Missouri Neighbors

Carol Pool is your typical American cowgirl. She is hard-working, fun-loving and knows her way around a horse. She’s been a cowgirl her whole life, all 70 years of it. Growing up around fox trotters, near the town of Eldridge, Mo., she’d always been fond of horses. Her interest in the sport of barrel racing didn’t begin until she saw a picture of a barrel racer turning a barrel on a beautiful, strong horse. Carol said with her contagious laugh and smile, “I wanted a picture like that to hang on my wall.” 

Daphne Sartin described the farmer as 'the eternal optimist.' "Very few people get up every morning and go to a job they can’t control,” she said. She explained that they have no control over the weather or prices.

After 34 years of teaching, Bill Roberts hung up his hat and retired at the end of the 2010 school year. He spent the last 25 years teaching Agriculture Education at Marshfield High School.

Rocky Rush is an expert at growing things. He knows how to grow crops – farming more than 1,000 acres of row crops, and even raises soybean seed for Andrews Farm and Seed. He knows how to grow pigs – he and his father operate for Murphy Family Ventures and over 50,000 pigs pass through their doors every year. He knows how to grow a good family – he and his wife, Karen, have been married 27 years and have two children, Tyler and Shelby, and a business called Karen’s Kutting Korner. He also knows how to grow good cattle.

Jerry and Michelle Sanner’s Hidden Farm, as they call it, in rural Polk County is well-named, tucked in amongst the rolling hills outside Humansville, Mo. “I started with commercial cows,” Jerry explained, “but we’re converting over to registered Angus at this point.  We’re working with Jeff and Shoni Wilson out of Clearwater, Mont. There’s 50 years of research behind the genetics in the herd we have established with top producers here in Missouri. It’s all about raising great-tasting beef. You cook chicken and you have to put  spices on it to make it taste good,” he laughed. “We want to raise beef that when you cook it or put it on the grill, that’s all you need. We want people to eat beef.”

"I get three to four pounds of gain this way,” said Ted Dana, of his cattle's ration. Ted, who raises registered Angus and commercial cattle in Newton County, focuses on feeding – from content to technique. He doesn’t need to be in the pen with his steers to feed them. There are concrete feeders by the pipe fence, where he uses a wagon behind his four-wheeler to shovel feed in the trough. Since he is there by himself so much of the time, it makes for better safety, and peace of mind for his wife, Judy.

Howard Phillips has always been involved in agriculture. He began as an AI technician in Kansas in 1959. In 1967 he became the District Manager of American Breeder Service in Missouri. In 1975 he became a distributor for Select Sires in Missouri. Howard retired in 2000, but still does AI for individuals and for breeding programs.

Bryan Robertson is happy with his job. Many people wake up every day and spend the next 8 hours doing something they despise, and then the next day, they do the same thing again. Bryan is definitely not one of those people. He and his father Neil farm about 1,400 acres and care for close to 200 cattle. No two days are ever exactly the same, and that’s how he likes it.

"It's all about Cody,” is the philosophy Brian and Melissa Jacobs use on their Hawk Shadow Farms, located on the Wright-Douglas county line. Cody is Brian and Melissa's 4-year-old son and they are evolving their goat and cattle operation to meet his interests and safety. For example, Cody attended his first goat shows this year at the Ozark Empire and Missouri State Fairs. Melissa said that since Cody showed an interest in showing goats, they plan to cut back on their commercial herd and purchase more full-bloods.

Bill and Reta Wehmeier, of rural Phelps County, have found ways to blend old-fashioned farm family traditions with modern marketing practices to produce a successful 21st Century operation. They are the proud owners of a historic Angus herd. “That's a herd that's been going for more than 50 years, according to the American Angus Association,” Bill explained recently on his farm outside St. James, Mo.