Neighbors

Phil Hofschulte of Miami, Okla., was an agriculture teacher for 29 years in Wyandotte, Okla., retiring in 2013. He and his wife Jan own and lease 600 acres, the base of operations for Hofschulte Show Pigs and Sires, as well as a commercial cattle herd. The couple met after a Wyandotte football game when Phil came in from a typical late-night of working with students.

For the last generation, thousands of kids and their parents have flocked every fall to the Schaefers and Collins Pumpkin Farm near Mayflower, Ark. In addition to experiencing the thrill of riding the hay wagon to the pumpkin patch, where they can pick out their own gourds to be carved into Jack-O-Lanterns, they can play games, challenge the corn maze, and buy farm-fresh treats. And the families that put on the annual festival always make sure there’s something new for their annual visitors.

The seed of success begin to grow when Dylan Massa attended the National FFA Convention as a freshman and watched the awarding of the American Star Farmer. Dylan lives just outside Lamar, Mo., and is a member of the Liberal FFA Chapter, where his advisors were the late Ron Dickens and Allie Runnels. Dylan has been selected as one of the four 2015 American Star Farmer Finalists, among thousands of American FFA Degree recipients. The American Star Farmer award is the highest recognition in the nation for young farmers to achieve.

Though life is filled with uncertainty, Sandy Arthur has always been sure about one thing.

The Equi-Librium Therapy Center has been called, “The best kept secret in the area.”

Farming and ranching facilities are never the same.

Caye Mott, a life member of the American Dairy Goat Association, runs a show dairy goat operation named Loch Arbor outside of Hogeye, Ark., on 17 acres. She raises Toggenburg goats originally from the Toggenburg Valley of Switzerland and the oldest registered goat breed.

David Martin’s purebred Gelbvieh business, the Martin Cattle Company, has only been in operation on the family ranch in Judsonia, Ark., since 1991.

While other children dreamed of being doctors or lawyers, Cindi Darling dreamed of moving to Africa and making her living working with wildlife. While that particular dream remained unrealized, Cindi raised a few exotic animals in California but wanted to expand her operation. At the time she was especially interested in elands, a type of African antelope. Because doing so in California was next to impossible due to legal restrictions, the price of land, and the lack of water, Cindi moved to Bruner, Mo., in 1981.

Smoky gray and brown cattle graze across lush, rolling pastures near Morrisville, Mo.