Neighbors

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."

The rugged beauty of Hancock horses drew Jennifer and Brett Keller to research and to ultimately start their own breeding program in Mulberry, Ark.

The alarm came over the phone, and Larry and Juliana Davis of Miami, Okla., scurried into a recently built safe room. A minute and a half later a tornado touched down 200 yards away before returning to the storm above. This tornado had been spawned by the same system that demolished Moore, Okla. After 20 minutes the owners of Twin Rivers Grain and Cattle emerged to find their house and one equipment shed with all of their equipment unharmed, but six buildings and their grain bins destroyed. Cows were racing every which way; old trees were snapped and uprooted. One blessing is that none of the cattle were injured although it took three hours just to get a truck in to begin rounding up the frightened animals.

Randy and Jane Miller of Miller Bison in Bruner, Mo., have had a longtime love of the once prominent symbol of the American West. Growing up in the Kansas cattle business, Randy had some exposure to bison and was interested in the huge, majestic animals. In 1995 the Millers purchased their first bison – 20 head of heifers from the annual Custer State Park Buffalo Sale in South Dakota. And so a learning journey began. “The more we had them, the more they grew on us,” Randy said. At the time Randy and Jane entered the bison industry, there was a limited amount of information available to bison breeders – so nearly everything was an experiment. The Millers stuck with the ups and downs of the market and eventually found a niche selling bison meat to chefs in Colorado. “We brought a quality and consistent product,” said Randy. Consistency proved to be the key in the bison meat business and today, Miller Bison sells an estimate of 1,000 head of processed bison annually.

Linda Collins, now Linda Faber, grew up in Rolla, Mo., along with her 11 brothers and sisters and moved to Australia, on her own at age 17. “We were a yours, mine and ours sort of family,” she laughed. “I always liked horses but it simply wasn’t something we could afford in such a big family. It wasn’t until I was at the Discipleship Center during my two years in Australia that I got to ride. I quickly figured out, oh, this could be addicting. Back in America, in the years that followed, I worked at a lady’s ranch and at another stable in St. James, Mo., as a volunteer. I wanted to be sure I had what it took to do the work involved with horses every day. I listened to everyone. I also worked at a family camp in Arkansas and then later, while going to college in Moberly, Mo., at Central Christian College getting a degree in Christian education, I worked at an AQHA (American Quarter Horse Association) barns with one of their top trainers and judges. Three months turned into three years as I also went to shows with them.