Ozarks Cattle farmers face challenges

Friday, September 29, 2023

Ranchers in the Ozarks are facing a number of challenges, including drought, heat, and humidity. Many have already sold more of their herd than they had hoped to at this point in the year.

Despite the challenges, there is a sense of camaraderie and community among ranchers. They support each other through good times and bad.

Missouri has the third greatest cattle inventory of any state. Polk, Lawrence, and Texas counties are three of the most flush cattle-producing counties in the Nation.

The average cattle farm has 44 head, but it is most common in the Ozarks to have a herd that is small or smaller.

Most of these cattle are a generic breed, but around Springfield pure breeding is exceptionally popular. Most of the money in raising pure breeds is in genetics or direct sales to customers.

Overall, the average cattle farmer in the Ozarks probably grew up around cattle and is farming as a second income, checking on animals at the beginning and end of the day, working a day job and returning to their cattle late in the evening.

Either way, it can make for long days. It can also make for a sizeable income or second income. It is not odd for the Springfield Livestock Market to do over $1 million dollars in sales in a day. In 2019 there were almost $2 billion dollars in cattle sales across the state.

Kissee said the thing about farmers is that money stays right in the community.

On the local scale, ranchers in the Ozarks are trying to get by like any of us, the best way they know how, continuing traditions that have been in their family and in the region for generations while keeping up with new trends and challenges like any industry. In the age of the hustle and gig culture, many farmers are keeping up one of the oldest hustles known to civilization, raising a bit more on the farm than they need and taking what they can to market. But the passion runs deeper than that.

Dr. McGee told me about a recent Sunday afternoon when he went to check on and water his cows, and he looked over and saw a new baby calf. It reaffirmed for him that he's in the right business.