January Country Neighbor

NeighborRural Living Cedar, Dallas and Polk CountiesAgriculture and rural living quarterly

Wednesday, January 18, 2012 • Supplement to the Bolivar Herald-Free Press, Buffalo Reflex, Cedar County Republican, Marshfield Mail and Republic Monitor

Area familes love alpacas — Pages 7,8,16

Couple stakes future on big barn— Pages 12-13

Lowline Angus prove perfect fit for Republic producer — Pages 4-5

Hogeye picnic remembered — Pages 14-15 Producers Grain co-op dates to 1920 — 7

Buffalo’sHostetler mill

meetsdemand for

non-GMOfeeds

— Pages 18-19

Iwas 9 years old when I first learnedabout electric fences. It was August 1957. We moved

from a rented farm at Republic to 39neglected acres west of Elkland, justacross the Dallas County line. Thefences between us and the neighborswere old, but sufficient.

Nary a single wire bordered theroad, though; neither did anysuitable fences divide pastures onthe place.

We needed fences. We neededthem right away. We brought with usthe start of our Jersey milking herd. Idon’t recall how many — eight or 10,I think. A few days before our moveDad had taken me to a friend’s farmand began pointing out cows thatwere ours. I didn’t know we hadmore than the few at home.

Anyway, we needed fences — fast.Open range was not an option. Dad’sanswer was a pulsating Wizardelectric fence charger from WesternAuto, a roll of smooth wire and boxesof porcelain insulators.

Compared to electric fencing oftoday, it was pretty simple. We didn’thave fiberglass or plastic posts tostomp in the ground, devices totighten the fence, braided wire orelectric tape. Maybe they made suchthings, but I never saw them. It wasall new to me.

We commenced to building fencesclose to the barn, nailing insulatorsto random posts in old fencelines

and persimmon trees (I imaginesome of those insulators are stillburied in the growth rings of a few ofthose trees). The nails were a double-headed type — so we didn’t hammerand break the top of the insulators— with a leather washer between themetal and the porcelain. I don’t recallhow we fastened the wire — mostlywith a loop around the insulator, Ithink.

You can imagine the first fenceswe built going from tree-to-tree.“Dog-legged” would have been acompliment. Of course, there wasmore to it than stringing wire. Wefirst had to cut the weeds, rosebushes and and buckbrush out ofthe fenceline. I liked watching thesparks jump, though, as the fenceburned through stems of grass.

As simple as it was, that single hotwire worked pretty good — as long asit didn’t short out. Even then, a deadwire was enough to stop most of theold cows — they weren’t slowlearners. Nosy heifers and bull calveswere sometimes a different matter.Of course, it seemed they never gotout in the daytime. Searching bykerosene lantern light for calves in apersimmon and sumac jungle is notone of my most-cherished childhoodexperiences.

Compared to today’s electricfences, ours didn’t pack much of awallop; but nobody grabbed hold of awire for fun, either.

We had electric fences on the placefrom the day we moved in ’til the dayDad died — for a long time with thatsame ol’ Wizard charger buzzing inthe milk barn. Even after we’d builtpermanent fences, Dad used hotwires for calf pens, bull pens andjust to break up pastures. I found a

hot wire makes a fine hog pen, too. Iimagine my brother still has a hotwire somewhere on the place.

As boys we had our share ofeducational experiences with electricfencing, but like the cows, we werenot slow learners.

On one such occasion I held thewire down to step across and thenassured my younger brother it musthave been turned off at the barn. Hetook a firm grip with a bare handand let out a holler like he’d beenshot. I reckon that’s how it felt. Inever took into account the leathergloves I was wearing.

I learned an important lesson inelectrical current conduction thatday — entirely at Russell’s expense. Ithink he thought I’d tricked him.Nope, I was just more stupid than heknew — but just that one time.

No matter how staggering theelectric current, it wasn’t enough todeter a particular young Jersey bullnamed “Lad.” When he was just acalf I watched him burn his nose,then back up and take a run rightthrough a hot wire.

He didn’t learn much better as hegot older. The only way Dad ever gothim to notice an electric fence was byhanging 18 inches of chain from thering in his nose — and even then hewas as likely to burst through as runaway from it. We’d didn’t keep Ladmuch past his first set of calves. Hewas always meaner than a hot wire,and a lot more dangerous. After heonce pinned my younger brother tothe ground, he was soon gone.

Electric fencing has come a longway in the past half-century. Theequipment displays and model fencesbuilt by USDA/NRCS specialistsbarely resemble what I knew as aboy.

We would have made good use ofhigh tensile wire, portable posts, wirespools and fence tighteners when Iwas a boy. Sure would’ve beatrunning wire between persimmontrees. Any fence, though, was betterthan none.

Jim Hamilton is a senior writer forNeighbor Newspapers and editor ofCountry Neighbor. Contact him [email protected].

2 COUNTRY NEIGHBOR • WINTER 2012

COUNTRY NEIGHBOR isquarterly supplement to theCedar County Republican,Bolivar Herald-Free Press,Marshfield Mail, RepublicMonitor and Buffalo Reflex, publications of NeighborNews/Community Publishers,Inc. Copyright © 2012 NeighborNews/Community Publishers,Inc. All rights reserved. To advertise in CountryNeighbor, contact the CedarCounty Republican at (417)276-4211, the Bolivar Herald-Free Press at (417) 326-7636,the Marshfield Mail at (417)468-2013, the RepublicMonitor at (417) 732-2525 orthe Buffalo Reflex at (417) 345-2224.

PUBLISHER: DAVE [email protected] •

(417) 777-9776EDITOR: JIM HAMILTON

[email protected] •(417) 345-2224

ASSOCIATE EDITOR: CHARLOTTEMARSCH

[email protected]• (417) 777-9722

Contributing writers: MikeCullinan, Becky Groff and

Michael Smith.

NeighborRural Living Cedar, Dallas and Polk Counties Jim Hamilton

When Iwas aboy...

Hot wire on neglected farm ran from tree-to-tree

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Most of us are hoping forbetter forage results in

2012. The dryweather, excessiveheat and resultanthaying situation of2011 are still fresh inour minds.

While hope is agood thing, planningto improve the odds ismuch better. The timespent indoors thiswinter can be just asproductive as outdoorefforts, if wisely used.

Following are someareas in whichplanning ahead couldproduce big results in foragebalance and resultanteconomics of the operations:

SOIL TESTS: It’s time to pullthose soil tests and plan fertilityneeds based on what the plants

actually require. Underfedplants result in underfed cows

and increased coststo control weeds. Ifyou don’t have recentsoil tests, get themdone and make it apoint on the calendarto sample this fall soyou will be betterprepared to makeinformed fertilizationdecisions next year.

FERTILIZATION: Planthe timing of yourfertilizer applicationsnow. Too often we getcaught up in theanticipation of seeing

that first sprig of green grassand in the rush and excitementof seeing the fertilizer buggiesrunning up and down the road.While hay fields and a couple ofearly pastures certainly need

spring fertilizer, the bulk of ourfertilizer would be better appliedin August, ahead of fall growth.This balances the forage growthfor the year more evenly andmatches cow herd needs better.In addition, the forage qualityfor winter grazing is improved.That reduces hay costs and hasthe potential for the largesteconomic gain in mostoperations.

