Family: Wife, Skyla; son, Tyler, and his wife Britney; and granddaughters, Madysen (9) and Gracelynn (4).
In Town: Russ Weeks has owned and operated Weeks Music in Buffalo, Mo., for 23 years.
“We have everything you could expect in a music store,” he said. “We have instruments, we have accessories, we do sound system installations and give lessons. Our claim to fame here is that we are a fiddle shop. I do fiddle restoration work for clients from around the United States.”
Russ and his family have a long background in music and performing. He was the mandolin player in his parent’s, Russell and Shriley Weeks, bluegrass band at the age of 8. His bluegrass/gospel band, Mount Zion, toured nationally and had world-wide album releases.
Russ also operates R&R Auction, which offers monthly consignment auctions, as well as on-site farm and estate sales.
In the Country: Russ admits he’s slowing down a little, turning over many of the lessons to his sister Nikki O’Callaghan so he can concentrate on his cattle operation.
“I’ve got 110 acres and started getting a few cows, then me and my dad went together and got another 500 acres and we run cow/calf pairs. We’re still building our herd and have 69 cows right now, with another 25 heifers that will be bred this year.”
He retains his heifers as replacements, and is currently using both black and Red Angus bulls in his breeding program.
“I like retaining my heifers because I know what I’ve got,” Russ aid. “Once you get a foundation established and know what you’ve got, you can start working on your genetics. We have a lot of good, young cows and bull power means a lot, so we’re just watching what we are doing with the bulls and where we go from there. I’m not all about purebred cattle; I like a good crossbreed and the hybrid vigor. I love Gelbvieh, and Dad and I have been talking about adding a Gelbvieh bull.”
While selecting sires is important to the Weeks operation, they pay close attention to their females. “If you don’t have a good momma, hang it up because your calves aren’t going to grow and we’re all after the pounds,” Russ said.
Russ hopes to expand his herd to about 150 cows and venture into offering bred heifers.
Russ and Russell have both spring and fall calving, and heifers aren’t place into the breeding program until they are about a year and a half of age to allow for additional maturity before calving.
They put up their own hay, mostly a brome and alfalfa. Cows are offered mineral and range cubes. Cattle are vaccinated and wormed twice a year.
