What was once a family dairy farm is now a growing beef cattle operation
Joey Stokes was raised in Brighton, Mo., on his family’s dairy farm.
The farm was started by Joey’s grandfather, George Henry Stokes, in 1942. George raised Holstein dairy cattle and continued with this herd until 1999, when Joey’s father, Dwight Stokes, decided to begin breeding beef cattle with their herd of Holsteins, due to a drop in milk prices that year. As black calves were at the time selling for more on the market, Dwight chose to breed his Holstein herd to Angus bulls, a practice which continued as Joey and his brother, Dusty Stokes, began work on managing the herd as well.
“The herd calves in the spring and the fall,” Joey said. “Ideally they reach around 500 to 600 pounds before we sell.”
When asked when they prefer to sell he added, “There’s no particular month when we sell our calves. It all depends on the market factors.”
The calves are fed on pasture, a mostly fescue and clover mix, although Joey and his family are working to introduce creep feeding to their calves. Additionally a mineral program is utilized in the summer. As for the breeding of the calves, Joey mentioned their program is all natural service. Rather than breeding by artificial insemination, they run four to five bulls with their herd to produce the next year’s calves.
The brothers work their herd every spring to ensure all animals are at optimal health, Animals are annually given Covexin 8, treated with Cydectin for worms, vaccinated for pink eye, and an additional vaccination for tetanus before they are castrated. If serious medical issues occur Joey said the calves are examined and treated by a veterinarian. Some of these issues include hoof problems, which may not be visible. A veterinarian is also contacted in the case of pink eye when antibiotics are used. As for to help with birthing difficulties, Joey noted they rarely have calving issues as their herd is bred for calving ease, and that they haven’t had to have a calf pulled since 2012.
As for where the farm is headed, Joey said he hopes to bring in additional purebreds in the future.
“It has always been a family farm.” He said. “I want to bring in purebreds that my kids, and my brother’s kids can show.”
Joey added that his daughter Ebby is already involved in the operations on the farm, despite only being 2 years old. He added that his wife Alesia and he were both excited to see Ebby become involved with the farm as she grew.
“It really always has been a family farm,” he noted.
Outside of the farm, Joey is further involved in agriculture through his work with youth agricultural education.
Joey has been an agricultural teacher and FFA advisor for 10 years. He taught at Clever High School for one year, before teaching at his alma mater, Pleasant Hope High School, for the last nine years,
Over the course of his career in agriculture education, Joey has taken many Career Development Event Teams to compete at the Missouri State FFA Convention, such as the 2017 second-place Farm Management Team, as well as the 2016 state champion. The Pleasant Hope Agronomy Team advanced to national competition as well.
Joey also coached the first-place 4-H National Range Land Judging team in 2017, and the fifth-place 4-H National Range Land Judging team in 2018.
Joey believes agricultural education is crucial for the future of agriculture, and he’s glad to be a part of it, as well as the FFA.