STOCKING RATES: It’s easy tohang on to some extra cows.The numbers may look good onthe books, but they could becosting the operation. An extraanimal in a 25-cow herd mayseem of marginal importance,but if she puts you overoptimum stocking numbers,she’s one too many. While shemay generate more grossincome, the extra hay andforage she removed from the

herd’s supply usually results inless profit. Focus on your ownfigures, rather than coffee shopadvice.

PASTURE MANAGEMENT: Planyour grazing rotation in advanceand know where you anticipateavailable forage. Commit tofollowing recommended grazingheights and rest periods that fitthe species of grass. Keeprecords of you grazing that youcan analyze to evaluate yourpastures. Records written onlyon a calendar and neverevaluated for productive grazingdays are of little value. Mostoperators can tell you howmuch hay a field yields, butvery few can quantify the grazedforage on a given pasture.Computer programs are oftenthe easiest tool to use forrecording and analysis ofpastures. Copies of some can be

obtained at your local USDANRCS office.

EDUCATION: Learn more aboutforage growth and forageutilization. A number of forageconferences are available wherespecialists present research-based findings and experiencedproducers are on hand to shareexperiences. Coming up are theWebster County DiversifiedAgriculture Conference Jan. 28in Marshfield, the DallasCounty Soils and CropsConference Feb. 2 in Buffaloand the Southwest MissouriSpring Forage Conference Feb.28 in Springfield. Regionalgrazing schools staffed by NRCSand University of MissouriExtension specialists are alsoheld throughout the state fromApril through October.

Plan now for better forage results in 2012

Myron HartzellUSDA NRCSGrassland specialist

NEIGHBOR NEWS PHOTO BY JIM HAMILTONWise use of planning opportunities in winter can lead to lush, warm season grass pastures such as this example in Dallas County.

Seven years ago Mark Ramsey decidedhe wanted a few cows to run as “a

hobby” on his 20-acre farm.Though Mark had grown up with beef

cattle on a Bois d’Arc farm with hisparents, Glen and Janet Ramsey, lifehad taken him in a different directionafter his graduation from Ash GroveHigh School in 1972.

Starting with a single track loader,Mark had built a successful commercialexcavating company, which he continuesto manage today out of his office in westSpringfield. He and his bride, the formerBecky Myers of Ash Grove, had fourchildren and a new house on theiracreage near Republic. The farm washome to Quarter Horses, but Mark had

left cattle with the family farm of yearsearlier.

Whatever revived his interest in cattle,it was probably inevitable his “hobby”cattle venture would grow with the samevigor of his excavating business over theyears. Mark’s decision led him first toresearch the Internet for a breed bestsuited to his small farm. Initially, he wasinterested in Red Angus. Then he cameacross Lowline Black Angus, a polledbreed first imported to the United Statesfrom Australia in 1997. The breed wasdeveloped in New South Wales fromAberdeen Angus cattle imported fromScotland in 1929. Individuals wereselected for small size and superior beefcharacteristics.

“I got to reading about them anddecided that was what my granddad hadraised in the early 1960s,” Mark said.After locating a herd near Kansas City,Mark went to get a first-hand look at thecattle. At 50 to 60 percent the size ofmodern Black Angus, they did lookmuch like the short-legged, stockyAngus of his granddad’s day — rightdown to their broad flat “dinner table”backs.

“I decided then that was what I had tohave,” he said. He also discovered theywere hard to come by — and costly.

Herd began with four headMark started with just four fullblood

animals — three cows and a bull — fromthe Kansas city area herd. His next stepwas to buy 20 less-expensive percentagecows out of Illinois, but by breeding backto fullblood cows he obtained higherpercentage Lowline calves.

At the same time as the herdnumbers increased, so did the acreage

included in the Ramseys’ Four R Farmswith the purchase of another farm andleases of several small pastures.

Mark’s next big cattle purchasemoved his operation even farther fromthe initial “hobby” concept: He broughtin 40 full-size commercial Angus cows tobreed with Lowline bulls, producinghighly marketable half-blood commercialcalves. He registered the heifers as half-bloods and bred them back to fullbloodbulls, resulting in three-quarter calves.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE


Mark Ramsey checks on a herd of fullblood Lowline Angus. He says theirgentle nature is among their most appealing traits. Ramsey also raises per-centage animals from halfblood to three-quarterblood. The percentage cat-tle are popular for producing freezer beef on small aceages, as well as fordirect marketing of premium beef cuts.

Quest to find cattle for 20 acres leads to Lowline Angus

At about 60 percent the size of atraditional commercial Angus cow,“Miss Flor” is representative of afullblood Lowline Black Angus, atrue beef breed developed in Aus-tralia from Aberdeen Angus and firstbrought to the United States in1997.


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LOWLINE ANGUSCONTINUED FROM PRECEDING PAGE

With a closed herd today of 10fullblood cows, seven bulls (one a half-blood), and the remainder of his morethan 100 animals half or higherpercentage Lowline, Mark sells bothLowline seedstock and percentagecalves. As with other breeds, percentagecalves are easier to sell than purebreds,he said, because of the price difference.

Most local sales are to landownerswith small parcels — 10 to 20 acres —who want a bull and two or three cows toraise their own beef. The smaller size,efficiency and true beef type make thebreed a good choice for freezer beef.

A major market for Four R Farms’high percentage Lowlines is Tallgrass

Prairie Farms in Petersburg, Ill., whichmarkets the beef both for its eatingquality and health benefits. They havefound Lowline Angus genetics produces“grass-fed beef that is tender, marbled,and extremely flavorful.”

Mark said steers finish out on grassbest at two years of age, rather than anyyounger. The maturing increasesmarbling and overall carcass quality.Purebred Lowlines will weigh about 700pounds at slaughter, half-bloods 1,100pounds

Mark also has a buyer exclusively forhalf-bloods in Kentucky. To meet thatmarket he has a herd of half-blood cowsproduced by his cross of purebredLowline bulls and the commercial cowsand serviced by a half-blood bull.

Calving both spring and fall, Markpresently has 100 calves on the ground

and cattle running on multiple pastureswithin a few minutes’ drive of the homefarm. His forage system is built aroundgrass and legumes, employing bothrotational grazing of large pastures andmore intensive grazing with paddocksand tire waterers on some. A graduate ofgrazing school, he has participated incost-share programs through theNatural Resources Conservation Serviceand Greene County Soil and WaterDistrict. His grazing system is adapted tofit his excavating business schedule.

Mark also grows and bales all his hay.Other than to calves for two or threeweeks after weaning, he feeds no grain.

Lowlines prove a good fit for OzarksSeven years into his beef cattle

“hobby,” Mark’s experience with LowlineAngus has confirmed the positive traits

his initial research revealed. Docile andeasy to handle, easy-calving and efficientforage converters, they seem perfect for aproducer with more than a few irons inthe fire. Additionally, Mark said hisLowline Angus produce 30 percent morebeef per acre than conventionalcommercial cattle, and he can run two ormore on an acre of average pasture.

They are a good fit for his farm. Theycould be a good fit for many farms in theOzarks’ patchwork quilt of suburbanpastures.

For more information on MarkRamsey’s Lowline Angus, go to:www.4Rfarmslowlines.com.

Story & photosby Jim Hamilton

[email protected]

Several of Mark Ramsey’s Lowline Angus cows and calves graze almostin the shadow of Lowe’s building supply on the east side of Republic. The

yellow ear tag indicates the young bull at right is a full-blood Lowline. Color-coded ear tags indicate the percentage of Lowline blood in each animal.

