Neighbors

Approaching the 420 acres known as The Milkey Mile, west of Highway 39 between Stockton and Greenfield, Mo., it doesn’t immediately look like a dairy. Several outbuildings, grain bins and a building that could be the milking parlor; but none of the typical black-and-whites were seen right away.

Ask Gary Bush about the benefits of raising livestock naturally, and you will get a long list of positive results. At Lampe Farm in Lampe, Mo., Gary uses all natural management practices to keep his animals in good health. Lampe Farm is located on a homestead that was built in 1901; the original house and barn are still standing strong. Today, the historic homestead is home to Gary’s herd of hair sheep, meat and dairy goats, bees, peacocks, and heritage breeds of chickens, turkeys, geese, guineas and ducks – all raised naturally for the good of the animals, and the environment.

Many farmers with all size operations, from small to large, have appreciated the grazing school program conducted by National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) throughout various Ozarks communities but perhaps none more than Kenneth Parsons of Webster County. After attending his first grazing school nearly 10 years ago, he and his wife, Mary Ann have offered their 150-acre farm as a demonstration and classroom site for several grazing schools. Located half way between Marshfield and Northview, Mo., the Parsons have welcomed farmers from all over the Ozarks to come, share and learn how to grow better grass and most of all, make better use of the grass they have.

Myle Ratchford said, “I can’t remember not being on a horse rodeoing.” Myle was raised on a polled Hereford cattle farm in Elkins, Ark. After graduating from high school, she married and started raising and training horses in Oklahoma. She then moved back to Arkansas in 2008 and brought her operation Myle Ratchford Training Stable to Treat Farm. She remarried and lives in Kingston, Ark., with her husband, Michael, and children, Whitley who is 18 and attending the U of A for a degree in animal science, and Ryder who is 3. Michael works in the local logging industry, a nice complement to her horse farm.

“That’s the way I like to sell bulls,” could be heard as the gate slammed shut on one trailer, and the next truck and trailer pulled in. It was a good sale day for Keith Cagle of Rose Bud Feeders, LLC, that cool Saturday morning in late March, “$65,000 worth of bulls in just a couple of hours from a couple of different operations.”

Jason Lawler returned home to Eureka Springs, Ark., in 2006 to help his grandfather Paul Hull on their 320-acre highly diversified farm. Jason said, “I came back after being gone for a short while because it’s all I know and what I love.” For economic reasons, Jason also works for the Carroll County Road Department.

He has been known as the Racin’ Reverend and the pastor with the unforgettable name but in recent years, Reverend Jack Daniel has ‘come home’ to El Dorado Springs, Mo., to his roots as a farmer and to once again pastor the local First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) after a near 30-year leave of absence. Even so, so-called retirement for Jack Daniel does not include slowing down.

For the last decade, Robert Brooks has watched his dreams come to fruition on the same soil where his great-grandparents built their dreams years ago. As he glances at a hill near his home, Robert’s smile widens and he said, “I have pictures of my dad when he was 9 years old standing on that hill with his Shetland pony.” That “hill” is part of a 400-acre farm between Rogersville and Fordland, Mo. Robert and his family pieced together the farm as generations of the family passed down the property. “My grandparents bought all this and they worked it. There is a lot of blood, sweat and tears in these acres. And I just want to carry on that heritage and have something that I can pass down to my kids too,” reflected Robert.

Steve Stewart runs cattle on his dad’s farm in Christian County near Spokane, Mo. His dad had cattle as long as Steve could remember. Steve said, “I think I bought my first ones in 2002. The first ones I bought were Gelbvieh and then I started looking at the Balancers and the hybrid vigor. So I bought an Angus bull and put it with the Gelbviehs.”

Don Smith of Hogden, Okla., was raised in Kiowa, home of famous country-western singer and TV personality Reba McEntire. In fact, Reba and Don are cousins with Reba’s father, Clark, being a major influence in Don becoming a professional cowboy and in meeting his wife. Don and Susan met at a rodeo in Wilburton, Okla., where both were competing and with both eventually becoming professional cowboys.