless. From scheduling veterinary work to accommodate their school schedules and have them chuteside whenever possible to raising them in a rural community, they know these experiences go far deeper than raising cattle. 

“Watching them grow and mature and blossom, it’s about the most important thing there is to me,” Jody says.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, surely a hand-drawn illustration is priceless. What started as a way to make the Martens Angus Farms sale book stand out now serves as a true representation of the value of raising a family in agriculture. 

In Mckenna’s drawings, her passion for this way of life and the ways it shapes her perspective is captured in each stroke of her pencil, a perfect depiction of what matters most to her and her family. 

Editor’s note: Peyton Schmitt is a freelance writer from Saint Paul, Neb.