Neighbors

Hugh and Brandy Reynolds originally owned and operated a dairy but, after adding three turkey houses they still couldn’t make ends meet. “There just never was enough money in the dairy to support the business and make a living,” Hugh said. Hugh decided to go to school to become an electrician while working the turkey houses.

As classes end for the day, Whitney Harrison heads to work at MFA in Cassville, Mo., where she'll spend the next few hours serving area farmers. After work, she'll head home to greet her two horses, Honey and Audrey, along with her herd of Braunvieh cows. 

Cheap land prices and a better climate enticed Mike Nelson to move his family from Minnesota to Missouri in April 2007. Of the weather, Mike said, “It’s too cold up there. You get the freezing winter.” On land prices, he said, “There’s not as much competition for land. Up there if there was 100 acres for rent, you’d have 50 people after it, jacking everything up.” Mike said prices could go as high as $200 an acre to rent. Recently he learned from a family member that land in Minnesota was selling “for $6,400 an acre.”

Volatile propane prices don’t have Larry Long worried.

Highland cattle may be the most unique type of cattle ever seen on an Ozarks hillside. An ancient Scottish breed, the stock has outward-spreading horns and long wavy hair. Exported to North America in the 1880s, they are known as a hearty breed that will graze, browse and eat plants other cattle will avoid.

When Vernon Schmiegelow went searching for cost-effective ways to pack pounds on calves, he discovered the solution was near as the grass underfoot.

In July 1999, Leon Caselman conducted his first goat auction at Buffalo Livestock Market and sold 302 goats. At his monthly goat sale today he’ll sell 2,200 goats, with the help of his whole family.  And the Caselman family literally gives new meaning to the term 'family business.' As Leon’s children, Cole and Makayla chase goats and sheep about in the auction pen along with the help of their grandfather and Bobby Cole, Leon’s father-in-law, Leon himself lets the animals in to the pen, while his wife, Tara tallies who bought what. Leon's father, Lyle, does the auctioneering and mother, Rita and sister, Chelsey, keep the front office running smoothly, while his mother-in-law, Theresa helps out, too.

Curtis Millsap grew up in Springfield. He wasn't raised on a farm, but was a regular at his grandparents dairy farm. In college, he didn't study to be a full time farmer, but he knew that he had a deep passion for the outdoors and a sincere love of the land. Never did he realize that this interest would lead him to what he's doing today.

All natural, grass fed beef. No chemicals. Period. That's the stance that Richard Potter of Powell, Mo., takes when it comes to his cattle. "I raise the cattle the way I want my children to eat them," he said. And his customers enjoy the benefits of Richard's 100 percent organic beef as well.

If you are a person who loves to play with horses, cows and you live near Hogeye, Ark., you know LaCosta and Andy Napier and their family arena. “People like the lifestyle. We like to rope steers, train horses, run barrels, poles and flags,” Andy said. “We have people we would never have met if it weren’t for the arena. Those people are like family now. We ride together, we play together and we eat together. We are like a big family. We even have our own little Christmas party just for people who come to the arena. It’s just family oriented fun. We just love it.”