the time, Barb was in Faulkton, South Dakota working for Deiter Bros. On his way home to his parents for Christmas, he stopped at a payphone in zero-degree weather to wish her a Merry Christmas. “I sat there and put six dollar’s worth of quarters, one quarter at a time, so I could keep talking to Barb” and on the other end of the line she had no idea I was even on a payphone. Just knew it was a nice call. She continued on at Dieter Bros and Wayne eventually moved there also. The two would end up marrying in 1990 and moved to Norfolk, Nebraska in 1994. From then forward, Wayne and Barb Ohlrichs are rarely found or named without the other. The years have been good to the Ohlrichs. They have raised and shown numerous National Champions. When they first started on their own, they were fortunate to have raised the National Champion and Reserve National Champion Chi Females. “Those two females honestly probably gave us the real bug or the real drive that, ‘Hey, we can do this on our own and we can make it work on our own.” Wayne states. “Their pictures still hang on our wall. They might have been a little bit bigger, but they still were good looking. They were really good looking then. They’re still not terrible looking now!” Fast forward to 2026 and Wayne and Barb continue to do their thing offering the industry top cattle genetics and skills. While they used to be more breed specific, they are not so much anymore. Whether you
passion for the cattle. “My brother, my sister and I always showed calves. We had steers and then we started our cowherd from our show heifers. We bought a few from one of our neighbors that had Limousins. It wasn’t really what we cared for. So, one year, my brother and I saved up our money. This was when John and Rhonda Boddicker still lived in Correctionville, Iowa and owned Hillside Farms. John had a phone bid sale; this was before you ever heard of them. We went to his place and my brother, and I each bought a Chi heifer from him. We showed them and that’s where we started the majority of our cowherd when we were kids.” From that time forward, Boddicker was a huge influence on Wayne and his brother. At that time, sale barns all over the country would hold consignment sales every weekend throughout the Fall. John would call up Wayne and his brother, have them pick up four or five head and take them to a consignment sale everywhere from Mapleton to Denison, Iowa; while he would take a load in a different direction. John’s influence opened a lot of doors for them. Wayne continued showing and working with cattle until he went to college at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Nebraska. There he was a member of the livestock judging team. While in college, John Boddicker, who now managed Kohler Farms in Kohler, Wisconsin, asked him what he wanted to do. Wayne responded, “I’m looking for a herdsman job.” Time passed, until
part way through Wayne’s final year in college he received another call from Boddicker offering him a herdsman job. “I had never been on a plane in my life. So, I jumped on a little puddle jumper plane in Sioux City, Iowa and flew to Minneapolis. I switched planes and ended up in Milwaukee and John picked me up and took me to Kohler Farms.” The groundwork was set for Wayne and Barb to meet and start to create their own impact. Wayne & Barb Ohlrichs When you ask Wayne and Barb who have had some of the biggest influences on them, Jerry Adamson and John Boddicker top the list. Ironically, it’s their two mentors who were instrumental in how they met. Wayne recalls, “Barb was helping Jerry Adamson in Louisville when I was working for Kohler Farms. We were stalled beside each other. That’s when they still had the big steer party in Louisville the last night of the NAILE. I told another co-worker, ‘I’m going to ask her out and take her to that steer party.’ He said, ‘There’s no way that woman will ever go out with you.” Wayne asked and Barb said no. At that time, the Chi bulls and females showed on two different days. While she would have liked to have gone, Wayne went alone to the party as she was coming off two days in a row with 2:00 AM barn calls. Wayne didn’t let it end with that. He found out what her number was. At
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