Hometown: Walker, Mo.
Family: Wife Betty, and children Brooklyn and Carter (also pictured).
In Town: At night, Dave Foreman of Walker is a welding instructor at the Missouri Welding Institute in Nevada, Mo., which founded in 1994 and students are trained in pipe and structural welding careers.
Dave enjoys the opportunity to help people find a way of gainful employment. However, he especially appreciates it when he can help someone who has been in prison or on drugs and is trying to go straight and make their own way.
In the Country: In the daytime, Dave catches a few hours of sleep before he picks up his children and goes to his grandparents’, Charles and Neoma Foreman, and tends to whatever the cows need done. He is in partnership with them, owning polled Herefords and black baldies. About 30 calve in the spring and the other half in the fall.
In 2020, 40 acers of new grass was established. Hopefully this alleviates any worry of quality hay for the cattle and allow for expansion in the coming years. Dave chose fescue with Triticale cover crop for the hay ground.
They give their calves access to creep feeders soon after they are born to help sell weights, and a steady access of mineral tubs with fly control during summer months. This has been especially productive as 90 percent of the cows were rebred in a year that was especially stressful on the cattle. A veterinarian comes to the farm twice a year to keep the herd healthy and up on all their preventative medicines. This gives the opportunity to closely check the herd and cull any open cows or those with health problems. Select heifers are retained each year from the herd, but bulls are selected from Polled Hereford production sales , after careful evaluation of EPDs and other information. A first in 2020 was purchasing one from a virtual sale. He was able to go see the bulls first, but went online to buy it.
In what time is left over, Dave, his wife, Betsy, and their children Brooklyn and Carter enjoy working the cattle and sports events together, especially shooting sports where Dave is a county 4-H leader.
