The Stevens family is looking to the future

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Two and a Half Generations By Laura L. Valenti

Bolivar, Mo. When he married his wife, Paige, in 1989, Jay Stevens began his farming operation and has never looked back.

Today, he and his son Haden run Stevens Cattle Company, a cow/calf operation with an average of 750 commercial cows on their own 800 acres in combination with another 1,200 acres they rent. They also buy sale barn calves, group them to make loads and run a feeder calf marketing operation alongside the cow-calf function. They sell approximately 500 yearling steers each year at the sale barn.

“On our land, we raise cows and kids,” Jay commented at their barn in Polk County. “For us, it is a way of life not about fortune and fame. Both of those can be in short supply at times in this business. I grew up here in Polk County. We only had 5 acres but my parents, Jack and especially my mother, Cora Stevens made certain we had all kinds of two and four legged critters on the place – bottle calves, hogs, chickens, horses and a pony. I remember I got my first loan for five Holstein steers at age 12. I think we got 50 cents a pound for them when we sold them at the sale barn that year. I still have the sales receipt framed in my office,” he added with a smile. “I really give the credit to my parents and grandparents for my love of the farm life and raising animals.”

Jay Stevens always knew he wanted to farm but went on to get a college degree, which included some business courses. Those have come in handy in recent years, as the Stevens family has also established a professional lawn care and landscaping business, Service Right Lawn Care.

“We are definitely in the grass farming business,” Jay said with a laugh. “The commercial cattle business is all about growing enough grass to meet the need and in the meantime, we are mowing grass for other folks. The Stevens family has been in the cattle business for decades, with hopes to continue in the future We are in the forage business with the cattle and purchase our hay or hire it baled off our own land. We literally market the hay through our cattle. We have never run out of grass so in that way, tomorrow looks pretty bright.”

After 30 years, Jay is happy to be sharing his love of farming as well as his business interests with his son Haden and perhaps one day, with his 3-year-old grandson, Graham. Haden and his wife Mariah also have another child in the “production phase.”

“Like Graham, Haden has been involved in the cattle business one way or another, since he was the size of a grasshopper,” Jay chuckled.

“I grew up in all of this, even if it was just watching from the pickup truck window when I was really little,” Haden said. “After high school, I went to Southwest Baptist University for a year but then, I realized I’d be coming back here to do cattle and I didn’t need to spend the time or the money at college to do that.”

The goal of Stevens Cattle Company is to produce a large quantity of highquality cattle.

“We buy our bulls at the Ozark Fall Farm Fest, black Balancers,” Jay said. “We are looking to get as many crosses as we can for hybrid vigor while keeping it all local. We know what we have in our cow herd already so now we are working on improving genetics on the bull side for the best pasture-to-plate operation.”

“We have looked into AI and the like over the years but the truth is, that is our busiest time of year with the mowing business so it’s not something we’ve really gotten into,” Haden said.

Both men agreed that to get started in the cattle business today involves a great deal of networking. “Visit with and get to know as many people as you can in this business,” Jay said. “That includes cattle buyers, other Haden Stevens, holding his son Graham, and his father Jay Stevens say they are working on the next generation of cattle producers at Stevens Cattle Company. farmers, especially older farmers, and sale barn people as you build your brand.

“The challenges in this business can be overwhelming and include the weather, the market swings and the rising cost of land. Still, we are living proof that it is possible but it is hard work. It truly gets in your blood and you can’t leave it alone.

“The greatest rewards are watching something grow from the beginning, from the seeds, like the grass and keeping the family working together. That includes the people we do business with.”

For the Stevens family, faith and family are the first priority.

“In our outfit, church comes first, family a close second and all of this business, a distant third,” Jay said. “The secret to it all is to get around people who are smarter than you are and then just re-do it all, copying what they do. Truth is we are thriving here on what we love to do.” Photo by Laura L. Valenti

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