Missouri Neighbors

When Sandy Fiorini moved to Missouri three years ago, it was like she was moving home. She is surrounded by family here with her dad, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews. It does give them a lot of room to trail ride and that makes Sandy and her son Christopher pretty happy. They have several horses on their property near Bolivar, Mo., that they train and ride.

Lightening Ridge Farm is a long way from the Scottish Highlands, but the terrain and weather conditions haven’t been much different here in the Missouri Ozarks. Near the southern line of Texas County, on the headwaters of Jack’s Fork River, the hills are steep and live water from springs is abundant. Dave and Ruth Embry raise Highland cattle on their 150-acre farm that is mostly wooded with about 20 acres open. You might think it would be impossible to raise livestock in these conditions, but their Highland cattle are thriving here.

Reagan Bluel once considered vet school, but soon discovered other interests MONETT, MO. - Reagan Bluel didn’t grow up on a farm, and her high...

The Webers strive to continually improve the quality of their herd LAMAR, MO. - Twenty-three years ago, Jerry and Angela Weber started their married life...

For generations, cattlemen made decisions based solely on what they could see. They looked across their pastures and watched their herd graze and grow, bred the cattle they thought best, and then they watched the next generation. It was only after the animal was sold or butchered that they were truly able to know its worth.

"They are like little members of our family,” chuckled Fern Welker, when talking about the goats she and her husband, Max, raise just outside of West Plains, Mo., in Howell County.

Once she became a mother, Amy Sauerwein’s goals changed and led her to a rural way of life PINEVILLE, MO. - What happens when a...

Larry Deffenbaugh looked for several things when he was getting back into the cattle business in 1990. "I wanted something no one else had. I had grown up around white-faces and Angus. I looked at different trade magazines, and then I found three years of a feedlot test.” What he found was the Salers. “Salers responded to feed and their weight conversions were good," Larry recalled. With their stats showing for good conversions, his desire for a good-gaining animal was met. Upon further investigation, Larry found the Salers to be a breed with wide pelvic openings, calving ease and a great disposition.

Singne Arthur refers to herself as a blessed woman. The mother of five mostly grown sons and a new wife, she and her husband, Gary Arthur run Peaceful Valley Ranch, an Angus and quarter horse operation in central eastern Laclede County.

Aaron and Jennie Owen have raised a family and made a life in the registered Simmental cattle business