Neighbors

Some of the best family traditions come from not following the crowd and that is especially true with Tyler Rush. Like his father, Rocky Rush, this 25-year-old farmer maintains a profitable Red Angus herd consisting of 40 head on his 250-acre farm located a few miles east of Jasper, Mo.

Weather is always a concern when beginning or managing a farm or ranch. Heat stress, drought, flooding or freezing temperatures can impact the operation of the chosen crop. Grazing options may become limited or in abundance. An exit plan or a Plan B carries the burden when the actual plan begins to fail. Protecting the lifestyle means being in tune with Mother Nature, creating grazing boundaries, providing adequate shelter, maintaining a healthy herd via vaccinations and/or forage and keeping predators out.

Kenny and Stephanie Kirk are not your typical livestock farmers, meaning that are born and raised with livestock all around them. Rather they were both “townies” and graduated from Springdale High School. However, Kirk was highly involved in FFA and placed second in the state for individual livestock judging. He also worked on farms during high school and looked up to Gene Shockley who had a cow/calf farm and the Parsons family who ran a feeder operation. Kenny said, “The bug bit, and I knew I wanted in.” Kenny knew two things: he wanted to farm and he wanted to live in Madison County.

Justin and Chana Usrey and their two sons, Kenny, 11, and Darrin, 8, live outside of Huntsville, Ark., where they raise turkeys and a commercial cattle herd. The couple married in 2000 and purchased 78 acres and another 30 later. They also rent an additional 320 acres and are considering expanding that acreage.

Two life-long city dwellers decided to make a change, a big change, fueled by the desire to provide natural, healthier food for their two children. Three years ago, Brent and Marci Sonnemaker bid city-life farewell and moved their family to a 20-acre farm in Marshfield, Mo. “Going from not producing any of your own food, to producing quite a bit of it has been fun,” said Brent Sonnemaker. In just a few years, the Sonnemakers transformed their land into a thriving farm abounding with chickens, ducks, sheep, goats and cattle. “I am a cook and food is my life. So to have the best for our family is awesome,” said Marci Sonnemaker. Marci works as chef and kitchen manager at the Sunshine Valley Farm café in Springfield, Mo. Brent helps run his family business. Despite their lack of farming experience, the Sonnemakers were eager to take on this new challenge for their daughter, Annabelle, and son, Benjamin.

Bobby Avila Jr., of Avila Performance Horses LLC, likes to train reining horses with “good minds.” A good reining horse prospect needs to be trainable, athletic, have good conformation and a good pedigree. These are all qualities that Bobby looks for in his equine counterparts that he trains out of Rogersville, Mo., at the Zimmerman Performance Horses facility. “I want to train a horse that is smooth, willing, happy and pleasing to the eye,” said Bobby. With several reining competition victories under his belt, he is no stranger to the sport, the training, or the outstanding horses involved.

As the former owner of three different area Laclede County motels and now running Graven Chrysler-Dodge in Lebanon, Mo., for the past four years, Terry Graven has always been a businessman at heart. He smiled when asked why he also has a cattle operation. “There’s always been cows,” he answered. “First, with my grandfather and then my dad. My dad had registered Limousin and that’s where I learned to love the breed and now I work primarily with Lim-Flex, a cross between Angus and Limousin. They have great maternal instincts, docility, growth and muscle development.

Sunflower Heritage Farm in Japton, Ark., is located on 120 acres and home to a wide variety of mostly heritage animals. Patty Stith and her mother, Roberta, and brother, Kenny, began the heritage, conservation-conscious animal farm in 2012. One of their conservation methods includes refurbishing and using old and existing buildings whenever possible. Another is using their animals to clear land naturally by first allowing pasture hogs into unimproved areas to forage and then admitting goats for browsing. Patty said, “That simple process gives you a park.”

Rod and Jamie Garman of Ground Zero Farms in Watts, Okla., run and operate Ground Zero Construction in Siloam Springs, Ark. “We got started with a construction company in 2004. We mainly do dirt work, utilities and build subdivisions,” Rod said. He bought about 350 acres to start his ranch. “As the construction company grew, we just kept buying land around us and own around 1,800 acres now,” he said. Ground Zero Farms also leases another 2,000 acres. “We run about 350 registered Red and Black Hereford cows and about 450 commercial cows,” he added.

Allen and Donna Shumate of Elkins, Ark., run a 3-year-old grass-fed commercial beef operation on nearly 1,000 acres of combined owned, shared and leased land. They have three registered Angus bulls and 80 mixed mommas with the goal of gradually increasing the herd to 100 mommas with 175 calves growing from weaning to butchering at all times.