It’s wedding season, at least for all my friends it seems. I’ve been to several weddings so far this year, and have plans for several more this fall. One wedding was out in Lubbock, Texas, so I spent half a Saturday here recently, driving west through some of the most barren, desolate land I’d ever seen. We’re talking 30 miles of nothing.
Nothing will make you appreciate Missouri’s green pastures like the badlands of Texas. We passed some of the biggest ranches in the nation going southwest out of Wichita Falls on Highway 82. Four Sixes, Pitchfork, Spike Box… miles and miles of pipe corral fencing. I couldn't help but compare how they ranch to how we raise livestock. Out there it takes thousands of acres to compare to our production levels. It seemed we'd only see a few cows every mile or so.
The more I got to thinking about it, Missouri is the No. 2 cattle-producing state in the nation, with the top counties concentrated right here in the Ozarks. So really, those big ol’ ranches with their fancy logos and helicopter landing pads don’t really have much on us, with our average farm size of 100 acres, and something like 40 head to a family’s herd.
There’s a level of pride I feel about our way of doing things; the way so many of us keep the cattle, keep the farm going, even when it doesn’t always make sense financially. Well, I guess it is a decent tax write-off at times, but you get my point. We’ve got prettier land, happier livestock and better proximity to friendly neighbors. So I’d like to pat you on the back today, Ozarks livestock producer. I’ve seen the other side, and I just like our way better.
God Bless,
