Jolene (pictured) and Gary Fisher
In Town: “I now work at Bullseye Cross Timbers Café in Preston, Mo. Even though I have been working here for only a few weeks, I really like this job because I know just about everybody that comes in. It’s fun greeting people that you know and quickly finding out what’s new in their lives. Before working here, I worked at Christian Health Care for 13 years in Heritage, Mo. My husband, Gary, works at Wheelers and Sons Livestock Auction, in Osceola, Mo., where he has worked for 35 years. The sale barn sells cattle every Thursday and holds a special cattle sale on the last Saturday of the month.”
In the Country: “We live in Edwards, Mo., and have 180 acres. For us, diversifying our farm income makes the most sense. We raise commercial cattle, sheep, hogs and chickens for eggs. We run 70 momma cows and have fall calves. We sell the calves between 500 and 700 pounds at the local auction house where my husband works. We breed naturally using a Gelbvieh bull. We have 35 crossbred sheep that we breed and sell for meat. We also have eight crossbred sows and run litters year-round. We feed the hogs grain but supplement their diet with garden vegetables. It’s important to be fair, so just to keep the cows from getting jealous, we get animal bread for them every week, which they really love. The rabbits are not part of our commercial business. We love rabbit meat and raise them just for ourselves. We sell our eggs along with produce such as tomatoes, onions and zucchini right off the farm.”
Making it work: “Our life really makes sense to us because both of us have been involved in farming since childhood. Gary and I work off the farm to help support the country life we really love. We are trying to get all of the bills paid so the kids can have the farm free and clear someday.”
Story and Photo by Terry Ropp
