Hometown: Grovespring, Mo.
Family: Wife Kaylee Jemes, daughters Clara and Emiry Jemes
In Town: After attending Ozarks Technical College for the first two years of college, William Jemes transferred to Missouri Southern State University, and after one semester, transferred again to Missouri State University.
“The original plan was to become an ag loan officer, but I wasn’t willing to move away from the family farm.” William said.
He then worked for MFA in Grovespring for four years, and wanted a change of pace, so decided to try out teaching. He took a position at Hartville High School, teaching biology, but was encourage by his former ag teacher, Doug Glenn, to pursue the ag teaching position at Conway. After interviewing, he was offered the job, and is now coming up on his second year at Conway Schools.
In the Country: “We run a 60-pair cow/calf operation, on 500 acres, which sounds crazy, but a lot of the land is timber.” William said.
The land was originally purchased by his grandfather and holds sentimental value for William.
“The majority of our cows are black, but we are transitioning to get rid of our others and have all black Angus in the next two-to-three years,” said William. “I want to get to where I can run some SimAngus cows and bulls, or at least Angus cows and SimAngus bulls. I like the hybrid vigor SimAngus has, and I’ve had black baldies, but I just haven’t seen the growth that I’ve seen running SimAngus bulls. We background our calves and try to get them as close to 700 pounds before we sell as we can.”
What do you enjoy most about being involved in agriculture?
“I have two favorite times of the year; from the end of February to end of April and beginning of September to the end of October. That’s when we start calving,” he said. “It’s watching the new life be born, take off, and getting to watch them grow. That new growth, that new birth is a constant reminder that nothing I do I have control over because it’s all in God’s hands.”
“I wish that I would have paid more attention to agriculture growing up. I wasn’t as involved as I am now, and I definitely have in the past 12 years my love for it has grown tremendously,” he reflected.
“Seeing that light bulb go off that they understand what I’m talking about is the best part of the job. Knowing that I’m passing on information that is valuable for kids, the majority of which will use in their future.”
