Mary Powell has been working in Animal Agriculture her adult life. She has over 30 years in the beef cattle industry and has been working with meat goats since 2012. IN 2016 she started her goat rental services called Barnyard Weed Warriors where she traveled the eastern two-thirds of Kansas during the grazing season with a herd of 75 meat goats to provide weed, brush, invasive trees and fire mitigation. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Livestock production management from Kansas State University.
In 2024, Mary contracted with Langston University as a project manager for a research project that taught minority land owners how to use goats as a tool in land management. She provided Land Management and Goat Rental workshop for Langston and in September of 2026, she was asked to present 2 workshops at the National Goat Conference hosted by Langston.
Developing a fast growing brush goat has been a dream of Mary’s since she discovered the great ability goats have for land management. She purchased a certified Kalahari Red Buck in August 2026 and hopes to have some beginnings of a South African type meat goat that will be suited well for the Great Plains of the United States.
In addition to raising meat goats, Mary occasionally raises a litter of ABCA registered Border Collies. She currently has 6 Border Collies, Joy, Fly, Tucker, Whip, Jimmy & Jewel. She also has 2 quarter horses that are in retirement and a sassy 88-year-old mother that she lives with.
One of Mary’s pastimes is writing Cowboy Poetry and Competing in Cowboy Poetry Contests in which she has won many buckles and awards.
