Joe Don Koenigseder has wanted to be in the cattle business all his life. And like most people who had a dream and no inheritance to back it up, he had to scratch it out with his own bare hands. He and his wife, Susie, started building toward this dream in 1968 in Ft. Smith, Ark., with two heads of cattle, and moved from there to Hackett, Ark., with stock cattle. During this time they had a family of five kids – four girls and one boy, Jill, Amy, Kathy, Jay and Sarah. "They were good hard working kids too," said Joe Don. The family then moved from Hackett, to Booneville, Ark., and while they lived in Booneville, they changed from stock cattle to dairy cattle.
They remodeled an old barn and started a dairy farm for grade C milk for the Pet milk company. Finally, Joe and Susie moved from the dairy farm in Booneville, to where they now call home, a larger farm in Subiaco, Ark. It was a much larger farm, with two chicken houses and a dairy barn, which they turned into a grade A barn. It was at this time, that Joe Don got involved with the Cattlemen’s Association; and the A.M.P.I. (Associated Milk Producers.)
"There were rough times," said Joe Don, "but we just outlasted those and still realized our dream." Susie recalled one such rough time. One morning, about two months after they moved in, she went to bring the cows in. There was an eerie greenish gold aura that morning, and before she realized it a tornado came over, and she ducked to the ground. When she looked up, it had taken out all the houses on the next ridge over. She said, "Later that day my legs really got to hurting me, when I looked to see why, they were full of cactus burrs." Joe Don recalled the day a cow went after him, and when he jumped over the fence to get away, he tore his rotator cuff. The Koenigseders will tell you, nobody said this farming business was easy.
In 1987 the family got out of the dairy business. Joe Don then went back to raising stock cattle, and has continued to grow. Joe Don remarked that it was hard at times, and he received a lot of negative feedback, but they never gave up. "Just when it looked like we weren’t going to make it, Farm Credit would come through, or we would catch a break and we would make it."
They have a little over a hundred acres today, and their cattle herd continues to increase. Over the years, when Joe Don and Susie had a big project planned to improve the farm, they would sit down and figure out how to accomplish it, and then tackle it together. Joe Don said, "Our girls were a big part of this success, because they took care of the house, while Susie worked beside me every day."
Joe Don feeds a balanced feed from the coop in town, and he feeds hay that he cuts on his place. "My hay is good quality hay," said Joe Don, "I use chicken litter fertilizer, which is also produced on this farm." "This is a good life," said Joe Don. "I’ve been president of the Cattlemen’s Association for six years now, and they know me at all the sale barns. I love this life, and if I had anything to say to the younger generation it would be that it’s hard, and you’ll feel like you’re not going to make it sometimes, but don’t give up. You will come out the other side, and you’ll be proud of your accomplishments, when you do it yourself, against all odds. Three of my children are farmers, and two of them are in businesses that help the farm," Joe Don smiled in conclusion.
