Neighbors

After moving to Webster County from Nashville, Tenn., about five years ago, Tom Donkin found the breed of cattle he was looking for at FarmFest. 

Whether you’re marketing petroleum products or raising cattle, the key to success is staying competitive.
That, Jim Woods would tell you, is a matter of knowing what customers want, which product can best fill their needs and how to provide it most efficiently.

Chris Tarter uses farming as a stress-reliever, although sometimes farming in-and-of itself isn’t always problem-free.  Like many farmers, Chris can’t remember a time in his life when farming wasn’t a part of the everyday routine.  “I used to dairy, but I was offered a full-time position with the United State Postal Service, so we relocated and began the beef farm,” said Chris.

Virgil Anderson came to Barry County, Mo., to raise Quarterhorses.
Fifteen years later, the hills of his 90-acre farm are dotted not with the equines he first envisioned, but with the white, sturdy bodies of Charolais cattle. The horse project just hadn’t worked out — his mares wouldn’t breed and the market was turning gloomy.

For Steve and Tammy Alger, raising grass and grain fed chickens, sheep and goats is just a small part of their beautifully simple way of life. Steve and Tammy married 23 years ago, moved to Southwest Missouri from Illinois 15 years ago, and now have ten children together: Jennifer, Emily, Amanda, David, Joshua, Rebekah, Samara, James, Hannah and Paul (all are pictured above except David, Jennifer and Emily).

Nestled in the rolling hills of Greenwood, Ark., is the home of Charolais breeders Jim and Reba Bray. The hard work ethic and family morals Mr. Bray learned growing up on a post-depression farmstead have proved to be a blessing to his family. He speaks of the good ole days with fondness. "The dollar went a lot further then, if you could get a dollar. You went to the store once a month, bought your flour and sugar. That was it. Always had a garden, hens and stock." But growth in the Fort Smith/Van Buren, Ark., area has brought many changes to local lifestyles, and the Bray family is making the adjustment. After the Highway 71 bypass changed traffic patterns, and their home burned four years ago, the Brays built a new home farther from the road on a rise that overlooks the creek and their cattle pastures.

Two necessary traits are inherent in every successful Arkansas farmer.  One is the ability to accept change for the better.  The other is knowing when to hold onto something that is uncommonly good.

Balancing a busy medical practice with a beef cattle operation is all in a day’s work for Dr. William Galloway of Russellville, Ark.
A dermatologist in Russellville since he opened his practice in 1976, William has about 25 head of purebred Galloway Belted cattle on his 62-acre farm.

Ralph and Arlene Reid have settled for their retirement years on a 60-acre homestead south of Ozark, Ark., in a town called Paris. Ah, the romance of Paris!

The Morgans have a long history of family and farming in the Ozarks. “Our family moved to Johnson County in 1857. We've been in the Mt. Olive community since 1876. I was raised on a farm and it didn't take me long to realize that if I wanted to keep farming that I would have to have a job to support it,” David Morgan said.