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In 1999 Bois d’Arc farmers Kip Glassand his wife Jackie, a certified natural

health professional, made a fatefuldecision concerning their diets — theyditched grocery store chicken and beganraising their own.

“We knew the chicken we were eatingwas killing us,” Kip said, so they beganwith 60 chicks in a moveable pen andwithin weeks had filled their freezer withhealthful and flavorful pastured chicken.Word spread quickly to friends andneighbors. By year’s end they had grownand had processed 300 chickens; withinseven years they were producing up to7,000 birds to meet an explodingmarket.

“People don’t know what real chickentastes like until they’ve had pasturedchicken,” Kip said. “Taste is what sellsour product.” The health benefits comein second.

Chickens raised outside on greengrass, eating insects and weeds, andbreathing fresh air produce moreflavorful meat, eggs with bright, orangeyolks, and they are more healthful toconsume than birds raised in confine-ment breathing fecal dust and ammoniafumes, Kip said.

Additionally, Kip feeds no geneticallymodified (GMO) grains and uses noantibiotics or chemicals of any sort. “Ourresearch led us to realize how bad GMOgrains are for you,” he said, which ledhim to locate grain storage bins on thefarm and begin grinding his own mixture

of non-GMO corn, oats and roastedsoybeans.

Raised Right MeatsWhat started little more than a dozen

years ago with five dozen chicks hasevolved today into a multifacetedoperation — Autumn Olive Farms —with its own trademarked pasturedproducts: Raised Right Meats.

Pastured turkey soon followed thebroilers, then pork, beef and lamb, aswell as eggs.

Available at the Greater SpringfieldFarmers Market, health food stores andsome restaurants — as well as directlyfrom the farm — Raised Right Meatsproducts offer a healthful alternative tograin-fed, commercially produced meats,according to Kip.

The option of eating chemical-free,flavorful and healthful pastured meatscomes at a cost. So does eating today’sstore-bought food. Kip sums ups hisphilosophy on the Autumn Olive Farmswebsite: “We believe that the cheapestfood is not always the least expensive.Conventionally produced food generallyerodes the soil, pollutes the water, airand environment, lowers people’simmune systems, hurts the ruraleconomy and debases the food supply.”

Raised Right Meats are more costlythan those advertised by mostsupermarkets. Their current price listhas whole chickens at $3.20 a pound,brown eggs at $4 dozen, pork chops at

$6.25 a pound, and beef steaks rangingfrom $7.95 (sirloin) to $20 (tenderloinfilet) a pound.

Kip makes no apologies for thepremium pricing. “We’ve been a countryof people wanting cheap food, and that’sexactly what we have,” he said, addingthat health issues show it.

“You can pay now, or you can paylater in health care costs and quality oflife,” he said.

Though prices vary widely from farm-to-farm, Raised Right Meats prices arerelatively consistent with those of otherdirect-marketed, locally produced meats.For example, Glass lists Kansas Citystrip steaks at $11 a pound, while thesame cut sells for $13 a pound fromvendors at the Greater Polk CountyFarmers Market. Ground beef, however,is about $4 a pound in Bolivar,compared to $5.95 from Raised RightMeats.

A complete price list for Raised RightMeats can be found on the Autumn OliveFarms website,www.eatfromthefarm.com.

What ‘raised right’ meansThe health benefits and flavor Kip

attributes to all his pastured productsare the result of research-basedsustainable farming practices. Thechickens, for example, are raisedoutdoors, moved to fresh grass every dayand fed non-GMO grains. Broiler chicks— a Cornish cross — begin in indoorbrooders and remain for about threeweeks before moving outside for four tofive weeks. The Red Sexling layers,likewise, spend their lives on grass,ingesting chlorophyl-rich green plantsand nature’s insects to produce eggswith rich, orange yolks.

He admonishes buyers to beware ofterms like “all-natural,” “free-range” and“organic.” They don’t necessarily meanwhat they imply. Free range birds onlyhave to be outside two days of 30, forexample, to earn the designation.

He further encourages customers toresearch on their own the benefits ofnon-GMO, pastured products. Raised“environmentally responsible,” he statestheir chicken is high in beneficial Omega3 fats, highly nutritious and flavorful

and lacking any antibiotic residues orsignificant harmful bacteria.

Their holiday season turkeys areraised in the manner as the chickens.Kip said he uses a commercial typebroad-breasted white turkey.

Raised Right hogs are fed “the bestnon-GMO feed mix possible with nosoybean meal with its solvents residues,”according to Kip. He also eschewssynthetic vitamins and minerals, optingto natural sources.

Both the beef cattle and lambs areraised on grass and legume pastures,with no grain, no chemical wormers, noantibiotics and no synthetic growthhormones. Grass-fed beef is moreflavorful and healthful than grain-fedbeef, Kip said, and is high in beneficialconjugated linoleic acid (CLA), given theright genetics, the right forage and timefor the animal to mature. The healthbenefits of grass-fed beef come frommarbling, he said, which comes after 2years of age in cattle.

Autumn Olive Farm membershipsAutumn Olive Farms is beginning its

fifth year with memberships, a system ofcommunity supported agriculture (CSA).Starting at the end of February andcontinuing through March, memberscan enroll with a minimum investmentof $500. Members recoup theirinvestments in the products they receive,and they enjoy discounted prices onsome products. More information isavailable by going to the website.

Autumn Olive Farms is located at2169 N. Farm Road 71 in GreeneCounty. To get there, go west onInterstate 44 to exit 67 (BoisD’Arc/Republic exit), then take Route Tnorth. After crossing Route 266 on T,continue to Farm Road 124, turn leftand go a half-mile to Farm Rd. 71, turnright and go three-fourths of a mile tothe farm. Look for the sign. Please callfirst, Kip asks. “We don’t want you towaste your time or ours.”

Story by Jim [email protected]


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After living in Midland, Texas, for mostof their lives Jay and Heidi Pinard

thought it was time for a change. They wanted to raise their three sons

— Zack, Tyler and Logan— in a ruralsetting. After looking at a few places, thePinards decided to purchase 37 acresnear Stockton, where the familyeventually would move to in 2005. Jaydecided he wanted to have a ranchwhere he could raise livestock.

“We wanted to move somewhere in thecountry and buy some acreage,” Jaysaid. “I knew I wanted to raise some kindof animals, partially for incomepurposes, but mainly to get these guys[his sons] into a different lifestyle. Iwanted them to have some chores liketaking care of animals.”

The Pinards considered raising horsesor goats, but eventually went a differentroute. After a friend’s recommendationand some research, they settled on theidea of raising alpacas — livestock whichdid not require a lot of space and wereeasy to raise. Alpacas seemed to fit thebill.

“I went around to different farms thathad them, and just fell in love withthem,” Jay said. “They’re sweet, soft,quiet and gentle animals, and they don’ttake up space. You could put seven ofthem on one acre. They even poop in onepile, so it makes that really easy to clean,and they don’t stink.”

Alpacas are a domesticated speciesoriginating in South America incountries such as Peru, Bolivia andChile. They were first imported to theUnited States in the 1980s and now areraised throughout the country. Alpacaslook like a sheep with long necks and areclosely related to llamas, camels, vicunasand guanacos. Their average life span is20 to 25 years, and an average adultweighs 125 to 200 pounds.

There are two types of alpacas —Hyacaya and Suri. Hyacayas are themost common type in the United States.They have soft, crimpy fleece whichforms a bundle of staples. Suris havelonger necks than Hyacayas and theirfleece forms pencil-lock staples whichdrape down from their bodies.

