Ozarks Farm & Neighbor Newspaper – written for, by & about farmers

Don’t expect to get rich, and you have to enjoy it,” was the advice Laura King had for anyone wanting to get into the cattle business.

At the ripe old age of “six or seven” Kenneth Phillips had his first cow.  “My dad sold her.  I didn’t get the money out of her,” he said laughing.  “Other than that, I didn’t have any cattle till I was about 17.”
Kenneth has been farming and raising cattle for 54 years.  “I’ve had Limousin ever since ’78, that’s when I got my first bull.”  He liked the looks of the Limousin cattle he’d seen, and liked the looks of the calves.

For Mary Beller it was a desire to reach out and grow that led her to the show arena.
“This was an opportunity for me to get out and do something on my own,” said Mary, owner of Rafter B Cutting Horses in Cabool.  “But Robert is my support; I couldn’t do this without him!”

In the cattle business there are big rewards for finding a niche that develops into a national interest.  Rodney Lowrance of Pleasant Hope, Mo. is taking his investment in Gelbvieh cattle and possibly venturing into one of these niches; grass-fed meat production.

The sun has just crept above the eastern horizon.  Sunlight glints off the windows of the house on the hill, but it will be awhile before it strikes the horses and cattle in the low-lying pastures on each side of the house.  Bill and Georgia McCloy and their youngest son, Ben, have finished their morning coffee and head to the barn.

Lifelong resident of Webster County, Aaron Day can’t remember ‘not’ having cattle.  His dad, Jim Day, gave him his first show heifer when he was nine years old.  “It was a deal.  I did the work and I only had to pay for half of her.  It instilled the facts that I needed to take care of her.  I had an investment in her myself, so it meant something to me.  That got me started with cattle.  I’ve shown cattle since I was nine.”