Hometown: Hermitage, Mo.
Family: Wife, Cheryl; son Cameron; daughters Courtney and Kelsey; and two grandchildren.
In Town: Tony Hawkes owns and operates Hawkes Electrical Construction in Hickory County, Mo. Before moving to the Ozarks a couple of years ago, he was an electrician in his native Elkhorn, Nev. He’s been in the electrical construction business for decades.
“We do both residential and commercial electrical construction,” Tony said. “I’m not picky when it comes to working. We’re kind of retired, but not.”
In the Country: Tony’s farm is located between Weaubleau and Wheatland, Mo., and is home to both cattle and Clydesdale horses. They bought the property in 2011, but did not move there for about five years.
Tony and his family show their Clydesdales at various shows throughout the year, and also do other events, such as parades, weddings and funerals.
“We started with draft horses and evolved into the Clydesdales about 17, 18 years ago,” Tony said. “We will do the driving classes and different hitch configurations, like a team or just a cart and a single horse, then we will do a tandem. I really enjoy the multiple hitch driving, the four or six horse. When the kids were younger, my girls could really converse with people and I really didn’t care if they missed school for a show.”
They currently have 13 horses, with three colts “in the oven.”
The family also runs about 56 cow/calf commercial Angus pairs, utilizing registered bulls.
“We started to get our feet wet with the Black Hereford, and how we are at the point where any healthy calf, we put it in the win column,” Tony said. “Just like my horses, I like to have a little chrome on my cattle.”
The farm consists of 160 acres, which has been split into pastures for fall and spring calving herds.
While some say their farm life helps them relax from their fulltime jobs, for Tony the farm keeps him just as busy, if not busier than the electrical construction business.
“If we want to relax, we’ll go swimming in the lake or something,” he said with a smile. “We really do enjoy it all.”
