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Harold and Pat Carswell

Harold and Pat Carswell


Harold and Pat Carswell, Osborne, Kan., are part-owners and operators of Carswell-Nichols Herefords, along with their daughter, Carol, and her husband, Jim Nichols. Grandsons Brock and Ryan are also active in the family business.

The Carswells have been in the Hereford business since 1928, when Harold’s father, Jay Carswell, partnered on a registered Hereford herd. Pat and Harold were married in 1950 and together have raised top-quality seedstock ever since. In 1985 they moved to Osborne, and Carol and Jim Nichols and their sons moved to the ranch. However, Harold remains an active part of ranching and farming on a daily basis.

Harold and Pat are active in the Hereford community. Pat has served as a director of Kansas Hereford Women and was a charter member of the American Hereford Auxiliary. She also served as director and president of American Hereford Women. In 2001 she was named Outstanding Hereford Woman.

Harold has served as president and director of Kansas Hereford Association. He was awarded the Hereford Breeder of the Year by the Kansas Livestock Association.

The fifth generation of Carswells in the Hereford business has begun as Brock and his wife Carolyn’s children Avery, Emma, Zoe and Coy are interested in the family operation.
“Along with being a tremendous asset to the Hereford breed for many years and their dedication to making the Hereford breed better than it has ever been, they have applied those same principles to their personal and family lives,” says Tom Granzow, secretary of the Kansas Hereford Association, on behalf of its membership. “Through hard work and dedication to the improvement of the breed, they built a Hereford legacy that is a model for others to follow, and their children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren are doing exactly that.”