This animal is valuable because of thequality of its fiber. Soft and silky, it feels

similar to cotton. Their fiber can besheared without causing harm andusually is sold to weavers and spinners.Alpacas come in all different colors,ranging from white to different shades ofbrown and grey.

An alpaca can provide 8-10 pounds offiber at a time, and Jay said he has soldit for $8 to $20 a pound. He has heard ofpeople selling it for $4-6 an ounce.

The Pinard family currently takes careof 13 alpacas at their Three BrothersRanch, which they named after theirthree sons. Jay said alpacas arerelatively expensive to buy — from$5,000 to $9,000 for one alpaca —however, they are inexpensive to takecare of. Jay said they mostly eat grass,and all he has to buy is feed and hay tosupplement their pasture, which costshim roughly $200 a year.

Another perk to owning alpacas isthey don’t require a lot of attention.Alpacas require little fencing, whichmostly is used to keep predators outsuch as dogs and coyotes. They can keepthe alpacas outside without worryingabout them running out on the street,and they can call them back into thestable whenever they need to. They don’tlose sleep due to animal noises, either,because all they make is a soft,humming sound.

“The boys spend about 20 minutes aday, at most, taking care of them,” Jaysaid. “They really just have to make surethey have enough hay to eat and waterto drink. It’s really easy to get intoraising them because they are so easy totake care of.”

The Pinards bought five of their 13alpacas. The other eight were born onthe ranch. The boys have grownattached to them, treating them like petsand taking them to shows around thearea. A couple alpacas are named afterDisney characters because they wereborn shortly after a family trip to DisneyWorld.

Despite their affection for the animals,the Pinards have considered selling someor all of their alpacas. Jay has somehealth concerns, and caring for theanimals does limit their travel.


Alpacas right at home with Cedar County family

Looking a bit like earless bunnies, a toothsome duo of alpacas mug thecamera.


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FROM PRECEDING PAGE

Jay said, however, it wouldbe tough for the family to get ridof their beloved animals.

“We aren’t really advertisingour business too much right nowbecause we are waiting for theeconomy to get better,” he said.“They have been a pleasure tohave, so hopefully we won’thave to get rid of them.”

Story & photos by Michael Smith

[email protected]

Jay Pinard's second-oldest son, Tyler, 13, holds

one of the family’s petalpacas.

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Elderberry research focuses on cultivars for profitable crop

Several Extension reseachers are working together to try and develop a new culti-var of elderberry that can be profitable for growers in Missouri.

The “ElderberryDevelopment Pro-gram” is a jointresearch projectbetween the Universi-ty of Missouri, Mis-souri State University,and Lincoln Universi-ty that focuses on theelderberry, a nativeMissouri fruit plant.The project was initi-ated in 1997 and hasattracted over$120,000 in grantfunding.

The program iscoordinated byPatrick Byers, a horti-culture specialist withUniversity of MissouriExtension, and AndyThomas, a researcherat University of Missouri's Southwest Research Center in Mount Vernon.

“Processors interested in elderberry wine, jelly/jam, juice, and health supplementsare driving an interest in elderberry production in Missouri,” said Byers.

Little is known about the commercial cultivation of this fruit crop. The research proj-ect is focused on testing elderberry cultivars, developing new cultivars, investigatingelderberry culture in Missouri, and studying the health benefits of elderberry consump-tion.

Impacts of the project include development of two new elderberry cultivars adaptedto Midwestern growing conditions; development of fertility regimes for elderberry, whichwill lead to more efficient use of fertilizers; development of management strategies forelderberry pest issues; and the production of 18 publications.

There have also been 31 invited presentations that have shared Missouri's elderber-ry experience regionally, nationally, and internationally.

For more information, or answers to your specific lawn and garden questions, con-tact Patrick Byers, horticulture specialist, University of Missouri Extension or the GreeneCounty Master Gardener Hotline at (417) 881-8909.

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Wendy Martin of Martins’ Cherry Farm on E. 394thRoad north of Bolivar displays cherry pies and otherbaked goods at the Greater Polk County Farmers Mar-ket in December. Martin was one of eight vendors at themarket, held inside during the winter at 950 S.Killingsworth. Also offered were locally-produced jamsand jellies, hoop house tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, eggsand packaged meats. Market manager Cecilia Gulicksaid the market’s winter hours are 8 a.m.-noon Satur-days. Anyone with questions about the market may con-tact her at (417) 777-4586. The Polk County FarmersMarket is one of 1,225 in the nation open year-round,according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a 38percent increase over 2010.

Fresh farm eggs are available aslong as the hens cooperate.

Hoop house tomatoes — grown inOzarks soil, not greenhouse pots —are available in both red and yellowvarieties.

Ryan Groose offers both beef and pork from his localfarm.

Lean Belgian Blue beef is marketed by Sharon Hunt.

Locally-grown green vegetableswere among the fare in December.

Farmers Market: Not just a summer store

The first thing motorists see whenentering Elkland from the west is the

old school building and a sign advertis-ing the hamlet’s venerable family

business, “McCall Farms: Dairy Heifers& Cows.”

A livestock dealer for 50 years, TerryMcCall is at the helm of the business

today, with his son, John, 44, rightbeside him. Together they areexclusively in the business of buying andselling dairy heifers, both open and bred.

About half come from dairy sales suchas those at Springfield and Norwood andhalf directly from the farm. About 80percent, Terry said, come from within200 miles of Elkland. Both Terry andJohn are buyers. “I like to look ateverything,” Terry said.

What he’s looking at is generalappearance and condition, as well asthat intangible quality only experiencecan measure, “What you think she willturn into.”

In a business long dominated by theHolstein breed, the McCalls today handleHolstein, Jersey, Brown Swiss andcrossbred heifers, typically Holstein/Jer-sey crosses. They don’t deal in beefbreeds or dairy steers.

Buying heifers at 1-2 years of age,they generally sell them to dairies asbred heifers, where they will be inproduction an average of 2.2 yearsbefore being replaced. Terry noted thatthe industry has seen a reversal in thetrend to locate in Western states. “Themega-dairies are moving back to the

Midwest, where the feed is grown,” hesaid. “We ship cattle back to theNortheast and Midwest as much asanywhere.” They have also shipped somehefiers to Mexico, Terry said.

Strictly a dairy cattle business today,the McCall family operation has itsfoundations in the Great Depressionyears of the 1930s when Terry’s dad,John D. McCall, began buying cattle andhogs and selling them at Conway. Helater began milking cows in the late1940s and in 1953 bought a farm justnorth of Elkland, where Terry and asister, Nancy, helped milk 40-45 cows.During that same era, Terry’s dad andolder brother, Bob, were buying andselling cattle off the farm. Bothcontinued in the cattle business all theirlives. When John D. died in 1972 he wasan order buyer at the SpringfieldRegional Stockyards.

A 1959 graduate of Elkland HighSchool — its last year before consolida-tion with Marshfield — Terry attendedcollege briefly before settling in full-timeas a livestock dealer. “The best way tolearn something is to get your money init,” he said.



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McCALL CATTLECONTINUED FROM PRECEDING PAGE

For a period of time he was a feederpig buyer, delivering them to feeders innorth Missouri, but for the past 50years he has centered on buying andselling dairy cattle.

