Hometown: Southwest City, Mo.
Family: Husband, Rick, and five children
In Town: Lindsey Penn has been with the accounting department of Simmons Prepared Foods in it’s poultry processing plant in Southwest City, Mo., for 15 years.
“I love it,” she said. “I’m just really lucky to work with a good group of ladies and gentlemen and that makes working there really fun,” Lindsey shared while taking a break from the heat at the Missouri State Fair where she was helping her daughter, Kristin, with her show cattle.
In the Country: “My husband Rick and I live with our 15-year-old daughter, Kristin, on 60 acres in McDonald County, which is as far down in the southwest corner of the state as you can get. We raise commercial beef cattle. We have about 20 head of Lim-cross, Sim-Angus cross and Angus-cross cattle. Kristin raises Shorthorn show cattle.
“There is a lot to this, the showing of the Shorthorn cattle, but I think it’s been really good for Kristin, who is the youngest of five. It’s helped her to become more outgoing and make more friends and certainly, farm work and working with livestock teaches responsibility. It’s a lot of work but it’s also something where we can also see the good results of all of her efforts.
“I grew up on a dairy farm so farming and cattle have always been a big part of my life. My grandparents were the force behind the dairy farm but when my grandmother died, that’s when I got out. Still, I love cows and I wanted to stay in agriculture. When we got married, my husband already had commercial cows so ours have just sort of grown from there. We like what we do and we work it together as a family.
“We bale our own hay, mostly for our own use, part of it on our land and part of it with the neighbors, sharing it in halves. Rick mows the hay, Kristin and I rake it, and Kristin does square bales, which we then use when we have to feel animals on the road at fairs and shows. Then rest we put up in round bales for use at home.”
