Missouri Neighbors

When brothers Daniel and Bryn Anderson were kids, they fully embraced life on the farm.

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.

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...

Brad and Joanna Carter’s registered Angus and Boer Goats may be a small-time operation, but that doesn’t stop them from taking specific steps towards improving their breeding programs.
“We AI our cattle, but we’re not brave enough to AI our goats,” Joanna laughed. The Carters have had goats for five years, and cattle for longer than that. When they moved to their current location, in Dadeville, Mo., Brad said their fields were covered with serecia lespedeza. “The cattle wouldn’t eat it, that and all our brush. So we got goats to take care of it,” he recalled.

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.

For Dave and Pam White, the farm is their place to be in life, but they didn’t always know it. 

"Ten years ago, it started as a joke,” Katie Stewart, vice president of the Southwest Missouri Goat Producers Association, explained how her family’s involvement with Boer goats began. “Bob (Katie’s husband) brought home three baby goats from the sale barn for our children. He called them 'weed eaters' and from there…” she waved a hand towards the lot full of 40 South African goats known for their meat production.

"We will probably be raising goats from now on, as the third generation is close to being ready to start showing goats,” said Lori Peterson of Show Me Boers in Newton County, Mo. She is talking about her 5-year-old granddaughter, who loves to come and help with the chores.

Jon and Lindsey Cartwright of Webster County, both grew up with agricultural backgrounds, an important aspect of their lives that they are proud to share with their young children, 2 1/2-year-old son, Yates and 7-month-old daughter, Yardley.

Former ranchers, originally from Arizona, Margo Chilcott and her husband, Brian, came to the Ozarks seven years ago and fell in love with a place, a 100-acre valley outside West Plains, Mo., in rural Howell County. Both currently work in real estate in southern Missouri.