At about the same time — 50 yearsago this past spring — Terry and VirginiaGarrett of Springfield were wed, resultingin new generations of McCalls — Kathy,Kerry Jo and John, and their sevenchildren.

Kathy keeps a hand in the business asthe bookkeeper, and John simply “does allthe work,” Terry said.

Dairy cattle have been good to theMcCall family. “Financially, it’s been verygood,” Terry said. “But the best part hasbeen the people I’ve met over the years,both here and in other states.”

As for what the future might offer theyounger generations, he sees promisethere, too. As long as people drink milk,McCall Farms could have a niche provid-ing heifers to producers, and tiny Elklandbe home to one of the most venerable fam-ily businesses in Webster County.

Story & photos by Jim Hamil-ton

[email protected]

Terry and John McCall, fatherand son, represent two genera-tions in a cattle business that

has spanned a half-century.

Potential pest raises big stink

A new, stinkier stinkbug may hitchhikeinto Missouri this year to destroy cropsand upset homeowners, says a Universi-ty of Missouri Extension entomologist.

The brown marmorated stink bug, apest found in 33 states mostly to the eastand south, will likely be found for the firsttime this year in Missouri, says Wayne Bai-ley of the MU Plant Sciences Division.

Dead specimens were found in Colum-bia in a stored travel trailer from the EastCoast. Live stink bugs were found at theend of the growing season at an Interstate-70 rest stop near Kansas City, Kans.

The new stink bug destroys fruit, veg-etable and field crops.

However, homeowners may be the firstto detect the pest, Bailey says. It invadeshomes, as well as injuring crops.

“A crushed marmorated stink bug canbe quite repugnant,” Bailey said. “Thesmell makes some people sick and somehave had to vacate their homes for a fewhours.

“The stink bug invasion might makeladybug home intrusions seem like noth-ing,” he adds. Like the ladybug, the stinkbug enters homes in large numbers seek-ing over- wintering sites. Stink bugs arewinter hardy, however, they seek warmplaces to live.”

First found in Pennsylvania in 1998,the pest has spread slowly. Starting in theMid-Atlantic States, stink bugs are nowworking their way through the Midwest.

The stink bug probably came in cargofrom China or a neighboring country, Bai-ley says. It travels as a stowaway.

The new stink bug has become a prob-lem for truck farms and orchards. As itmoved west it gained an appetite for cornand soybeans.

Josh Norton is a young man with bigideas — more specifically, a vision,

and plans for realizing it.As might be expected of a country-

born boy, those plans involve a farm onthe river, a big barn, cattle and a girl hemet at a livestock show.

A loan officer at O’Bannon Bank inFair Grove today, Josh has roots in bothDallas and Polk counties. He and hisparents, Sandra (nee Taylor) and the lateRick L. Norton, lived on a farm nearBuffalo until he was 4 years old, whenthey moved to Pleasant Hope, whereJosh graduated from high school in2002.

After high school he attendedMissouri State University in Springfieldand State Fair Community College inSedalia. His studies were cut short,though, with the death of his father andhis return home. He started in thebanking business as a teller at EmpireBank in Pleasant Hope and “worked hisway up the ladder,” he said, to theopportunity to become a loan officer forO’Bannon in June 2007.

Shortly afterward — on July 7 — heand Lacey Sysco, also of Pleasant Hope,were wed in Rock Prairie Church nearTin Town. “I had met her at the PleasantHope Livestock Show and thought shewas cute, but probably too much of asnob to go with me,” Josh said. “But, thenext week the FFA had a labor auctionand I decided the best way to get toknow her was if she did some work forme, so I ‘bought’ her for $15, and therest is history. I tease her that she is thebest investment I ever made.”

A farm on the Pomme de Terre In June 2010 Josh and Lacey bought

a picturesque 250-acre farm nearPleasant Hope bordered on the east andthe north by the Pomme de Terre river.Much of the farm is bottomland and

most of it tillable. At present they arecropping it on shares with a nearbyfarmer, while working on fences toconvert it to grazing for beef cattle. Hisvision for the future includes growingand marketing grass-fed beef, but that’s

down the road.“I have several ideas for the farm,”

Josh said. “I want everything to flowtogether and create a synergy that willenable that farm to be as self sustain-able and asthetically pleasing aspossible.”

His vision for the farm includes ablend of traditional ideas and valueswith modern technology and manage-ment. It starts with a unique barn.

A big ol’ barn on the hillThat blend of old and new is

exemplified in the big barn started thisfall on a prominent rise overlooking theentire farm. The barn is designed toappear 200-300 years old, but it’s filledwith modern and “green” technology, likeradiant heat in the concrete slab floor.

The main floor is 60 feet on each side.The loft measures 24 feet wide and 30feet long, smaller than the first floorbecause of the shed design on the sides.

The main part of the barn is OldWorld-style post and beam construction,with 8-inch square posts of native whiteoak. Most of the timber — more than12,000 board feet in the posts andbeams — was cut off a farm nearBennett Spring.

“I have a passion for architecture, andI have always loved seeing the bones of abuilding.” Josh said. “Timber framingrequires the most craftsmanship andthought of any building materials. Iappreciate it every time I look up,knowing that every joint and peg wasplaced to fit just that one place. It wasnot mass-produced overseas, shippedover here and assembled to last for justa single lifetime, if that.

“Wood is warm, and the largedimensions of the beams make you feelsecure, a feeling I want people to havewhen they walk in,” he said.

The builders of the big barn, just likethe materials, have been “home-grown.”Clint Gillispie was the concretecontractor, Morgans Concrete thesupplier. Josh and Lacey installed theradiant heat with the help of TylerChoate. The timber frame wasconstructed by Wesley Terrell and hiscrew from Rogersville, and the oakbeams were milled by Troy Zimmermanin Tunas.

The remainder of the construction isby Abraham Treelink. The well wasdrilled by Wilco Drilling and the pumpinstalled by Choate Pump Service.



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Lacey and Josh Norton will live in the loft of thispost-and-beam barn under construction near PleasantHope. They expect it to be completed in March. The oak

and cedar structure will never see hay or livestock. It’sbuilt as a facility for weddings, receptions and otherspecial events.

Working today to shape their tomorrows,young Pleasant Hope duoturning vision into reality

Nortons buildingBIG BARNfor more than hay

THE BIG BARNCONTINUED FROM PRECEDING PAGE

Josh intends to finish the inside withlocal, mostly reclaimed, products.

Josh and Lacey’s big barn isn’tintended for cows or horses, or even forhay storage. “I plan to use this as anevent center, available for individualsand groups to rent year-round. We willalso be offering options such as catering,decorating, planning, photography,carriage rides and table and chairrentals.”

He’s thinking wedding, receptions,reunions and such. A recent venture inFair Grove could fit neatly into thebusiness he envisions.

Meanwhile, Josh and Lacey plan tosell their house in Elkland as soon aspracticable and move to the farm. They’llhave living quarters in the new barnuntil they can build their dream houseon a cozy knoll nearer the river.

The big pictureThe Nortons’ goal is for all their

investments to work together in a form ofvertical integration.

“In my dream plan I raise grain on ourfarm and feed it to chickens thatproduce our eggs that we sell at acafe/market that could be cooked andserved at an event that was at our barn.In other words from farm to finish.

“I know this sounds very ambitious,but I think too often we make ambition asynonym for unobtainable. All I know isthat the American dream is not a housewith a white picket fence, 2.5 kids and adog. To me the American dream is tohave a passion for something, believe init, work hard for it and eventuallyachieve it.

