Stephanie Hendricks
Hometown: Buffalo, Mo.
Family: Husband, Kyle; Children, Kaden, 16, and Klaire, 12
In Town: “I am county clerk for Dallas County, (Mo.). I was elected in 2014, took office in 2015 and am getting ready to finish my first year in office. I’ve really enjoyed it. … For someone who doesn’t know how a county works, the clerk’s office touches everything in all departments. We do all of the payroll, pay all of the bills, we do the elections, I’m the budget officer for the county. It’s a whole county of people who you are looking out for.
“I have been with the county for 12 years, 11 just working in the clerk’s office.”
In the County: “We actually are a pretty multifaceted operation. Kyle’s dad (O.G. Hendricks) has semi-trucks that haul cattle, and then Kyle and his dad buy cattle to send to packing houses, and they also haul the majority of them to the packers. We also have our own farm with several hundred head of beef cattle. Kyle, for the most part, is taking care of most of the trucking because his dad is at that retirement age, so we are dispatching trucks and things like that. Kyle is at a sale just about every day, so for us to have family time, we go to the sale barn. That’s our together time.
“I grew up on a farm, but it was more in that my mom put out a garden and we had like 12 head of cattle, and they all had names. When I married Kyle, I found out what it was like to be in the cattle business; they aren’t pets and they have a purpose. We have just a little of everything (in the cattle herd). With Kyle being in the business, we switch things up because he knows what sells. Recently, we had a Long Horn bull, a Red Angus bull, three black Angus bulls and we might have had a Charolais bull. The Long Horn was put on our first calf heifers so that it would be easier for them to have that first calf. We typically calve out in January or February, so unless you want to be out there pulling a calf at midnight, you want those smaller calves. Our mixture primarily throws black calves, which tend to sell better.”
She added that they run their cattle on several different farms, both rented and owned. Collectively, there is more than 500 acres.
