Neighbors

He has been known as the Racin’ Reverend and the pastor with the unforgettable name but in recent years, Reverend Jack Daniel has ‘come home’ to El Dorado Springs, Mo., to his roots as a farmer and to once again pastor the local First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) after a near 30-year leave of absence. Even so, so-called retirement for Jack Daniel does not include slowing down.

For the last decade, Robert Brooks has watched his dreams come to fruition on the same soil where his great-grandparents built their dreams years ago. As he glances at a hill near his home, Robert’s smile widens and he said, “I have pictures of my dad when he was 9 years old standing on that hill with his Shetland pony.” That “hill” is part of a 400-acre farm between Rogersville and Fordland, Mo. Robert and his family pieced together the farm as generations of the family passed down the property. “My grandparents bought all this and they worked it. There is a lot of blood, sweat and tears in these acres. And I just want to carry on that heritage and have something that I can pass down to my kids too,” reflected Robert.

Steve Stewart runs cattle on his dad’s farm in Christian County near Spokane, Mo. His dad had cattle as long as Steve could remember. Steve said, “I think I bought my first ones in 2002. The first ones I bought were Gelbvieh and then I started looking at the Balancers and the hybrid vigor. So I bought an Angus bull and put it with the Gelbviehs.”

Don Smith of Hogden, Okla., was raised in Kiowa, home of famous country-western singer and TV personality Reba McEntire. In fact, Reba and Don are cousins with Reba’s father, Clark, being a major influence in Don becoming a professional cowboy and in meeting his wife. Don and Susan met at a rodeo in Wilburton, Okla., where both were competing and with both eventually becoming professional cowboys.

This is the story of a young couple deciding to build a farm from scratch, something unusual in this day and age. Cody Hays, now of Gentry, Ark., met his future wife Carrie when he was a junior in college at the University of Arkansas. Cody said, “Land prices are too high to make a purchase viable for expansion and leased land is competitive.” Cody and Carrie, however, were undeterred.

Two couples, Bryan and Amber Bench, and Randy and Nancy Williams, have combined their skills and resources to form Nature’s Green Grass Farms. Their goal is to raise tender and tasty grass-fed beef using nothing but what nature provides. They have chosen Devon cattle as the breed for their Everton, Ark., operation. The interesting thing about Devon cattle is that they were brought to America for the first time in 1623. If this rings a historic bell, that’s because the Pilgrims landed here in 1620, so it was just a few years later that three Devon heifers and a Devon bull first hoofed it onto American soil. The herd that the Benches and the Williamses now have is descendants of these cattle. Bryan is proud to call Devons a heritage breed, pure, not crossed with another breed. A few changes have been made since the first four were consigned from Devonshire, England, to the colonies. For example, American stockmen have developed a polled strain of purebred Devons. Interestingly enough, this traces back to a bull born in 1915 in Concordia, Mo., not too far from here.

Floyd Renner met his future wife, Carrie, when his father was harvesting wheat on Carrie’s place. Though Floyd and Carrie went their separate ways, they eventually reconnected and now live in Fairview, Mo. Floyd left a dairy farm when he went on his honeymoon but returned to a cattle ranch when his father decided to get out of the dairy business. The couple has three children; Maci age 11, Marshall age 8 and Macelynn who is a little over a year old.    

Piney River Valley Sheep is located west of Licking, Mo., literally on the east bank of Big Piney River. Ray and Pam Wallace have lived there almost 40 years and have had several types of farming operations. Ray is a retired union lineman from Intercounty Electric. Pam was the licensing agent for the Department of Revenue in Licking for several years and more recently has been employed at Wal-Mart for the past eight years. In 2006 they purchased their first sheep and they quickly became Pam’s pet project and captured the hearts of their grandchildren, Cole who is 9 years old and Linzie who is 7. Both are very involved with the sheep on a daily basis as well as in the show ring.

The Osage orange tree, also known as a hedge apple has been a part of the landscape of Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas long before the white settlers moved in. Historically speaking the wood has been used as an excellent heating fuel, fence posts and in the making of the world’s best archery bows. However, Bronaugh, Mo., student and local FFA chapter member Cole Diggins got an idea from his grandfather and revived using the hedge apple as a green alternative for home insect control.

Farmers’ livestock herds change as their lives change. This is what’s happening to Derrick and Simonnee Butler who lease 60 acres in Bentonville, Ark., and run some cattle on Simonnee’s fathers land. One defining factor in the nature of their cattle operation is rodeoing. The couple first met in 2003 when Derrick judged some rodeos that Simonnee competed in. The couple’s paths crossed again three years later when both were competing in another rodeo.