Paul P Ollerich immigrated from Germany to Tea, SD in 1888, at the age of 13, to work on his uncle’s farm southwest of Tea. He grew up to adulthood in the Tea area. In 1903 he married Louise Reicheldt, from Humboldt, SD. They farmed and raised their family at several farms in the Tea and Humboldt areas. In the early 1920’s they ended up on Dr. RR Stevenson’s farm, three miles north of Tea, SD. The Ollerich family stayed on the Stevenson farm for a total of 42 years.

In the 1930’s when Paul and Louise retired, their second oldest son William, “Bill” took over the Stevenson farm. In 1940 Bill married Julia Aylward, of Harrisburg, SD. Bill and Julia stayed on the Stevenson farm for another 21 years. Bill always had the dream and desire to own land. Soon after the depression of the 1930’s was over, in 1941, while still on the Stevenson farm Bill & Julia bought their first farm north of Tea. From that time until his death in 1983, Bill kept adding to his dream of buying land whenever the oppurtunity arose and his cash flow allowed. He enjoyed working long days of hard work to pay for his land. Jerome remembers one summer as a young boy he and one of his brothers were mowing hay. Dad came to pick us up for dinner. On the way home from the hayfield Dad told us: now whatever you kids do don’t upset your Mother over the noon hour. I remember asking why? He said “I just bought another farm this morning and I want her in a good mood when I tell her”.

Beside being a good farmer and cattle feeder Bill raised hogs and sheep and had a herd of stock cows, Like everyone of that era did. Bill also invested in other ventures in agriculture over the years. In the late 1950’s and 1960’s, Bill was a co-owner in the Sioux Falls Livestock Auction salebarn west of Sioux Falls. He also was a co-owner of the Tea Grain & Cattle Co. In the early 1960’s they built the new Grain Elevator in Tea, SD and the commercial feedlot near Hurley, SD. Which both are still in operation today. While in the salebarn business Bill’s oldest son, Jerry, got interested in the trucking business. In 1973 Bill helped Jerry start his own trucking business that is still going strong today.

Bill instilled in his children to work hard and own land.  Bill’s wife Julia passed away on July 30, 2014 at the age of 94. Their children still own all of the family farms they grew up on north of Tea, SD, in Lincoln and Minnehaha counties. They also have added to their land holdings across other parts of SD. Including land in the counties of Miner, Sanborn, Moody, Hamlin, Lyman, and Tripp.

In 1969, in their second year of 4H, Bill started his two youngest sons, Jerome and James, in the registerd Hereford busniess. He helped them buy their first Hereford heifers, from Bones Hereford Ranch, at Parker, SD. They bought 8 heifer calves for a total of $1210. From that start they built their herd to what it is today. Over the years they bought other groups of females from Flatten Herefords of Colman, SD, Leddy Herefords of Twin Brooks, SD, Mischke Hereford Ranch of Crofton, NE, Wiese & Sons of Manning, IA, the Upstream Ranch of Taylor, NE, and Tom and Butch Sellman of Chadron, NE.

One of the early purcahses turned out to be a good investment.  In 1976 Jerome and James bought one cow at the Kenyon Hereford Ranch dispersion at Tampa, IA. That cow had a bull calf, sired by the 1976 Denver Champion “Grand Slam”, his name was OBH Grand Slam 106. Later in 1977 Weise and Sons partnered with the Ollerich Bros on that calf and took him to the Denver Stock Show in 1978. That calf placed 2nd in a class of 38 head. Don Dennis of Grady bought an interest in the bull. He turned out to be a great breeding bull and help Jerome and James raise some good cows. Another bull early in the history of OBH, was BR Blanchard 049. A bull that Loren and Bob Brooks of Burlington, ND raised. In 1975 at Ted Neidhart’s Dispersion Jerome and James bought the 049 bull. He worked well with the Grand Slam son. Another bull in their early history that did them a lot of good was, MA BRITISHER MISCH 58B they bought from Allan Garson of Drumheller Alberta, Canada.

In 1978, with the desire to grow their herd of Herefords. Bill helped Jerome and James buy the ranch in Tripp, SD near Clearfeild. Today that ranch is the headquarters of Ollerich Brothers Herefords. In the early 1980’s Jerome and James ventured into the dairy business for a few years. After they learned they were not cut out to be dairymen they have never owned anything but a Hereford cow!

In 2001 they bought a bull calf at the Gerber Herefords dispersion at Richmond, IN. The calf’s name was Gerber Leland 069L. He was a son of the National Champion NJW 1Y WRANGLER 19D, His daughters are the cornerstone of their present day herd. All but just a handful of their cows are daughters or out of a daughter of “GERBER”.

Today Jerome and James run their registered cows like any commercial cow herd in their area. They do not pamper them in any way. They make them graze as much as  possible. They expect their cows to raise a calf and breed back in a 45 day breeding season, every year. They sell their bulls at private treaty and have bulls for sale all times of the year.

They welcome your to visit their ranch any time. They love to show cattlemen their cow herd.