Moses Farms is passing down business and life lessons to their kids
TALALA, OKLA. – When Rebecca Brooks-Moses and her husband, Mark, first started their farm, it was strictly a row crop agricultural operation. Of their 210-acre spread, 110 acres have been used to grow crops such as soybeans, barley, oats, corn and Sudan grass.
Originally, the Moses’ had no aspirations of introducing any cattle to their farm. However, there was one member of the family who had other ideas.
“I think that the evolution happened with our children and when our kids wanted to do the calves,” Rebecca said. “It all started with a bucket calf, a bottle calf at the free fair with our oldest, Sadie. And that was her first calf. Our first calf really ever. She bottle-fed it and she still is producing calves for us. It’s amazing. But that’s kind of where it all started in the cattle part of our operation.”
Ever since Sadie, 16, picked up her first calf for showing, she and her two siblings (Levi 15, Sophia 10) have created a burgeoning cattle operation on the Moses Farm in Talala (Okla). While the parents’ main focus is still the farming side business, the three children have transformed it into something more than a childhood project.
“It’s funny, my husband and I don’t have any cattle, our children have them,” Rebecca said with a laugh. “That’s what’s funny is when it started, Sadie had her first one and then Levi, who’s only 13 months younger than she is, naturally, the next year he needed a bottle calf for the free fair. That’s kind of why it all started with bottle calves at the free fair. Now they’ve got 15 mama cows between the three of them.”
Even Sophia has her own collection at the age of 10. The Moses children were able to build up their herd using the money they earned showing calves.
“They saved up a little money here and there and then bought a little bit nicer heifer so they could show and try to be a little bit more competitive,” Rebecca explained. “But really, at the end of the day, our mission was to show whatever it is that is born on our place. Whatever calves are born from their herd is what they show.”
Rebecca said they could probably go out and spend a ton of money purchasing calves to improve their chances of winning more competitions. But, since they are also running a business, they felt it was more cost-effective to only use what comes from their farm.
“We keep everything that we grow and turn it into feed for the kids’ show calves and their little cattle operation so they can afford to do the show cattle world,” Rebecca said. “Because it can get really expensive really fast if you don’t. The show part is kind of just a bonus. Really, the end goal is to produce cattle.”
Now in their ninth year since purchasing their first calf, Moses Farms has been slowly expanding beyond just showing cattle. Collectively, they sell around 4,000 pounds of beef on the rail per year.
“When it all started, Sadie had a steer and she gave half of it to our family and then sold the other half,” Rebecca said. “And then the next year Levi gave half to the family and sold the other half. So they took turns feeding the family every other year, but they always had more to sell than what our family could use. So they started selling it by the half and now they have a string of repeat buyers that buy from them.”
However, Rebecca says the business side takes a back seat to the life lessons her kids have been able to embrace has been the most important factor. Regardless of whether they stay with the farm life or move into other areas, what they are learning now will last well into the future.
“It’s a little bit on the business side, but for us, really, it always has always been about life lessons because we don’t have the land currently to have a lot of cattle or things like that. So that’s why our numbers haven’t grown,” Rebecca said., “We’ve just managed, we’ve kind of stayed at that 15 head for the last several years. But for us it was more of teaching the kids work ethic, teaching them responsibility and stewardship. And yes, coming out on the backside with a little money in your pocket. It has been slow, but it’s taught them a lot about taking care of what they have, being able to make the hard choices to cull even when you don’t want to or when it hurts your feelings to make those decisions to cull. What’s going to benefit you not only in the show ring but producing later on.”
