Michele Broxton of Rolla, Mo., operates Broxton Cattle Company in Phelps County, Mo. and her mantra is “Never underestimate the power of a woman with a prayer and a plan.”
Michele would know. As a former human resources executive in Nashville, Tenn., with an MBA and a flourishing career, she left it all behind to come home and operate the family farm when her father, Floyd Huffman, became ill in 2009.
“I loved the job I had and this was a big change,” she admitted recently, flashing a bright smile, but I really love this, too.”
When Michele returned to Missouri, she found her father and mother, Joyce, were buying steers at about 450 pounds, putting them on pasture and selling them at about 750 pounds. Michele grew that operation from 50 steers to more than 200 annually, then switched the family farm over to a Black Angus cow-calf operation, officially formed her own herd in 2010. She bred and calved out 160 heifers and then culled that down to 86 cows, their calves and two bulls, on 550 acres.
“Just as I made that change, the big drought of the last couple of years hit (beginning in 2010) and then shortly afterwards, cattle prices started to take off. I think we all came home from the sale barn, shaking our heads, wondering how on earth we got so lucky to be in the cattle business,” Michele recalled. ”I learned a lot in those first couple of years back on the farm. I was the girl, so I went to college and the boys always shooed me out of the field. I’m so thankful for good folks like Ken Lennox who always picked up the phone and answered a million questions.”
Her first days in the cattle business were rough, but she didn’t let the mishaps deter her.
“We had no cross fencing, barely a perimeter fence,” Michele recalled with a laugh. “I can tell you I chased a lot of steers up and down Highway 72 outside Rolla.”
Returning to the farm also presented a new set of challenges for Michele, but her previous career actually prepared her for what was ahead.
“Before moving back home, I was a human resources investigator with a big company with corporate responsibility for 900 to 1,300 employees, depending on the project. I looked into situations where teammates (employees) were unhappy and tried to figure out what was up,” she explained. “People got to know I wasn’t on the side of the company or the teammates, I was on the side of doing the right thing. Knowing how to dig in and solve problems came in handy when I walked flat-footed into farming. I talked to area farmers, the guys who had been in this business for years. I read everything I could lay my hands on. A local veterinarian, Dr. Berger, was a tremendous support for me then and still is now. He is an educator, not just an answer man. He’s worth his weight in gold.”
“I got a lot of experience, working with those steers in the beginning. I had one really sickly calf that I actually thought was dead. We even got the backhoe ready to pick him up to bury him, and he moved. I named him Lazarus. He didn’t make it but I loved him and learned a lot, maybe most of all, the courage to just get in there and do everything you can to save an animal that’s sick or hurt.”
As the drought continued, Michele set back one field to hold as a reserve, which she allowed her neighbors to use to keep some of them from having to sell off their cattle when their pastures were short. She is also careful to sell off any cattle quickly that are not docile and easy to work with. She has studied the practices advocated by Dr. Temple Grandin, a well-known animal behaviorist whose studies show a calmer, gentler approach to livestock, reduces stress for both the animals and the producer, and is cost effective.
“It is so much easier for cattle to just come to you versus chasing them through a field on a four-wheeler with a dart gun,” Michele continued. “We do things at a walking pace and in the long run, it all takes less time. Your animals are happy to see you and two people can sort them out. I raise my cows without hormones and without antibiotics, unless there is a specific injury or illness that needs to be treated with antibiotics. I’m a single mom, so I know what it is to want the best for my kids. I have families who come to me to buy beef from me because they know what they are going to get and I like making high quality beef available to families. Most like a corn finish, but some of our customers are cancer survivors or others who are very sensitive about the whole (Genetically modified foods) debate. They know I will use other methods to provide a good tasking, non-corn finish beef for them.”
Michele said she knows of several other women who are finding themselves back on the family farm, wondering what to do next.
My message is: you can do it,” she said. Make sure you fasten your brain and backbone on tight every morning and go for it. Educate yourself. Ask lots of dumb questions. Understand why, not just the answer. It’s one thing to put dinner on the table. It’s a whole other thing to know you grew dinner before you cooked it.”
