Hometown: Dixon, Mo.
Family: Sons, Cooper Lawson (10) and Karson Elliott (11)
In Town: Keith drives a dump truck for Midwest Material Transport, a trucking company out of St. Robert, Mo.
“I’ve always been into trucking, one way or another,” he explained. “My dad, Dean Lawson, had a trucking company for 40 years. He just passed away five years ago. I’ve grown up around trucks and trucking. These days I mostly haul rock and gravel to nearby counties like Pulaski, Laclede and Camdenton but I’ve done over-the-road trucking, too.”
In the Country: “I take care of several farms in Maries and Pulaski counties. My mom Joyce Lawson still lives on one and my grandma Donna Doyle still lives on another, where I help out. I’d say there is probably a total of about 600 acres there, with 120 to 130 momma cows, not counting replacement heifers. We sell the calves at 500 to 600 pounds. We’ve always run a commercial cattle operation, although we run a lot of black bulls. Years ago, the folks did some row crops as well, but that’s been a long time past. We own three different farms and then I rent another 160 acres on two other farms.
“My farm roots go back to my mother and my grandparents, the late Jim Doyle and my grandmother, Donna. I could never have done this and still be doing what I’m doing without the help of family. I feel bad for anyone wanting to get started in farming now if they don’t have the support of their family. Farming is one of the most important jobs out there but sadly, you can’t make a living at it unless you are a really big operation. I’ve always worked another job in addition to the farming.”
Keith is busy, sharing his lifelong love of agriculture with the next generation, the fourth in his family to take up the farming mantle.
“My boys, Cooper and Karson, help me a lot,” Keith said. “By the time I get home from work, they’ve got a lot of the work done. I couldn’t do all that I do without the help of those two boys.”
