Missouri Neighbors

While some young livestock producers are born into the business, others have to find their own path into their chosen industry; and 16-year-old Linsey Lowrance-Rogers is one of those young producers.

Cole Clark’s day reflects the life of most farmers. He rises before the sun and works until his head hits the pillow at night. The only difference is Cole is a 16-year-old high school student.

Hesston Stark has been gaining ranching experience on his family’s beef cattle operation, located outside of El Dorado Springs, Mo., as far back as he can recall.

Twenty-six years ago, Corneliu Gradinariu left everything he had ever known in his homeland of Romania and headed for the border of Yugoslavia.

Marketing strategies are as unique as the cattle producers themselves. Some venture into the fray of social media or online sales, while others utilize familiar methods, such as, local sale barns.

Only four years into Angus production, Reid Roberts of Sparta, Mo., knows what he wants and has a plan for getting there.

The seed of success begin to grow when Dylan Massa attended the National FFA Convention as a freshman and watched the awarding of the American Star Farmer. Dylan lives just outside Lamar, Mo., and is a member of the Liberal FFA Chapter, where his advisors were the late Ron Dickens and Allie Runnels. Dylan has been selected as one of the four 2015 American Star Farmer Finalists, among thousands of American FFA Degree recipients. The American Star Farmer award is the highest recognition in the nation for young farmers to achieve.

Though life is filled with uncertainty, Sandy Arthur has always been sure about one thing.

The Equi-Librium Therapy Center has been called, “The best kept secret in the area.”

While other children dreamed of being doctors or lawyers, Cindi Darling dreamed of moving to Africa and making her living working with wildlife. While that particular dream remained unrealized, Cindi raised a few exotic animals in California but wanted to expand her operation. At the time she was especially interested in elands, a type of African antelope. Because doing so in California was next to impossible due to legal restrictions, the price of land, and the lack of water, Cindi moved to Bruner, Mo., in 1981.