Missouri Neighbors

Jack Dill operates Alva Dill and Sons dairy farm near Conway, Mo., in Dallas County. Jack said, “It’s a family partnership.” Alva Dill is his father. Also included in the partnership is Jack’s son, Jordan, his brother, Jerry, and Jerry’s son, Jarrod. Five families are working together and making a living on the farm. Jack is quick to point out that while he is the manager, everyone has an equal say in decision-making.

"It’s all I’ve ever known,” shrugged Geno Middleton. “Raising, breaking and training horses has been in my blood. I’m the third generation to do this,” he explained of Geno Middleton Stables north of West Plains, Mo., in Howell County.

Growing up in Lockwood, Mo., about a mile from his current farmstead, Charles Obert was deeply frustrated by his father’s refusal to buy exotic animals. Instead his father ran a dairy and raised chickens and hogs for personal use.

Greg Hoelscher has lived on a 40 acre farm near Humansville, Mo., in Polk County since 1992. He rents another 100 acres.

Spend any amount of time raising cattle and eventually most people will end up with a bottle calf. It’s a typical occurrence. The cow, maybe a first-calf heifer, doesn’t accept the newborn or maybe she isn’t giving enough milk.

Twin sisters Sharon Jolley-Ballowe and Karen Jolley-Leighton have a lot in common. They live five miles apart from each other in Rogersville, Mo., in Greene County. They each have a son (Kolbey, Sharon’s son, is 5 and Connor, Karen’s son, is 10). And not only do the Jolley twins look alike, they both share the same passion for Missouri Fox Trotters.

According to 80-year-old Claude Nolan of Rogers, Ark., the public has him overrated. But according to his close friend, Brentley Wilkerson of Pea Ridge, Ark., Claude is still the best cow-buyer Brentley’s ever seen.

No matter how fast-paced and full her life sometimes becomes, Chloe Iiams is never far from tranquility.

Jim and Vali Suddarth of rural Camden County, breeders of gaited Morgan horses, are an extraordinary couple in many ways. Both are self-proclaimed ‘horse nuts’ which they admit is a good thing as a married couple. “We know others where only the man or woman is horse crazy and that makes it hard on the couple as one is often riding and the other is waiting around, trying to understand this strange attraction.” Anyone who has ever known someone afflicted with this particularly delightful compulsion understands.

Jim Pipkin is the fourth generation to farm his family’s farm, which dates back to 1856 just west of Springfield, Mo. Jim’s parents, W.D. and Bonita Pipkin still reside on the farmstead and play an active part in the day-to-day farm chores.