Missy O’Kelly
Family: Husband, Eric O’Kelly; and daughters Jozey, 16, and Jolee, 2
Hometown: Nob Hill, Ark.
Town Life: “I have worked at Bank of England Mortgage in Springdale, Ark., since May and before that for 10 years at Legacy National Bank in Springdale as a mortgage processor. My husband Eric works for Cummins Inc., which is a diesel and power generation design, sales, service and repair company. Eric works at the branch in Springdale as a service writer which means he organizes repair and service. Our daughter Jozey is a junior at Springdale High School. With both Jozey and Eric there, Springdale is the center of our town life.”
Country Life: “We live in an area called Nob Hill outside of Springdale on what was once a much larger piece of land that belonged to my family since the 1940s. The land has been used for chickens and commercial beef. When my mother moved to town, we downsized to 10 acres and have lived here since 2007. We have two registered Quarter Horse brood mares which we take to Jennifer and Robert Sizemore in Mayfield to breed to his two registered Quarter Horse studs. I sell the offspring as 3-year-olds because horses are not fully grown until 6 and I want them pretty well developed before I let them go. When they leave me they are halter broke and are intended for barrel racing or ranch life. For me, it’s all about color. Robert has a buckskin stallion and a rare Carmelo stallion, which appears all white and throws color well. In addition, our daughter Jozey takes ag courses and is a member of FFA. She has been showing since she was 4 when she showed a bucket calf. We have tried about everything including rabbits and goats. Now Jozey is showing dairy heifers. She buys one heifer each May from Hayden and Betty Scates of Spring Valley Farms, which she raises at our place and subsequently shows in August. She then sells the heifer back to the Scates for use in their herd. Last year she got first at the Washington County Fair for the Junior 2-Year-Old Heifer. She also showed a commercial beef heifer she bought elsewhere. The final component of our country life is dabbling a bit in gardening, mostly tomatoes.”
Future: “We really love it out here. I would love to have a petting zoo with miniature animals, but am too busy to do that at this time. Eric and I are always talking about getting back into cattle but haven’t pulled the trigger yet.”
