Neighbors

Focused on efficiency and profit, Coy and Charlotte England raise Brangus/Angus cross cattle on their 250-acre farm making up the England Cattle Company. They currently have 50 cow/calf pairs and three registered Angus bulls, and have 40 acres of their land for hay cutting. Their goal is to promote beef animals that will meet market demands. The Brangus was developed by crossing Brahman and Angus cattle.

Lightening Ridge Farm is a long way from the Scottish Highlands, but the terrain and weather conditions haven’t been much different here in the Missouri Ozarks. Near the southern line of Texas County, on the headwaters of Jack’s Fork River, the hills are steep and live water from springs is abundant. Dave and Ruth Embry raise Highland cattle on their 150-acre farm that is mostly wooded with about 20 acres open. You might think it would be impossible to raise livestock in these conditions, but their Highland cattle are thriving here.

Juanita “Janie” Martinez Perez is a woman whose hands are very full. She's the owner and operator of a 165-acre dairy farm with 39 Holstein cows, 14 heifers, 8 calves and 10 horses,  the mother of a 14-year-old son whom she home schools and she's newly widowed.

"We wanted to move towards being self-sustaining,” said Crystal Eutsler when asked about why she got started with production agriculture when neither she nor her husband, Chad, had grown up on a farm. Thirteen years ago when Crystal’s family moved to Bois D’Arc, Mo., she bought some chickens. Soon her son, Ethan, took an interest in his junior high FFA chapter, and wanted to start a project. A small goat herd was the result. Crystal had helped her son, Ethan, buy three Boer goats. At the end of the project, they had 16 goats. “We loved having goats, but that particular breed required a little more care and upkeep than we had the time for, so we sold those and were introduced into the French Alpine breed by a friend,” said Crystal.

Just off highway 82 in northeastern Oklahoma, there is a green metal barn housing one innovative poultry business. The flock of chickens cared for there is among the healthiest possible, and is produced with several all-natural methods.

John Ely has been in the grass business for more than 40 years.

Jimmy Stephens was born into a family that gave him two dreams. One of those dreams, or passions, as Jimmy called it, stemmed from riding around in the pickup truck with his grandfather when he was a young boy, while he checked cattle. The other dream stemmed from an uncle that worked in law enforcement. Jimmy started working in law enforcement first, by becoming an Arkansas State Trooper, but he still had a longing to have a ranch of his own. So, in 1995, Jimmy bought a ranch just off of I-40 Interstate, with a creek running through it. He raises registered Black Angus and Brangus cattle, and has built a working barn and pens along with a dog kennel for his Catahoula cow dogs.

Except for four years attending college, 49-year-old Carl Button has lived his entire life on the family farm near Urbana, Mo., in Hickory County. His Grandfather Meier purchased the farm in 1950. In the mid 1960’s, Carl’s father bought the farm and added more land to it, eventually expanding it to 500 acres. Today the farm is divided between Carl and his brother and sister. He owns 160 acres of the family farm plus another 80 acres in Dallas County. Married 25 years, Carl and wife, Gayla, have three grown children.

"There’s no such thing as a perfect breed of beef cattle,” Frank Skym said, “but Braunvieh have so many good characteristics, they have to be close.” The quality of the beef and feed efficiency are close to the top of the list of characteristics Frank appreciates in his herd. Braunvieh cattle average a feed conversion of 6.71 pounds per pound of gain, according to the Braunvieh Association of America. Even though Braunvieh are heavily muscled, their marbling ensures a high grade of beef.

Patti Black’s enthusiasm over her LaMancha and Sable dairy goats that she raises with her 15-year-old son, Travis, is contagious. “LaManchas are the only breed of goat that is native to America,” she explained. “They are quiet, gentle, docile, very even-tempered animals, which makes them good for someone like me, who has close neighbors.”