Neighbors

"He’s got about 10 years on me," chuckled Lydia Ernszt, talking about her husband Andy and the years experience with cattle. “We’ve been working these cattle together on this farm since 2001," she said.

For a retired man, Bob Watkins admits to being a busy man. After 27 years in commercial construction in the St. Louis area, he has spent the last 20 years back in his home area along the Phelps-Maries County line, raising cattle and working in the restaurant business. And that’s what he calls retirement.

Bermuda grass hay producer Paul E. Arnold has quality production down to a science.

Darrell Robinson, his wife Devetta and their three sons, Cole, Jacob and Garrett, have lived on the Five R Ranch at the foot of beautiful Mount Petit Jean, for about 14 years. Their home sits on top of 300 acres of meadows and wooded areas, where on a clear day you can see Mt. Nebo and surrounding farmlands below. Darrell said, “When we got ready to pick our home place out, we had to ride our horses up here, because it was too brushy and grown up to get up here any other way."

Jimmy Looper believes in good, old-fashioned hard work. The fruits of his labor include a 1,000-acre cattle operation that runs seven breeds, an auction and realty service, and a family legacy of ranching and farming that spans several decades.

Jerry Pegelow grew up in the farming country of northern Illinois. “We, my son and I,  were housed out of farming,” is the way he put it. Coming from a strong background in farming livestock and cash grains, Jerry Pegelow has seen a lot of changes. The family farm consisted of over 1,000 acres in far northeast Illinois. Much of the land was being swallowed up by urban sprawl and corporate expansion. “Where we grew corn and soy beans they now grow concrete and black top. Chicago and Milwaukee will run into each other soon,” Jerry said.

"We want to be able to sell good,quality animals to commercial producers at a good price,” explained Steve Craig, of Summersville, Mo. “I’ve been that commercial producer and I know it can be expensive, but I want to provide quality bulls to help those commercial guys make more money in the end, at the sale barn.”

Jerry Letterman, of rural Webster County, and his brother, George, built five feed bays in 1985 to feed their own dairy cattle and within short order, almost without realizing it, Jerry discovered he was in the feed business.

Richard and Susan Gebhart’s family raises Hereford cattle near Grand Lake in rural Langley, Okla., on land Susan’s great-grandparents settled in 1907.

Cattle, pigs, ducks, turkeys, laying hens, meat chickens, calves and horses are found at the two locations of Falling Sky Farm. Owned and operated by Andrea Todt and Cody Hopkins, on 40 acres near Marshall, Ark., they have seven feeder pigs, 600 ducks and 150 laying hens. On their 80 acres near Chimes, Ark., they’re raising turkeys, 8,000 meat chickens, and run 29 head of stocker calves.