Arkansas Neighbors

You can take the boy out of the farm, but you can't take the farm out of the boy. Yes, Bill Schaeffer is pastor of Bible Baptist Church in Omaha, Ark., and head of its preschool through 12th grade school. And, yes, he runs Schaeffer Cedar Sawmill. But at heart he’s first a farmer who loves the Limousin cattle he’s raised since 1998.

Ralph Moore, of Lincoln, Ark., has spent the better part of his adult life around Simmental cattle. And that's just how he wants it to be.

During lambing season on Old Lexington Farms, Tom and Sharon Nowlin walk the fields every night looking for newborn lambs. The ewe’s udder fills with colostrum shortly before labor begins. A colostrum meal provides not only energy, but antibodies vital for the young lamb’s health. Immediately after the ewe gives birth, Tom milks from the mother ewe 6 ounces of colostrum per newborn lamb of singles, twins or triplets, making sure each gets the necessary colostrum within the first hour. Tom stays until each lamb is able to stand and adequately move about, then administers essential vaccinations and iodine to navels.

Dave Umfleet has a passion for producing seedstock Simmentals. He spends hours studying pedigrees and learning as much as he can about Simmental genetics. Dave and his wife, Debbie, focus on producing the best cattle possible for other producers to use for donor cows and bulls.

Bob Geneva is proof that when one door closes, there is always a window opened. Nineteen years ago, Bob and his wife, Sandra, were at a Beefmaster show in Tulsa, Okla., when they walked by a booth for Postive Feed, Ltd., out of Sealy, Texas. After learning about the advantages and technologies used in Postive Feed, Bob and Sandra decided that they wanted to try some of the feed on their own herd of Beefmaster cattle, but there was one small problem. Postive Feed tubs were only available for sale in Amarillo and Sealy, Texas. Of course, neither town was an easy trip from the Geneva’s then-home of Coweta, Okla. So, Postive Feed, Ltd. founder Bob Inglish, often called “Crazy” Bob, convinced them to become dealers for Postive Feed, and Bob and Sandra agreed and came home with $5,000 worth of Postive's feed. Their hopes were that they could make enough from their sales of Inglish's product to make it worth their while to feed their own herd. Thankfully, Bob said, it did not take long for the feed to prove itself. The partnership definitely became worth their while.

Dwight Hoyle is what you might call a jack-of-all-trades kind of man.  He and his wife, Robin, started out in Zwolle, La., with a forestry business, along with a saw shop.

Spend a few minutes with Sharon Baggett, and it’s easy to see why her enthusiasm for the Missouri Fox Trotter and the Northwest Arkansas Fox Trotting Horse Breed Association is infectious.

Four generations of Rick Haegele’s family have lived near Prairie Grove, Ark., with the first generation of seven families moving by covered wagon to Arkansas from Tennessee. Rick is surrounded by family. His parents bought the turkey farm in 1976. They have been raising turkeys and cattle ever since. Rick’s parents live just a stone's throw away. “We have six turkey houses and 27,000 turkeys,” Rick said. Rick and his wife, Paula, just moved their turkeys from the brood houses to the range houses. In just a matter of weeks, they will have another 27,000 chicks to start the 14-week process of raising turkeys. “It is a rotation with 27,000 (maturing turkeys) with 27,000 babies behind them,” Rick said. “You’re never out of turkey,” Paula said.

An old Chinese proverb admonishes that a gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a person perfected without trials. Ramona Grigg Rathjen of Huntsville, Ark., is a walking, horseback riding and sometimes cane using testament to those words. Diagnosed three years ago with Multiple Sclerosis, Ramona's attitude shines through in even the simplest communication. "Every e-mail she sends has a tag line that says “MS doesn't define who I am.” Her quick wit and sense of humor are still intact, as she jokes about a shirt she'd love to have that says, “I'm not drunk, I just have MS.” Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic, often disabling disease that effects the central nervous system. Symptoms may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or severe, such as paralysis or loss of vision. The progress, severity and symptoms of MS are unpredictable and vary from one person to another.