Missouri Neighbors

For Dave and Pam White, the farm is their place to be in life, but they didn’t always know it. 

In today’s America, more and more children of farmers are taking jobs in the city and less and less are returning to the farm. Matt and Amanda Crutcher both grew up on family farms. Matt’s dad was an AI tech with a commercial herd of cattle and Matt grew up showing cattle at the fairs. Amanda was raised by her parents alongside cattle, horses, sheep and pigs. Matt went to college at Fort Scott where he judged livestock and claimed the National Championship title. Amanda went to college at Fort Scott where she claimed the heart of her soon to be husband, Matt.

Robin Childs may not have the most experience, or the most cattle, but he knows a few things that many people miss. “I am a firm believer in listening,” Robin said. When he started his cow/calf operation about six years ago, he listened to friends and older producers in the area, but he also did his own research. What he learned led him to purchase his first registered Gelbvieh cows at a seed stock sale. Robin wanted Gelbviehs because “they are good producers and good milkers.”

Ron, DyAnna and Sheldon Shaver’s registered Angus herd has its roots as Sheldon’s Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) when he was an FFA member at Norwood High School. “We got into that in my freshman year of high school for my FFA project. We have continued it and grown since then,” said Sheldon, who has just completed his second year at College of the Ozarks. “We started by selecting some cows out of a couple of production sales. We kept animals with traits we like.” The Shavers now run about 40 head on 84 acres in Wright County.

It has been often stated that one of our most precious natural resources is the land, and it should be used and cared for as stated in ancient medical tradition – 'First, do no harm.' This is the philosophy of Ash Grove, Mo., farmer, Gayer Dixon. “We must preserve our farm lands for future generations,” he said with heartfelt sincerity. Due to urban development and limited government regulations our priceless farms are disappearing. Conservation and protection of our nation’s farmlands should be of the utmost importance to everyone.

On the north and east slopes of the tenth highest hill in Missouri's Douglas County is a sea of fescue and clover dotted with Angus cattle hugging the shade of the trees.

Jerry Floyd is a man who knows what he likes. Living on his 120-acre Webster County farm, near Marshfield, Mo., with his wife, Doris, Jerry was a dairy farmer until about 12 years ago. Since then he has been raising steers.

"A happy goat has its tail up,” Donna Allen of Rose Hill Farm east of Lebanon, Mo., shared on a recent walk through her pasture, which includes 18 registered Boer goats. Donna and her husband, Cecil, a former truck driver have Allen & Allen Limousins, and for the past six years, have also raised Boer goats, the meat goat breed originally developed in South Africa.

In 50 years as an Angus breeder, Kenneth Elbert has found that the middle of the road isn’t all that bad a place to be.

Double J Ranch is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. Operators Ronald and Will James of rural Mindenmines, Mo., recalled many family dinners put on hold to show bulls to customers, and the father and son duo laughed about a time when they were stopped one Easter Sunday, mid-egg hunt, to show a bull to an interested customer. The bottom line is, Double J Ranch tries hard to give their customers what they want.