Being raised on a farm in southeast Iowa, Kyle Ruth knew his whole life that he wanted to pursue agriculture. He grew up showing Simmental cattle and had some show hogs as well. Kyle loved being outside around livestock, farm equipment and really, all things “ag.”
When it came time for college, and having an agricultural focus, he knew his hometown school, the University of Iowa, was not an option because it didn't offer what Kyle was looking for from that perspective. The combination of his upbringing and his aspirations led him to Iowa State to study agricultural business.
“While I was there, I really thought I might go to law school after and do something in ag law. I quickly realized later that I had more fun in college than I probably should have,” he said with a telling grin and a chuckle. “I didn't know if law school was in my path after that. I didn't know, either, if I wanted to do more school at the time, to be honest.”
Kyle did five years of undergraduate study, an extra year, because he was a member of the livestock judging team. That's where he became familiar with Texas Tech University and its world-class livestock judging team.
“My coach at Iowa State helped coach at Texas Tech; his name was Jon DeClerck, and he worked under Ryan Rathman,” Kyle said. “I loved being on his team and competing; I ended up graduating from Iowa State in 2015.”
After graduation, Kyle found a role in livestock nutrition in northeast Iowa and says he “didn't mind it.” He enjoyed being in that sector, but it felt like it was an extracurricular activity. Kyle would go home and work on his family's operation and around show cattle.
He quickly realized he couldn't successfully sustain doing that much activity outside of his regular employment.