A math teacher at Marshfield High School, Robert Smith has been teaching for six years. This is his second year at Marshfield. Before that he taught for four years at Buffalo. Prior to teaching he managed cattle farms.
Robert and his wife, Susie, own 80 acres near Marshfield, Mo., in Webster County, where they are raising their children; Lucas, 13, and Sierra, 6. He also rents 110 acres.
Although they only built their house seven years ago, the farm is a part of his family’s farm, which has been in the family for over 60 years. He purchased the 80 acres from his parents after his grandparents passed away.
Robert has 30 mature cows and said, “I also consult for a friend who has another 30 to 40 cows. That means he owns the cows and has his own land, but I manage the breeding decisions. I calve most of the cows here. I market the animals, and do all that for a commission.”
Registered Angus is the breed of choice for Robert. He has been involved with the Angus breed his entire life.
He did select a name for his farm that is different from his parent’s farm. Robert said, “I wanted to be able to do more to point toward God, since it’s all His.” He would like for people to know the reason he named it Three Crosses Cattle Co.
He explained, “After having managed other farms and working for other people, when I had the chance to come back and it’s just my own, I wanted to give glory to where it belongs. God owns everything I have and He’s blessed me far greater than I ever deserved. So I wanted people to realize and think back. Whenever Jesus died on that cross, there were three crosses there that day. The other two were sinners just like you and I. One chose to follow Christ that day and the other didn’t.”
The name represents the choice everyone still has to make today; whether to accept or reject Christ. Robert said, “That’s the most important thing about my farm.”
Robert is a member of the Board of Directors for the Missouri Angus Association. He said, “I’ve always had Angus and so I’ve shown cattle and know a lot of the people in the breed throughout the state. So whenever they were looking for somebody in this area to serve on the board, they asked me.”
He stated, “We have meetings four times a year and try to manage the funds and the activities that the Angus Association of Missouri coordinates. We have a sale that we offer to all the members in the spring. It’s in February in Columbia and it’s a show and sale. They can exhibit and sell cattle. We also have a commercial sale that we produce in north Missouri in the fall. It’s more of a bred heifer sale that is strictly Angus. We support different shows throughout the summer for the juniors to be involved in.”
The Association has also started a bull advertising campaign. Robert explained, “We want to promote that Angus bulls don’t just cost more but are worth more. So it shows you’re actually getting value for your extra cost.”
Robert attended the University of Missouri. He said, “I went to Mizzou and graduated with an Agricultural Economics degree with an Animal Science minor. One of the best classes I can remember was Beef Management and it was actually a writing intensive class where we had to write papers. I remember I had a 15-page final paper that I had to write. But I enjoyed it.”
He explained that it was all about what you would do if you had a farm, and how you would pick the cattle, and crossbreed them, or whatever your system was. Robert stated, “You had to explain in depth how you would do it. So it taught me to question more about why I do things. It really got into the numbers behind rotational grazing and how much grass there actually is in an acre that’s useable.” He said, “It really taught me to think outside of ‘Well, this is what my parents and grandparents have always done.’ So it challenged me to think outside of that, and made me a better farmer today.”
Robert has tried other breeds, but always had Angus. “I keep coming back to the Angus, just because of the combination of their maternal traits, their marketability and the carcass quality. The combination of those three things is really unmatched in any in the cattle industry.” He added, “I do enjoy the showing side of it. That’s one reason I’ve always stayed with the purebreds. I am able to market something that I know more information about.”
Teaching or farming, Robert is content. He summed it up when he said, “I’ve done lots of different jobs in my life and I always feel that God has put me where I’m at for that season.”
