Jim Pipkin is the fourth generation to farm his family’s farm, which dates back to 1856 just west of Springfield, Mo. Jim’s parents, W.D. and Bonita Pipkin still reside on the farmstead and play an active part in the day-to-day farm chores.
“Dad still works beside me everyday,” explained Jim. “He and I are the only labor force on the farm everyday – and that can be challenging.”
Jim and Joann both grew up in the agricultural industry and have instilled the same morals and roots in their children. Daughter, Jera, is 14 and son, Jace, turns 3 in November.
“Jera has grown into quite the showman, and Jace is right by my side every step,” Jim said.
Across the rolling hills of the farm, Angus cattle graze, but this wasn’t always the case. Jim’s grandfather, the late Morris Pipkin, and father both raised Berkshire hogs. In 1933 the two purchased the farm’s first Angus, making Clearwater one of the oldest Angus herds in the state. The hogs were sold in the late 80s. Over the years, Clearwater Farm has developed a reputation for breeding high-quality Angus bulls.
“We grow bulls to meet the demands of cattlemen,” said Jim.
“We AI all the cows and heifers and then use a cleanup bull with heifers after they have been bred twice. The 2-year-olds see a bull after June 15, and the cow herd never sees one,” he said.
Joann, the founding editor of Ozarks Farm & Neighbor, explained that the farm’s website has helped expand their customer base and provides an additional service by offering bull pedigrees and EPDs in an online catalog.
Jim admitted, “it takes two years to really see the results from a sire, so we have to stay on top of the game.” He studies pedigrees and visits farms to find sires that will provide offspring that he can market to his customers. Sometimes that even means breeding to an A-typical bull.
“We have to challenge our cow herd, or we will never know what they can do,” Jim said. “A lot of breeders let the pendulum swing too far one way or the other in terms of size, efficiency and performance.”
Once again, Jim recalled what his grandpa taught him, “stay in the middle of the road and you’ll catch them both ways,” he said with a smile.
That reminder keeps Jim and his family on their toes, researching pedigrees, working with customers and tackling the never-ending struggles of balancing input costs on the farm. Both Jim and Joann agreed that their farm has weathered the good and bad because they stand behind their program and ensure that all bulls are semen checked and sell with a full guarantee.
As Jim sits on the back of a flatbed trailer with his wife of 18 years next to him, he summed up his goals for his family farm. “I will be a phenotype person until the day I die,” stated Jim. “We want our cattle genetically diverse, but uniform. I want the only way to tell the difference in the cattle is from the tattoo in their ears.”
Joann continued, “We hope that we can change with the ever-changing industry.” And, Jim concluded with, “We stay educated on technology and strive to provide a product that makes our customers money.”
