Missouri Neighbors

Along a stretch of Ozarks highway, just west of Lebanon, Mo., a small herd of beautiful Texas Longhorn cattle graze in a summer-green field filled with wild flowers, tempting any amateur photographer to stop and capture a scene that speaks of the Texas prairie 100 years ago.

A self-proclaimed Wisconsin “Cheesehead” has found a new home away-from-home in the Missouri Ozarks, complete with rolling hills and plenty of room for cattle to graze, as well as a new agritourism venture.

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.

Mark Gronniger grew up in Dallas County but went into farming with a plan, as he put it, while he was still serving with the Marines. Kim, originally a city girl from Iowa, stated she met her husband while living on an Iowa farm, when he was working as a Marine recruiter there. “He recruited me, too,” she laughed. Afterwards, Mark and Kim came home to Dallas County where they raised four children on their 420 acres, outside Long Lane, Mo. Today, all but one has left home. Mark and Kim are raising 110 momma cows, calves and Red Angus bulls.

Lucas Cattle Company cattle manager Jeff Reed said there are both purebred and commercial cattle operations with the Lucas name in Hickory County, Mo.

With names like Southern Comfort and Bourbon on the Rocks, a new client of Stacy and Jerimiah Gan knows from the beginning that Blackberry Ridge Boers is a unique Boer goat undertaking that includes a good bit of fun as well as being a serious family-run livestock operation.