Neighbors

Goats have always had a place in the meat and milk markets. Here in southwest Missouri they’re not yet as prevalent as cattle, but herds are popping up everywhere. And then there's fainting goats. Recently there has been a new rise in public interest on the species, but it’s not the Grand Champions or best producers receiving all the attention. Instead, the excitement has been over these “fainting goats.”  Major media attention has won these cute and comical creatures some time in the national spotlight.

Monty Williamson said of his barn full of cutting horses they are “a play pretty that got out of hand.”  In 1992 Monty thought he wanted to get a cutting horse so he bought a couple of fillies to raise and have trained.  “There was a period there where you could sell weanlings at a nice price, so I purchased two, three, maybe four more mares,” he recalled with a smile and a sly glance at his wife, Georgia.  “I had the good fortune of owning a stallion named Docs Halestorm, and the bad habit of keeping all the fillies. Most of our broodmares are Halestorm daughters.” 

With the familiar economic downturn, rising gas prices and a steady increase in food and energy costs, what, if anything, is to blame?  Could one of the main contributors of these problems be something so cleverly disguised as corn based ethanol?  According to BJ Neill of Bolivar, Mo., the answer is “yes.” 

It is a love for cattle and the country that brought Calvin and Laura Harris together and keeps their marriage strong after 26 years.
The couple, originally from Fresno, Calf., started raising Limousin cattle in 1979. They moved Harris Cattle Company to Tontitown, Ark., in 1987 to expand the operation and now have 65 cows and two herd bulls they use to raise Limousin, Angus and LimFlex cattle.
LimFlex cattle are a combination of Limousin and Angus, and flex is an acronym for flexible Limousin efficiency cross.
In 2004, the Harrises bought a national reserve champion Limousin bull to breed to their cows. In 2007, they decided to

At the age of 10 years old, Michael Economopoulos walked race horses at a New York track, and dreamed that someday he would have his own race horses. The dream started to become reality in 1979, when he purchased 120 acres at Witts Springs, Ark., and began raising Arabian race horses.

"To see a kid walking out of the show ring with a smile on his face – that’s what it’s all about,” explained Blake Morrison of Morrison Show Cattle near Mountain Home, Ark., in Baxter County. “To know the amount of work they have put into their animals and know that it has paid off. That’s the best part of this life.”

Breed an average cow to an average bull and no matter what color or breed, the end product is beef and it can be sold at the sale barn or put on the table.

Two important points make Beefmaster the breed of choice for Ray Bohannon. To him, they are easy calvers and they are low-maintenance.

With corn at $5.50 a bushel, probably not too many people are throwing it into a furnace.
Lawrence County poultry producer Roger Schnake is one of the exceptions.

Karen Haralson, who owns and operates Griffin Flat Cow Co., knows well the challenges that face cattle farmers today.
Still, there is no other life she would rather lead.