Born in Gering, Neb., in 1934, he has been breeding cattle to fit the industry’s needs for quite some time. He founded his Shoshone herd at Cowley, Wyo., in 1965. During his first 15 years of breeding Angus, Leonhardt emphasized increased performance. However, for the past 20 years he has changed his focus from individual performance to the genuine need for the development and stabilization of specific biological strains to enhance commercial production efficiency while trying to improve the consistency and quality of the final product.