Hometown: Montrose, Mo.
Family: Husband Austin; daughter Paisley (2); and parents Kelly and Carmen Smith
In Town: Jaclyn Carroll is the farm business counselor for the New Growth Community Development Corporation, a rural community development non-profit corporation based in west central Missouri. She had held the position for two years.
“A lot of my time is spent working one-on-one with small farm businesses,” she explained. “We do a lot with start-ups and business planning, and some developing of financial statements. A big part is access to financial resources, understanding or navigating grants, loans or other financial opportunities.”
In the Country: Jaclyn, a graduate of Oklahoma State University with an animal science degree, lives on the same 40-acre farm where she grew up.
“My dad always ran a few cows, but when I was 15, I bought my first bred heifers and started my own herd,” Jaclyn said.
Jaclyn’s herd is now primarily Angus/Hereford, which produces black baldie calves. Jaclyn and her family have about 14 cow/calf pairs. Females are bred by Hereford or Angus bulls rotated into the herd. With limited pasture available, the family, which includes Jaclyn’s husband Austin, daughter Paisley, and parents Kelly and Carmen Smith, rotate cattle through a three-pasture system.
“Ideally, we try to rotate the herd and stockpile grass,” she explained. “We have some extra acreage that we get hay off of, so we don’t have to worry about getting hay off the 40 acres, but we do like to stock that grass to turn them into in the winter.”
Calves from the herd are usually marketed as feeder calves at around 800 pounds. Heifers are occasionally retained.
Husband Austin grew up in larger communities before moving to Montrose, but Jaclyn said he embraces the agricultural way of life.
“He jumped in with two feet and is pretty excited as well,” Jaclyn said. “He has a background in mechanics, so that comes in pretty handy for us.”
Living on the same family farm she grew up on was always Jaclyn’s intention, and now she is raising her daughter there. “It means so much to me,” Jaclyn said. “Already she loves it. [Paisley] loves looking at the cows, and she is raising her own three ducks.”
Future Plans: Jaclyn isn’t looking to expand her herd numbers but would like to explore other avenues.
“I would like to look into changing how we do our marketing,” Jaclyn said. “I would like to look into doing some replacement heifers or marketing those bigger calves directly to someone instead of running them through the sale barn.”
