Missouri Neighbors

For many cattle producers, their agriculture roots are as deep as the century-old trees that dot the landscape of the Ozarks.

What do you do when you have a dairy with 80 cows and three breeding bulls, work full time, and can’t get everything done? You buy a robotic milking system.

Just north of Walnut Grove, Mo., in rural Polk County, lies Arrow Rock Farm, owned and operated by Rick and Debbie Sappington. On a hot August afternoon in the heartland, Rick pulls up to his rented pasture east of the farm and about 20 majestic Red Poll cattle encircle the truck, expecting a feed treat. Rick obliges with their favorite bag of feed.

The recent closure of the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Leonard Wood, combined with the loss of a group therapy Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) social work counselor, have severely limited treatment options for soldiers suffering from the residual effects of multiple combat deployments. Fortunately, a family with deep roots in the Ozarks, going back five generations, is working to address this critical shortfall through healing horsemanship.

There might be some new faces at the former Lebanon Livestock Auction facility between Lebanon and Phillipsburg, Mo., but they are no strangers to the livestock auction world.

Livestock sales have been a mainstay in the world of agriculture for over a century, providing farmers and ranchers an avenue to sell or purchase livestock in a controlled setting.

“It was my dream job,” is the way Barbara Becker of rural Pulaski County, Mo., described her five years as a Clydesdale handler with the Budweiser dynasty, working throughout the western United States. Originally from the Dixon-St. Robert, Mo., area, Barbara said she put together her resume in 1988 and took it to St. Louis, where she interviewed for the job. She was basically told, “Yes, well, everyone wants to work with the Clydesdales.”

Rock’N C Farms, operated by the Stigall family, is located deep in the Ozark Mountains in Stone County near Galena, Mo.

“I’ve been a teacher ever since I can remember,” is the way Ozarks farmer and disabled veteran Wendy Lombardi defined herself recently, sitting on the front porch of her home that sits on 40 acres in the far southeastern corner of rural Laclede County, Mo.

For those driving along Farm Road 1090 in Purdy, Mo., chances are that a red building with a large sign that reads “Edgewood Creamery” will catch their eye.