Jay Shepherd
Family: Wife, Crystal, who works for FCS Financial; son Cade, 13; and daughter Cameron, 4.
In Town: Jay just started his first year as an ag teacher and FFA Advisor at Mt. Vernon High School. Prior to that he spent 14 years doing the same at Miller High School. He has 140 students taking some form of ag education and he expects them all to become FFA members as well.
“Most of the parents are not full-time farmers but still involved in ag in some way. That was a surprise to me. So many students own livestock.”
In the Country: Jay and his family (along with a “partnership with his father”) raise Herefords (full-size and miniature). They raise crossbred show pigs and in the summer son Cade also raises market broilers for the Gold Buckle and county fairs.
Jay has four full-size Herefords and two minis, plus some calves. A miniature Hereford bull out of a cow owned by Jay won Reserve Grand Champion for All Other Breeds at this summer’s Ozark Empire Fair. “I think he would have won but the judge just didn’t feel right picking a small bull over a big massive one.”
Between Town and Country: The line between town and country is not hard and fast. “The good thing is that what I’m teaching, is from real-life examples of what happens on our farm; a sow farrowing, cows calving or dealing with pink eye. We are able to teach real-life experiences to kids.”
Jay will help students at shows but with reservations. “Showing is a family affair. Families should be involved, not just an ag teacher dragging kids to fairs. But if we have students at the fair we are sure going to help them with things like clipping.
For the future Jay would like to see more shop projects produced at school and more skills in ag mechanics taught and learned. At home he’d like to get up to 15 high-quality registered cows. “I don’t have the time to take care of very much. But I’d like 15 really good ones.”
