Neighbors

At the ripe old age of 9, Scott Bass already had the heart of a cattleman. He mowed yards and earned enough money to buy his first two calves from his grandpa for $100 each. Scott said, “The best thing you can do is teach a kid the value of a dollar.”

For most people the annual Route 66 Days in Strafford, Mo., conjures thoughts of antique cars and fried food. But for 17-year-old Shelby Burns, the festival reminds her of the genesis of her cattle business. Shelby remembers laying eyes on a Dexter calf named Danny Boy at the festival. “I just fell head over heels for him,” said Shelby. There was no turning back. Shelby, then 12-years-old, convinced her mother to buy a Dexter heifer named Rosie. Thus, Wild Rose Ranch in Strafford, Mo., bloomed.

After 27 years, Sharps Antique Tractor Works, Inc., has built an honest and dependable business manufacturing and selling thousands of John Deere 2-Cylinder parts.

Roots run deep at Styles Ranch in Coal Hill, Ark. Jamey Styles’ father was an Ag teacher at Hartman and Coal Hill, who had started out teaching Vocational Agriculture to the newly-returned veterans of World War II in the late 1940s. He was an innovative farmer and owned both the first automated square baler and the first round baler in the county. The family raised cattle, horses and hay in the fertile river bottoms of Johnson County.

For 82-year-old Harley Swan, Jr. (2nd generation), herding and milking the Holstein and Brown Swiss cows on the Swan Brothers Dairy Farm in Claremore, Okla., is not just a job. It is his benefaction towards the 90-year legacy left by his dad Harley Swan, Sr. Twice a week and during vacations, Harley Jr., herded the cattle to the milking station for its daily 300 gallon production of wholesome goodness, Grade A raw milk.

In 2006 James and Elaine Couch sold their home and bought 211 acres in Colcord, Okla. The couple’s goal was to raise free-range cows, chickens and hogs as well as the meat goat herd they brought with them, with the intent of making naturally raised food affordable for everybody. They currently have a commercial cattle herd of 28 momma cows, 20 yearlings and 20 calves and are steadily improving the quality of the herd with Beefmaster genetics.

Jerry and Barb White of Purdy, Mo., have converged the conventional with the uncommon, in both breed and technology. Though a full-time insurance business owner, Jerry has always taken time to maintain a herd of commercial Angus cattle. Three years ago, Jerry became intrigued with a little known breed, Wagyu, and decided to try something new.

Nestled in the Southwestern corner of Texas County lives a family of more than one generation that is much like all the rest of us in some aspects, but is also different in some very important ways. Bob and Sherry Reed and their daughters along with Bob’s father, Lyle Reed, all work together with many other people to make a living from the land.

“When we first got started in the meat business we could buy a hog at 6 or 7 cents a pound and that first year I hauled 23 head up to the stockyards. They averaged 256 pounds and they didn’t bring $25 a head,” explained Steve Madewell of Madewell Meats. Steve explained that the idea behind his pork business started when that same year he and his wife, Jane, “sold a few Christmas hams for $30 apiece. It just made sense,” recalled Steve.

Troy and Kathy Cline have always been a busy couple, so busy they had a marriage license but had difficulty finding time to marry. Then one day it snowed, really snowed, a full 18 inches. They had worked all day and night the day before in Springdale, Ark., at the sale barn and then traveled to Berryville, Ark., to work when it started snowing. Kathy said, "That was when we finally had time to get married. We called the Justice of the Peace who had gone fishing on Groundhog Day. He came back and performed his first wedding on us." Then Troy grinned and said, "I got her young enough to train her the way I wanted." Kathy nodded in agreement and said, "My mom had cows that basically took care of themselves so I knew nothing about cattle. I married into this mess."