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Page 32 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE November 21, 1986
IBM exec couple at home on cattle ranch
by Richard Bono
TSI staff writer
During the day, Mike and Patti
Kahn work at IBM’s North Creek
Complex in Northwest Atlanta—
he in program management, she
in market support. But in the
evenings they return to their home
at Spring Creek Farm in Canton,
40 miles away.
The Kahns breed Santa Ger-
trudis cattle at Spring Creek
Farm and by all accounts, it’s
quite a different scene from the
high-rise office complex where
they work weekdays.
“Working at my cattle ranch,
you don’t do a lot of sitting
around on your backside discuss
ing the issues of the day,” said
Mike Kahn, 44. “It’s a physical
business. You get dirty. You get
manure on your boots.”
One of Kahn’s IBM colleagues
got him hooked on the idea of
breeding cattle three years ago
when he was working in Texas.
When he moved back to his
native Atlanta, Kahn bought 100
acres in Cherokee County, put
on his overalls and started to
work. Three years into the busi
ness and a lot of sweat later, bus
iness is starting to get good.
“I have an animal now, named
Beauty, that has won a bunch of
grand championships,” Kahn
said. “I have people lined up
waiting to get eggs from her.
And, for each one of those sales.
I’ll get between $5,000 and $7,500.
And, I have a bull that next year
we ought to be able to sell for
$50,000.”
Good money or not, what do
his IBM colleagues think of his cat
tle breeding sideline?
“They think it’s weird,” he said.
“My parents think it’s really
strange. What’s a Jewish boy
doing raising cattle on a farm
outside of Atlanta?”
Kahn and his wife run Spring
Creek Farm with a computer,
thereby marrying two unrelated
occupations. They tabulate growth
rates and a myriad of related
information into the computer
for the 30-odd head of cattle on
his small ranch.
“My cattle are not sold for
McDonald’s, Krystal or the Var
sity,” he said. “I sell to other
breeders and ranchers who want
the genetics I’ve perfected in their
herd to increase its value.”
Kahn said he concentrates on
artificial insemination and em
bryo transplants.
The Santa Gertrudis cattle
Kahn breeds is the first pure
bred cattle developed in the Unit
ed States. Santa Gertrudis, which
is y% Brahman and English
Shorthorn, has several advantages
to the breeder, according to Kahn.
It is resistant to disease, has a
high capacity to convert grass
into beef and is an excellent
forager, which can gain weight
on relatively sparse vegetation.
Kahn’s white collar business
acumen complements his cattle
raising endeavor, especially when
it comes to marketing. He calls
the cattle shows he enters “a
major marketing tool.”
“You work on your animals
and you get them to the point
where you’re satisfied with them
and you enter them in the various
cattle shows across the country,”
he said. “As they win competi
tions, the value of their semen, if
they’re bulls, increases or the
value of their eggs increases if
they’re females.”
Cattle farming ranks sixth in
Georgia’s agribusiness industry,
according to Kahn. The state’s
major cash crop are lumber and
chickens.
Georgia is the second largest
producer of Santa Gertrudis cat
tle in the world. Texas is the first.
The Kahns obviously enjoy
their sideline cattle business and
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The Kahns, with son Jeff, dressed for work on Spring Creek Farm
may expand the operation in the
future. For now, they are resigned
to putting up with the mild incon
veniences of living in Canton and
commuting to Atlanta five days a
week.
While their youngest child, Jeff,
three-years-old, stays back at the
ranch with his British nanny,
Bridgett, six-year-old, Joshua,
travels with them during the daily
commute from Canton. They drop
Joshua off at Atlanta Interna
tional School in Buckhead before
going to their offices at IBM.
Christians, Jews plan
Thanksgiving service
Isaac Goodfriend, cantor of
Ahavath Achim Synagogue, is
among the participants in this
year’s Interfaith Thanksgiving
Service on Nov. 23 to be held at 4
p.m. at the Interdenominational
Theological Center in downtown
Atlanta.
Sponsored by the National
Conference of Christians and
Jews, the worship service is part
of the 1986-87 Adult Interfaith
Dialogue. The participants in the
dialogue spend a “Dialogue Day”
with a congregation of another
faith or denomination. The dia
logue began July 1986 and will
conclude on May 3, 1987.
In addition to Cantor Good-
friend, participants for the
Thanksgiving service include the
Rev. Raymond Porter, pastor of
Advent Lutheran Church; the
Rev. Carol Jean Delcher, pastor
of Central Congregational of the
Church of Christ; the Rev. Robert
Dalton, director, Glenmary Re
search Center; the Rev. Harold
Moore Sr., director of adminis
trative services, Interdenomina
tional Theological Center and
Joel Evans, director of music,
Advent Lutheran Church.
The Rev. Porter will be the
presiding minister and will deliver
the sermon.
For more information on the
worship service or the Adult Dia
logue Series, call the NCCJ at
881-1144.
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