“For my wife and I our main goal is tohave a life that is based on God first,family second and then work. We hopethat the decisions we are making noware in line with that goal and will help usto achieve it even more in the future.

“I would love nothing more than to beable to educate my children and teachthem values, while at the same timemaking a living. I believe that ourforefathers did that. They did not havecollege educations or 9 to 5 jobs; insteadthey ate what they grew, lived were theyworked, and had God on their hearts theentire time. If I am in that place in 10years, by my definition, I will besuccessful. “

Late father fuels ambitionJosh admits he has big ideas and that

means big chances. “Of course it’sscary,” he said. “Anytime you take risksthere is a chance you will fail. What youhave to do is mitigate those risks to beable to adapt to market conditions.

“My theory is that the only time youtruly fail is if you are unable to gain andretain knowledge from an experience.

With that being said, I have always felt Icould do anything I put my mind to. Iattribute this confidence to my parents.They have been supportive of me and myideas my entire life, and even though myfather has passed, I know I am becomingmore and more like him every day. Ihope that would have made him happy.That is the true reason I have been soambitious.

“Seeing my father pass at a young agemade me realize I will not live forever.Truly, our life is but a vapor. If I dietomorrow I would like everyone to knowI'm going to a better place and I was able

to accomplish at least a few things onmy bucket list.”

Visit the Nortons on Face book at THEBARN at Stone Valley Plantation.


[email protected]


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The heart of the post-and-beam barn is this framework of eight-inch timbers joined by mortise and tenonjoints secured with oak pegs — an old construction method requiring no nails.

Oak beams are precisely notchedfor a secure fit of the frame of thebarn.

Wooden pegs or “puncheons”,rather than nails or bolts, secure thesections of the frame.

Massive posts and beams ofnative oak lumber form the skeletonof Josh Norton’s barn.

For 85 years the small community ofCharity in southern Dallas County

was home to a genuine slice ofAmericana — the Hogeye Picnic.

Like many such community picnics,or “reunions” as they were often called,the Hogeye Picnic was started shortlyafter the end of the Civil War, coincidingto some extent with the founding of thecommunity with two names — Charityand Hogeye.

The year 1879 is commonly cited asthe first for the Hogeye Picnic, but anAug. 2, 1923, report in the Buffalo Reflexon what was “advertised as the 44thannual picnic” adds, “we are told it reallygoes farther back than that.” That samearticle, reprinted in the “History of DallasCounty,” published in 1974 by theDallas County Historical Society, notesthe picnic was at one time called the“Herd Picnic,” after the local distiller.

Kurtz collected historyCharity dates to the 1870s, with the

first store building erected by M. Carrierin 1877, according to research byhistorian Thelma Kurtz published in theBuffalo Reflex in March 2000, Josiah“Joe” Sharrick, the town’s secondmerchant, named the town “Charity,”after his wife. Sharrick came to the areain 1869 and platted the town in 1884.Kurtz also wrote that the west side ofCharity was once called “Lost Breeches”and the east side “Hogeye.”

In 1880 George W. Herd openedanother general store and a distillery —on the east side — and he is creditedwith adopting the name “Hogeye.”Herd’s distilled spirits were reportedlycalled “hogeye” by area patrons. Herd’sdistillery burned in 1891, destroying1,200 gallons of whiskey. Sharrick wasone of two men charged in 1893 withstarting the fire. Both were dischargedby the court the same year.

Though officially called Charity fromthe 1870s, the little town near theNiangua River has been “Hogeye” tolocals throughout the decades, thanks inno small part to its namesake celebra-tion, the Hogeye Picnic.

Held the last Saturday of every Julyfrom 1879 through 1964, the picnic waseagerly anticipated by youngsters whosaved money often earned by pickingand selling blackberries. In the earlydays a nickel would buy an ice creamcone, a drink or a carnival ride.

Families would make a day of it,leaving early in the morning with theevening meal and kids loaded on farmwagons cushioned with straw andcovered with quilts. Folks in town justwalked to the picnic grounds — near theschool at first and later at the site on thesouth side of today’s Route M highway.

Herb Mallard remembersAmong those kids loaded in wagons

for the trip to Hogeye was Herb Mallard,now 83. Mallard was born near Thorpe,a community south of Charity, but livedin other places in the area. “The place Iremember best was on the Dallas andWebster counties border where 38 isnow, near Mission Chapel,” he said.

The second of six children of Earl andChloe Mallard, he said they went to thepicnic “just about all the time.”

Typically the family would meet upwith relatives at the southeast corner ofthe bustling picnic grounds. “Us kidswould wander through the crowd and getlost,” he said. “Then we’d have to workour way out to the side to see where wewere.”

The Hogeye picnic was a world apartfrom the day-to-day lives of DallasCounty farm boys and girls.



Herb Mallard went to the Hogeye Picnic as a youngster.

Remembering the

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Mallard recalls carnival stands wherethey would “throw balls and try to knocklittle dolls down, but we never could.” TheFreeman family always cooked fish andhamburgers, he said, and “another bigdeal” was free watermelon for the kids onSaturday afternoon.

“One thing my sister really loved was theswings. A horse pulled chairs on swingsround-and-round a pole,” he said.

The picnic also featured a baseball gamewith the Charity team playing a team fromanother town (Charity had a team from1900 to 1949), and in the early days theyhad “hoochie-coochie” shows. “The menwould really get chewed out for going to see them,” he said. “They didn’t have thosein later years.”

One rainy summer, Mallard said, he had earned 35 cents pulling crabgrass from aneighbor’s garden. “I thought I was rich.” An ice cream cone with four dips was just10 cents. “That and hamburgers is what I spent my money on,” he said.

Mallard left Charity when he went in the military in 1945 and didn’t move backuntil 1966. But, he did come back regularly to go to the picnic and “see everybody,kind of like Fair Grove today, but not so big.”

Mallard and his wife, Claudia — also a native — had a cattle farm near Charityuntil recently. They now live in Buffalo.

Nimmo never missed a picnicMaxine (Graves) Nimmo, 91, a lifelong resident of the Charity area until moving to

Buffalo in 1992, also has many memories of the Hogeye Picnic. “We never missed theHogeye Picnic or the 4th of July in Marshfield,” she said.

“They always had music and a dance floor,” she recalled, “and the ladies auxiliaryfrom the Christian Church served food.”

Nimmo also remembers the carnival and the Ferris wheel. “They didn’t have a lotof rides — they had swings and the Ferris wheel. Everybody had to ride the Ferriswheel.”

Other old newspaper accounts of the picnic — including that of Alma Herd White,who attended both the first in 1879 and the last in 1964 — mention gypsy fortunetellers, political orators, foot races, $5 airplane rides in 1921 or 1922, and as manyas 80 people camped on George and Bessie Mallard’s yard next to the grounds.

McDaniel wrote in memoirsAlice (Mallard) McDaniel, who lived at Charity from the time she was a toddler in

about 1918, wrote of the Hogeye Picnic in memoirs collected by Kurtz.“It was the highlight of the summer and I never missed one,” she wrote. A

committee determined who would be allowed to set up stands at the picnic and whatto charge them. Local merchants usually had the various food stands.

On Sundays after the picnic she and other youngsters would go to the groundsand rake through the leaves, looking for lost money. “We usually found some,” shewrote, until people began coming in cars.

