The Giles ancestry has been in the livestock and cattle business as far back as 1796 in New York State, migrating to Champaign, Illinois and eventually pioneering in the Dodge City, Kansas area by the late 1800s. Kelly Giles' great grandfather, George K. Lee, drove horses and cattle up the Great Western Cattle Trail to Dodge City in the 1870s and stayed to purchase ranch land, raise Galloway cattle and compete in Thoroughbred horse racing in Pawnee County. Subsequent generations grew the cattle operations in southwest Kansas. In 1999, Kelly and his family made the move to Canyon, Texas. Appreciating those generations of experiences, Kelly, and his son, Logan, have built a registered Angus operation just west of Canyon.
Kelly was raised on a large commercial cow-calf/stocker and wheat operation southeast of Dodge City and has been invested in the cattle business since he was seven years old. Kelly bought his first registered Angus bulls from Henry Gardiner in the spring of 1974. Henry delivered the bulls himself in a 2 ton bobtail truck. The Gardiner Angus program has been of great influence in the Giles breeding philosophy since that time.
In the late 1970s, the American Angus Association board of directors initiated the Certified Angus Beef brand. By 1984, the Giles program had switched to buying 100 percent Angus bulls because of the vision to brand name the beef product. In 1995, Kelly was asked to serve on the founding board of directors of U.S. Premium Beef, thus providing the opportunity to influence the proliferation of the Angus product distribution system into today's market.