Showing Cattle and Teaching Responsibility
MOUNTAIN GROVE, MO. – Morse View Farms sets on 45 acres outside of Mountain Grove, in Texas County Missouri. Andrea and Andrew Morse are modern cattle farmers who met on social media and are showing their Santa Gertrudis cattle principally to instill character and responsibility in their children. They have two children, six-year-old daughter Kathleen, and a son, Kash who is four.
The current Morse View Farm was named after the dairy farm Andrew’s grandfather, Phillip Morse, operated in upstate New York. Andrew Morse had shown Santa Gertrudis when growing up in that area.
The Morse family travels around the country competing in different Santa Gertrudis Breeders International (SGBI) shows where points are awarded in different categories.
“We have one cow that was back-to-back national high point STAR 5 female, and her name is Maggie May.”
Among a list of honors in 2022, Maggie May was the SGBI Grand Champion STAR 5 Female at the North Carolina State Fair. She was also the Reserve Grand Champion Star 5 Female at the 2023 North American Livestock Expo in Louisville, KY and the North Carolina State Fair. At the 2024 National SGBI Show in Streetman, Texas, Maggie May was the STAR 5 Female Class 5 winner. Morse View Farms also owns Rip, a Grand Champion STAR 5 bull,
“That means that out of all the bulls in his category he was the best of the best,” Andrea explained.
After they bought their farm 2020 and as their family grew they decided they needed a plan for the future of their children. Andrew had a history in his youth showing Santa Gertrudis cattle so Andrea set upon the idea of starting to show again as an activity their children could do.
“When we had our kids, we wanted them to grow up showing. We just brought it back and we built our little farm from the ground up.” Andrea added, “We wanted them to learn the everyday life skills of showmanship.”
The plan is working, Kathleen won her first of several showmanship titles when she was three, and kash already has a few ‘peewee’ showmanship wins as well.
“Honestly,” said Andrea, “when we started out, we had literally nothing. We had a trailer and a little bittie junk box that held our tack. And we had a show stick.” Andrea added that, “You just need a good animal that you can put all your hard work into.”
Andrea explained that there is a lot of responsibility that goes along with showing cattle. The animals require care. They must be watered and fed regularly. They have to be washed and groomed.
The skill sets of communication with other people, sportsmanship, respect, accountability, setting goals were all values that Andrea and Andrew sought to instill in their children.
“Showing cattle was a way for us to program our kids to know all of those morals,” Andrea said. “So now they work well in group settings. They’re responsible. They’re respectful. They take care of their animals.”
The Morse children wake up and tend to their animals first. “The animals get fed before we eat,” said Andrea.
Another of the important morals taught in the Morse home is trust. “If you lose an animals trust it’s like losing a human’s trust,” Andrea stated. “It’s hard to gain back but it’s easy to lose.”
Andrea stated they run around 30 momma cows and a handful of show bulls.
“We normally try to calve out in the fall,” noted Andrea. “The Santa Gertrudis readily deal with variable seasons of Missouri, so that’s a good positive for us,” said Andrea.
Showing cattle for points requires the Morse View Farm family to travel around the country to enter various competitions. Andrea said among their favorite places to compete are the Kentucky, North Carolina, and Ohio state fairs. But she also observed that the new Wilson Logistics and Youth Ag faculties at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds in Springfield are really a great place to show as well.
“The new arena that we get to show in is really, really nice,” Andrea said.
The principal feed source at Morse View Farms is corn silage. They found corn silage to be both nutritious for their animals as well as cost effective for their budget. According to Morse when fed silage once a day their cattle fatten easily but don’t get overweight.
“We tried over 25 different types of feeds,” Andrea recalled.
“They don’t look sunk in. They look ready to show. They don’t have bad feet from having too much protein. Corn silage has literally been our life saver, and I swear by it.”
Morse View Farms also puts out mineral blocks and have a lift-up mineral feeder that the cattle can access as they want. They do their own worming and vaccinations in a 60’x40’ show barn on their property.
Morse View Farms sells embryos and semen from their championship cows and bulls, and they sell some animals for beef to ‘word of mouth’ customers.
“A lot of it comes from showing. People just walk up and ask us if we have an animal ready to butcher, because if we were to advertise (commercially) I don’t think we’d be able to keep up,” mused Andrea.
Andrea emphasized something that was very important to her to tell others about how they approached showing their cattle in the beginning and what she wants those who may be thinking about showing animals to know given the Morse View Farms experience.
“You do not have to have the most expensive and the most stuff to be able to start showing.” She stated unequivocally, “That goes for any animal. A lamb, a goat, a pig, a cow… You don’t have to have the best of the best to show. And I stand behind that 100 per cent.”
Morse View also invests in the youth by working with the local FFA chapter several times a year, teaching the kids about the importance of responsibility and the joys of the show ring.
“We meet with the local FFA chapter about five times a year.” Andrea continued, “We have an after-school program where we bring the show cattle up to the school and the kids will work with them.
“They are able to lead them around, wash and groom them and then work with them like they are at a show.”
Morse recalled how she and Andrew began showing their cattle with “literally nothing” and their results are high point champion animals. She reiterated her firm belief that it isn’t necessary to have the absolute best and most costly gear to be able to show and win. To that end, Morse View Farms has lots of winning results backing Andrea’s views about why and how you start showing cattle.