Little visible reminders of the Hogeye Picnic remain. At the edge of a small standof oaks on the south side of the highway, though, just past the Christian Church,stands an old stone grill amidst rosebush briars, a remnant of Hogeye’s halcyon daysof yore.

*****Post Script: The Hogeye Picnic enjoyed a brief revival in the 1980s, relocated near

the original site and held the last Saturday in August, rather than July. As in previousyears, the Buffalo Reflex was there each year from 1983 through 1989. For a briefwhile it was almost like old times, with music, dancing, games, kids on a Ferris wheeland a crowd of 1,000 people some years.

Story & photos by Jim Hamilton

[email protected]

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOLocals gathered outside the

Charity post office and generalstory during the heyday of theHogeye Picinic.


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An old stone fire pit amid broomsedge and rose bushes is one of thefew reminders of the Hogeye picnic.

It was basically love at first sight forStacy Heydt.A visit to the annual Fiber Fair in

Marshfield more than a decade ago led tothe Marshfield woman’s first encounterwith an alpaca. While there, she visitedwith the well-tempered domesticatedanimal and felt its fleece. At thatmoment, she knew having the animal onthe four-acre farm she owns with herhusband, Terry, was a must.

From that meeting originated WhiteRiver Alpacas, LLC, a business started in2001 with a focus on raising healthy andaward-winning alpacas. The fiber is aprimary reason most people raisealpacas, she said, with producing astrong breeding stock another importantaspect of her business.

Looking back on her early days ofraising alpacas, Heydt admits to leapingbefore she looked. Still, she’s glad shetook the risk.

“I jumped right in and knew nothingabout it,” she said with a laugh.

“I absolutely love it. I love the animalsand I love their fleece,” she added.

Building herd takes patienceMembers of the cameloid family, the

animals are native to Peru, Chile andBolivia, and have an average lifespan ofaround 20 years.

If in good health, the females willcontinue breeding into their teens, Heydtsaid. But, anyone thinking they can buya male and female alpaca and quicklybuild a herd would be mistaken.

“It’s not a real fast business, as theytake a year to reproduce and they onlyhave one cria, which is what they calltheir babies, a year,” she said.

To get started, the Heydts bought aherd from someone going out ofbusiness, giving them nine alpacas. Butnone of the males were of breedingquality and Heydt said she had to learn

how to improve the females to get showquality. That got the novice seeking outhelp from more prominent alpaca areas

of the country, such as Ohio, whichleads the United States in registeredalpacas, according to www.alpacareg-istry.com. Missouri’s registered alpacasplace the state in the top 20, as it’s anindustry Heydt said is “growing by leapsand bounds.”

“Over the years of learning frominternational judges and industryleaders, I just started pounding doors,saying ‘Teach me, teach me, teach me.’And I learned from some of the best,”she said. “So then my breeding resultsstarted showing that each generation isgetting better and better and better.”

Competition ejoyable, but challengingBy 2005, she was entering competi-

tions and occasionally receiving reservechampion and blue ribbon honors.Although being a small farm operation,with herself as the primary caregiver andher husband helping with farm work,fencing and other miscellaneous duties,Heydt said the couple does travel tonational competitions from time to time.Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas,Tennessee and Kentucky are among the

states where they have competed.While it took a few years to get the

herd up to show quality, Heydt said shefinds the competition circuit quitechallenging and enjoyable.

“Every year, it gets more and morecompetitive,” she said. “There’s morepeople getting into it. Every year, peopleare doing the same thing — they’retrying to make better alpacas. So youkind of have to keep up with learningwhat genetics are making that.”

Getting involved in the alpacabusiness is easier than it was in 2001,Heydt said, adding she has expandedher offerings over the past decade,including preparation of show fleece forpeople entering competitions, along withfiber art instruction. She is a co-owner of2Friends 2Farms, LLC, a partnershipwith a Tennessee alpaca farm thatinvolves sharing education and breedingstock information for customers.

Costs to purchase alpacas arecertainly lower than they were prior tothe economic downturn of a few yearsago, but so, too, are sale prices, Heydtsaid. So those looking to sell parts oftheir herd have generally been holdingon to them, waiting for the economy tomake a more substantial uptick.

But with the continued growth of thealpaca industry, Heydt said shefrequently offers advice to those seekingto start a herd of their own.

“It’s a little more competitive, so youhave more to choose from. ... Really takethe time and educate yourself and learnwhat you want, make a game plan inyour head before you jump in,” she said.

Herd remains smallThe Heydts have kept their herd

small, numbering in the 20s, mostly outof necessity due to a limited amount ofpasture.

“In this part of the country, you canraise about five alpacas in the same areathat you could do one horse,” she said.That total can increase to between 7-10alpacas if you have really good grass, sheadded.

A number of their herd participate inshows, while others are raised for theirfiber. But there are also some Heydt saidthey have just for pets.

“They’re just super friendly. We callthem companions,” she said. “They’vegot great personalities.”

“As a general rule, alpacas are reallysweet, they’re really gentle.”

White River Alpacas, 6620 StateHighway KK, can be reached at 859-5046 or at www.whiteriveralpacas.com.

Story & photos by Mike Cullinan

[email protected]


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White River AlpacasLove affair began at Fiber Fair

One of the alpacas helps itself to some grain held by Stacy Heydt atWhite River Alpacas, Marshfield.


Longer than almost any living farmercan remember, Producers Grain

cooperative has served the farming com-munity of El Dorado Springs.

The charter date on the front of itsbuilding — July 10, 1920 — remindsboth patrons and passers-by of its 91year heritage.

Producers Grain evolved alongsideother local cooperatives in the era ofWilliam Hirth’s “Missouri Farmer andBreeder” magazine, first published in1908. Hirth was an outspoken advocateof farm clubs. His articles led to the for-mation of Missouri’s first farm coopera-tive — the Missouri Farmers Association— at Brunswick in 1914.

Though affiliated with MFA,Producers Grain is not a MFA coopera-tive, but one with its own story to tell.

The railroad was a lifeline for thefarming community of El DoradoSprings — the only town in the area witha depot in the early 20th century — andvital for shipping livestock and crops tomarket and bringing in bulk commoditiesand farm supplies.

Producers Grain initially sold“Producers Exchange Co-OperativeAssociation No. 165” stock to localfarmers for $5 a share, giving them theability to consolidate orders and buy inbulk — a boon to their purchasing clout.

At the cooperative’s annual meeting,pictures of the old Producers Grain farm-ers exchange in downtown El DoradoSprings and memories of the old timerswere shared among members — localfarmers who still own a piece of thecompany and its history.

CCoolllleeccttiinngg mmeemmoorriieess ooff bbyyggoonnee ddaayyssBecky Koger has worked with

Producers Grain since the new buildingwent up on Main Street in 2002. Overthe years old-timers have come in andshared stories of what it was like duringthe Depression and through the yearswhen the railroad was a vital link to theoutside.

Over the last seven years, Koger hascommitted oral history to many scraps of

paper which fill a file folder. She hasbecome the unofficial collector of thebits and pieces of history for the commu-nity and its relationship with ProducersGrain.

Some of the memories are Becky’sown.

Becky grew up a farmer’s daughter,helping her family milk 85 cows morn-ing and night. Her grandfather, ClarenceKoger, was an early board member ofProducers Grain and she has attendedannual company meetings since she was17.

Whatever farmers needed, they couldfind at the cooperative — not only feedand fertilizer, but chicken feed sackswhich were turned into many a dress forthe female clientele.

