Jim and Helen Sposato
In Town: “I am a retired PE teacher and coach. I moved in 1988 to Lincoln, Ark., which is where I retired from in 2012. I now own and run Coach’s Bar-B-Que Sauce & Catering, which serves an award winning sauce and cater in both Arkansas and Oklahoma. My wife, Helen, is a 34-year veteran psychiatric LPN at Vantage Point in Fayetteville, Ark.”
In the Country: “Our new home sits on 15 acres where I am in my sixth year of raising a small herd of Highland cattle. My numbers are down a bit because I just sold three bulls. Though the herd is purebred, I had trouble securing the papers so I have to sell them by weight at the Stilwell Sale Barn, but the buyers know what they are getting. I love the shaggy-haired appearance of the animals and appreciate their hardiness and resistance to cold. Highlanders are fun to watch because they are browsers and use their horns to help dig up the brush, and I am looking forward to them clearing out the blackberry brush on my new place. My biggest concern is their desire and ability to escape fenced areas. I watched my bull one time slip through a weak spot in a fence that was no higher than 13 inches off the ground. That means one of my top priorities right now is bolstering the fences on this place. Highlanders have small calves weighing only 35 to 40 pounds and grow slowly so that by age 2, which is when I sell them, they weigh 400 to 500 pounds. I’m expecting new calves in four or five months and appreciate the fact that they calve easily, produce Jersey quality milk, and wean naturally. My goal is to expand my herd by doubling the number of mommas. The meat is popular with folks who like lean meat. In fact, Highlander hamburger needs to have some fat added to it to keep it from sticking to a pan.
“My wife Helen likes plants so she is planting fruit trees and “greening up” the place. Ironically neither Helen nor I were raised on a farm. We learned through our kids’ 4-H projects and from good advice from the Heartland Highland Association of Missouri.”
