Missouri Neighbors

Volatile propane prices don’t have Larry Long worried.

In July 1999, Leon Caselman conducted his first goat auction at Buffalo Livestock Market and sold 302 goats. At his monthly goat sale today he’ll sell 2,200 goats, with the help of his whole family.  And the Caselman family literally gives new meaning to the term 'family business.' As Leon’s children, Cole and Makayla chase goats and sheep about in the auction pen along with the help of their grandfather and Bobby Cole, Leon’s father-in-law, Leon himself lets the animals in to the pen, while his wife, Tara tallies who bought what. Leon's father, Lyle, does the auctioneering and mother, Rita and sister, Chelsey, keep the front office running smoothly, while his mother-in-law, Theresa helps out, too.

Curtis Millsap grew up in Springfield. He wasn't raised on a farm, but was a regular at his grandparents dairy farm. In college, he didn't study to be a full time farmer, but he knew that he had a deep passion for the outdoors and a sincere love of the land. Never did he realize that this interest would lead him to what he's doing today.

All natural, grass fed beef. No chemicals. Period. That's the stance that Richard Potter of Powell, Mo., takes when it comes to his cattle. "I raise the cattle the way I want my children to eat them," he said. And his customers enjoy the benefits of Richard's 100 percent organic beef as well.

Larry Deffenbaugh looked for several things when he was getting back into the cattle business in 1990. "I wanted something no one else had. I had grown up around white-faces and Angus. I looked at different trade magazines, and then I found three years of a feedlot test.” What he found was the Salers. “Salers responded to feed and their weight conversions were good," Larry recalled. With their stats showing for good conversions, his desire for a good-gaining animal was met. Upon further investigation, Larry found the Salers to be a breed with wide pelvic openings, calving ease and a great disposition.

With the average age of the American farmer around 65, it’s evident that not too many children are coming back home to continue the family farm. But the statistic doesn't hold true for Doug Fare in Jenkins, Mo. His farm has been in the Fare family well over 100 years.

Input costs keep going up. The three big “F” words (feed, fuel, fertilizer) are still on everybody’s lips. But what if there was a way to reduce those costs and bring a premium price for your product to boot?
Coscia Limousin Manager Ben Bennett is on to something.

The average American has an idea of the typical farmer as a man surrounded by cows and crops. The average American would be spot-on with that image when it comes to Darvin Bentlage. Darvin was born and raised on his family farm and he exudes the confidence of a lifetime farmer. He was involved in FFA in high school and soon won the State FFA Farmer Award. Darvin was also on several FFA judging contest teams and was the secretary of his FFA Chapter. He attributes much of his success in the agricultural industry today to those involvements as a young man.

They make great pets, and a little bit of money too.

Corn is energy.  Corn silage and earlage is the cheapest source of energy for either beef or dairy cattle.”  Matthew Lamb has put this belief into practice by raising about 180 acres of corn to be harvested for both silage and earlage on his Webster County farm near Seymour, Mo.