One of her scraps of memories includ-ed this tidbit on feed sacks:

Nina Fae Markham and her cousinwanted matching dresses, so Nina had tosort through all the chicken feed sacksand found what she wanted, of course,on the bottom of the stack. Ladies wouldalso come in for flour sacks to makeunderwear, Becky recalls.

Saturdays for Producers Grain mem-bers meant bringing the crops to townduring harvest, or buying seed in plant-ing season. Those trips included a spe-cial treat of an orange or grape NeHisoda pop or a double cola, savoring aZero candy bar, or the chill and drips ofan ice cream bar. Producers Grain wasknown area-wide for the coldest pop andcoldest ice cream.

Youngsters would sit atop the trucksfilled with crops waiting to be unloadedand watching the rail cars coming andgoing from the El Dorado Springs depot.At harvest time two lines of truckswould snake through the streets clear tothe city limits waiting to weigh in.Another line waited to unload.

OOtthheerrss rreemmeemmbbeerr• Ron Elliott said from 1947 to 1950

the corn cob pile along the north side ofthe road was 150-foot long by 30-foothigh. Farmers would get the corn cobs,

take them home and put them through ahammermill to feed the cows becausethere was nothing else .

• Austin Walden, who worked atProducers Grain for many years, tookhome so many corn cobs to feed hiscows he was dubbed “Cob.”

• Eldon Cole is the oldest living for-mer board member.

• Ruth Barker, whose husband Georgewas the manger of Producers for 31years, said the biggest blow to ProducersGrain was when the railroad was takenout in the 1970s. After that, harvestedcrops were trucked out and suppliestrucked in.

• J.C. Marshall remembers selling rab-bits for 25 cents and opossums for less tothe exchange. Eventually the rabbits andopossums were shipped to Kansas Cityby rail.

• Trey Hackleman remembers he andhis brother, Taylor, crawling on sacks inthe feed room when he was 6-years-old.Their dad, Kirk, hollered at them tostop. He’s never forgotten Dad’s sternvoice.

• M.L. Coale remembers bringing in aload of corn and telling them how many

bushels he had, missing it by only twobushels because he had counted the earsgoing into the wagon.

• During a flood in 1938, farmerspicked, shucked and carried the crop toProducers for $1.50 per day.

• During the drought years of theearly 1950s much hay was shipped intothe county.

• In 1951 the wage was 75 cents anhour to shovel grain onto the rail cars.

• A 1,200-pound beef steer sold for$18 in the 1920s and 1930s, while hogssold for 2 cents a pound.

• Farm laborers made 10 cents a dayin 1926 and 25 cents a day in 1927.

• In 1922 a rank of wood sold for $1cross-sawed, split and delivered.

• In 1955 a bushel of wheat brought$1.96 and in 1957 it jumped to $2.01.

SSttiillll ssttrroonngg aatt 9911As the old-timers’ memories attest,

Producers Grain has been a large part ofthe El Dorado Springs farming commu-nity for generations, and it expects tokeep growing and going strong.

With a new building in 2002,Producers incorporated the farmer’sexchange and expanded its product linesto include plumbing and hardware.

Recognizing the sluggish economy,Producers last year brought in a full lineof bulk garden seed, plants and seedpotatoes and held seminars on preservingand canning of garden produce.

It remains a cooperative of farmersserving farmers, just as it started early inthe 20th century, just as it expects to con-tinue throughout this one.

Story by Becky Groffbeckyg@cedarrepublican

COMTRINUTED PHOTOSProducers Grain cooperative in El Dorado Springs moved into this new building in 2002.

The Producers Grain Cooperative mill was a busy place prior to World War II, with farmers waiting to load feedand a crew on the dock ready to toss sacks in the back of cars and trucks.

Producers Grain landmark businessin El Dorado Springs

A $5 co-op stock certificate from 1920


With final construction still underway, bins outside the new Hostetler Feed Mill hold non-GMO grains for mixing into non-GMO rations.

Hostetler Feed Mill south ofBuffalo last year joined the

growing ranks of feed producersresponding to a growing demand foranimal feeds devoid of any genetical-ly modified organisms.

Hostetler’s non-GMO millingfacility at the new plant on U.S. 65became operational in late July2011, about two months after theconventional mill began turning outlivestock rations, and “we’re stillworking on it,” said companyspokesman Ken Hostetler.

The non-GMO milling operation isaffiliated with a company in Ohio’sAmish country with markets inTexas, Arkansas, Missouri andOklahoma. The non-GMO feeds forbeef and dairy cattle, poultry andswine are available in both bulk and

50-lb. bag quantities. Like Hostetlers’conventional feeds, they are soldlocally at Hostetler Feed and FarmSupply stores in Buffalo, Sedalia,Versailles and Miller, as well asthrough outlets in Seymour, Tunas,Harwood, Rich Hill and Dunnegan.

Locally, Hostetler said customerscome from a wide area looking fornon-GMO feeds, many of them smallpoultry producers and some from asdistant as Branson.

Introduced in the 1990s,genetically modified foods, oftendubbed “Frankenfoods,” are theresult of inserting or removingcertain genes to alter the plant.“Roundup ready,” or glyphosateresistant soybeans, corn and alfalfaare the result of genetic modifica-tions. Cotton has been genetically

engineered to resist pests, and somegarden vegetables like zucchini andpeppers have been engineered toresist viruses. Roughly 90 percent ofthe corn and soybeans grown in theUnited States are GMO varieties.

Hostetler said buying non-GMOgrains in the volume needed for amilling operation is a big challenge,but they do buy a lot of local grain,especially soybeans.

The conventional millHostetler’s conventional mill

produces a variety of standard 50-lb. bag and bulk livestock andpoultry feeds, such as their “333”beef ration, as well as custom mixes.Three delivery trucks handle thebulk feed, traveling as far as 100miles with specialty feeds.

Hostetler works with cattle feedingoperations of 500 to 2,000 head,developing and delivering rations,and they grind and deliver semiloads of feed to poultry operations inArkansas.

Sales manager Kelly Hostetler saidthe mill could “easily do 120 tons offeed a day.”

All the non-GMO feed ingredientsare stored in outside bins, while theconventional mill’s ingredients aredelivered to open bins, or storagebays, inside the mill where they canbe removed with loaders. Among thecommodities are soy hulls, corngluten, dried distillers grain,cottonseed oil, as well as extrudedsoybeans, cracked corn, wheat andoats.


Hostetler Feed MillNew mill answers demand for non-GMO grainlivestock rations

Commodity and grain bins line the north size of the mill. Grain is moved by loader to the mixing area, wherepaddles, rather than augers, gently convey feed ingredients.

This 50-pound bag of poultry feedis an example of the non-GMO mixesproduced at Hostetler Feed Mill.


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Unique to the new mill is theabsence of damaging augers to movethe feed ingredients. Instead, blowersand conveyors with paddles movethe grains and feed byproducts fromthe time they are delivered to the millthrough the entire mixing process.The mill also has a soybeanextrusion process to remove oil andproduce a more digestible feed thantraditional soybean meal.

Hostetler Feed and Farm Supplytypically employs 15 people,according to Ken, with about six inthe mill.

To learn more about Hostetler’sfeed mill and farm products andservices, call (417) 345-7935.


[email protected]

This section of the mill houses Hostetlers’ soybean extruder system,removing oil from the grain. Below is the store sign on U.S. 65.

Part of the soybean extruder machinery.

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January Country Neighbor

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