Danny Wann is a third-generation cattle rancher residing on family land that spans 1,500 acres at Sugarloaf Mountain’s base on Monroe, Oklahoma’s outskirts. Danny and his family, which includes his wife, four children, his brother, sister-in-law, and their children, collectively help manage approximately 500 registered Angus “mama cows.” 

The Wann family runs a “seed stock” operation, producing Angus bulls for commercial breeders and Angus heifers for commercial and registered breeders. 

In 2003 the Wann family started hosting an online auction for their stock, a direct and efficient method of selling a large number of cattle each year to interested buyers across the country. 

“We don’t even run them through a ring,” Danny explained. “We have them pinned, and people buy them off the video. It’s safer for my family and quicker for the buyer.”

The Wann family had the cattle, the facility, and the workers—all they needed was quality internet. 

Unfortunately, the latter proved challenging to find. 

Although the Wann family’s internet service was “fine” for a while, they started experiencing issues. As they attempted to live stream the auction, the service crashed, which was detrimental to the success of their business.  

The unreliability of their internet service left the Wann family frustrated and concerned for the future success of their yearly auction. 

Thankfully, in 2021, a friend shared the good news of Wave Rural Connect coming to eastern Oklahoma residents who were also Arkansas Valley Electric Cooperative Corporation members. 

“It sounded too good to be true, and it couldn’t get here fast enough,” Danny shared. “We got WAVE here in time for our sale that year, and it has been awesome ever since.” 

He continued, “It’s helped us have more of an internet presence with a good and updated website, and personally, our kids can work on their homework assignments.” 

Danny’s wife, Liz, a speech pathologist at a local school, also uses WAVE to communicate with students’ parents via video chat and work in the comfort of her home throughout the summer. 

“It has just continually made things easier, better, and more advanced and allowed us to get more done,” said Danny. 

The Wann family recently hosted their annual sale for 2023 and described Wave Rural Connect’s service as “awesome” and was happy to report that it “held up well during the entirety of the sale.”