Missouri Neighbors

With a rifle scope mounted on a tripod, Gary Routh watches over his cattle from the comfort of his Dallas County home. Gary and his wife of 52 years, Barbara, have lived on their 160-acre farm near Buffalo, Mo., for 26 years.

In December 2005, when Ron Scott retired as ranch manager from Wildwood Ranch and the ranch's gate closed for good, he started his own ranch. A friend asked him what he was going to name his new place. The friend suggested that he didn’t need a catchy name on a flashy sign; all he needed to do was to let people know who raised the cattle. So today, the sign on Ron’s gate simply states “Ron and Linda Scott, Registered Herefords, Quality Breeding Stock.” And that says it all.

"I like a good challenge,” said Gary Brown, about why he bought the Mo-Ark Livestock facility, formerly Barry County Livestock Auction, in Exeter, Mo. “Also, I don’t believe this market has ever reached its full potential and I’d like the chance to get it there.”

Say ‘float’ and many southwest Missourians think a canoe and maybe Bennett Spring. But to a horse owner or a vet it means only one thing:

Morning Glory Farm located in northwest Springfield, Mo., has found a niche market. With Morning Glory Farm Paul Tinlin has found a good use of limited space.

As a boy, Darrell W. Hamlet was nicknamed "Tuff" by his uncle. The name stuck, and through the past 80 or so years, he's lived up to that name. Tuff owns 500 acres near Louisburg, Mo. He grew up working on his dad's dairy farm just west of Louisburg. "My dad made a living milkin' cows by hand," said Tuff, who spent much of his time as a youngster milking cows. He worked on a farm all throughout high school and joined the U.S. Army shortly thereafter. "They sent me to Germany for two years during the Vietnam War. I don't know why I didn't go to Vietnam but I still really enjoyed my time in the army," Tuff added.

Simply watching Jackie Moore work is a strenuous task, yet he appears to have an infinite amount of energy when it comes to cattle marketing. Jackie works hard to make himself available; he reports market information on the radio, writes newspaper columns and spends hours a day talking to individuals about cattle. However, he is remarkably eager to start in all over again the next day in his efforts to make Joplin Regional Stockyards the best place for producers to bring their cattle.

Reduce, reuse, recycle – the three R’s – is the motto for Larry and Linda Warner’s farming operation in Bucyrus, Mo.

Steve Stamate remembers when Everton, Mo., was a thriving little town in eastern Dade County.

According to an old 18th century saying, ‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.' Doug and Deanna Horinek of rural Dallas County, owners of D & D Quail Farm a few miles from Long Lane, Mo., know something about having a few birds on hand. They run 1,700 ringneck pheasants and over 2,000 quail, Georgia giants and northern bob whites, at any given moment.