8 minute read
Austin and Rebekah Lebahn are back on the family farm
from OFN March 21, 2022
by Eric Tietze
Selling 45 Lots
Bred Females Open Heifers Bulls Genetic Opportunities
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PRODUCTION SALE
APRIL 9, 2022 • 1 P.M.
At the Farm • Sullivan, MO LUNCH • NOON SALE • 1 P.M.
Progeny and Genetics from These Elite Females will be featured.
MAGS Constance
CONSULTANTS:
Bill Helton, 256-962-0256 Mark Smith, 515-229-5227
AUCTIONEER:
Chisum Peterson, 605-730-4214
MAGS Bahama Momma
SHE SELLS
meet yourneighbors Making Their Way Back to the Farm
By Eileen J. Manella After years of “city life,” Austin and Rebekah Lebahn are back on the family farm
When Austin Lebahn dated his girlfriend during college, she visited him as he milked cows for his grandfather in Mansfield, Mo.
While he may have foreseen marrying Rebekah, little did he know they would end up moving onto that same farm with their five children and make it their own.
“I’d love to move my kids out here. I grew up on a farm,” Austin said of Lebahn Dairy, years later and living in the nearby city of Rogersville, Mo.
In 2018, he did not pass on the opportunity of his grandparent’s sale of the property. Kenneth and Delores Lebahn purchased the dairy farm in 1978 and retired from running it in 2008.
Austin surprised them with his interest in the family land and bought it together with his father Tim. The father and son already ran a heating and cooling business in the same town of Mansfield.
“My parents would go to work and make me walk up the fence row to meet Grandpa in the barn,” Austin recalled. “He would tie my tie before school.” Austin lived in a house on the farm property with his par-
Austin Lebahn, his wife Rebekah, and their five children raise beef cattle on a former dairy farm once owned by Austin’s grandparents.
SALE MANAGEMENT:
KILEY McKINNA, 402-350-3447 WILEY FANTA, 320-287-0751 mcmarketingsales@aol.com www.mcmarketingmanagement.com
MAGS Checkered Veil
BERTI LIMOUSIN
Robby & Jeannine Berti 7786 Seminary Rd. • Sullivan, MO 63080 • 573-468-5511, home
Photo by Eileen J. Manella
Mansfield, Mo.
meet yourneighbors
ents, until his family moved when he was 6 years old.
“We’ve been converting it into a beef operation,” Austin said of the transformation they made on the farm. They began with selling their cattle to the sale barn, but have had more success with going straight to the butcher, where their customers purchase preordered whole or half beef. Austin said they call it, “a farm-to-family beef operation.”
They have 80 head of Angus and Angus/Hereford cross cattle
“Her [Rebekah’s] grandpa was the one that got me into the Hereford,” Austin said “I knew Angus was a good beef cow, but a Hereford bull will make a small calf, which makes it easy calving for the mom. The Hereford side of them makes them grow faster. They’ll go from 75 pounds birth weight to about 150 pounds in about two weeks.”
“My grandpa helped us find the right bull to breed, provided hay and networked tons of connections to help us get started,” said Rebekah of her family, also farmers.
Although she was born in raised as a city girl in Springfield, her grandparents, Kenneth and Alice Highfill, ran a beef operation in Humansville, Mo. The first time the Lebahns worked cattle, it was with the experienced, hands-on assistance of her grandparents, who were in their early 80s at the time.
Their cattle are raised on grass and grain-finished with Cattle Charge. For supplements they provide a mineral block. When they’re calving they get a protein tub.
“It gives them a little bit of extra minerals, extra protein. It helps them along in the calving season,” Austin said.
In making the transition from a 1,200-square-foot suburban house to a 330acre farm, Rebekah admired how quickly and how well the children adapted. They also switched from public school to home school. The whole family really began learning together in 2018. ”We did meat chickens our first year on the farm, for ourselves. We had the land and wanted to be more self-sustaining,” Rebekah said. Through word of mouth, others found out and asked to purchase their poultry and demand has taken off.
“Last year we did the most we have ever done, which was 250 at a time,” she said. “We sold out within two weeks. Even after that, people continuously asked.”
They initially thought people wanted dual purpose, heritage birds, but the meat ratio on the bird was very dissatisfying, Rebekah said. They switched back to Cornish-cross, which are bred for larger breast and legs and reach 6 to 7 pounds in eight to nine weeks. Day-old chicks come from from Cackle Hatchery in Lebanon, Mo. Once they are ready to pasture, they go in a chicken tractor built by Austin and are moved to different plots daily to get fresh grubs and grass. They also receive an 18-percent grower grain mix, and. Electrolytes and apple cider vinegar in their water
Chicken butchering time, places demand on the entire family, in three cycles a year. They butcher, defeather, vacuum seal, label and freeze the chickens for sale. This year they are taking orders ahead of time. While the farm helps feed the family of seven with beef, eggs and poultry, there is a pause in cooking and eating chicken around butchering time.
“The last thing you want to do after butchering 250 chickens is to come in and cook dinner. So you come in to a roast or something as far away from chicken as possible,” Rebekah said.
The Lebahn children are third-generation farmers.
“My son wakes up every morning without complaint, in zero degree temperatures and goes and feeds a bale,” Rebekah said of their eldest, Tohbee, 13. He also rakes and bales hay in the summertime. Thatcher, 6, and Temperance, 9, are their chicken gatherers during butchering.”
Tinsley, 10, and Talia, 4, also help with the many chores.
Austin’s maternal grandmother, Gladys Levan, lives in another house on the property, one he lived in as a little boy. Their children follow in their father’s footsteps, along the same fence.
Rebekah’s grandmother, Alice Highfill told the couple to do everything they could together on the farm. They follow that advice.
“I’ve learned that it’s better to accomplish things side by side, rather than separated,” Rebekah said. “It keeps us close, eyes set on the same task at hand, and keeps us working hard together to achieve our daily goals.” Custom Made in the USA for Cattlemen
10’ Feed Bunk All 14 Ga. Steel Construction
• Cattle Working Chutes • Portable Corral Panels & Trailers • Bulk Bins • Portable Creep Feeders Bulk Bins 3 Ton Portable Bin • New 15” wheels • NEW 10 PLY TIRES • Jack on
tongue with clevis hitch • Ground opening lid • Sight glass • Rain guard • Drop Leg on Back Sizes: 5 Ton Stationary 3 Ton Stationary and Portable 1 Ton Stationary and Portable
Come See Us at the Ozark Spring Roundup located in the Ozark Empire Fair, West Hall, Booths 325 & 326 • March 25-27
Green’s Welding & Sales
www.greenswelding.com
GWSlivestockequipment@gmail.com 660-476-5598
Seed Prices Accurate Day of Ad Print – Please Call for Current Pricing
Wt. Lbs. Total Germ. $ Lb. Bag Lb. Wt. Lbs. Total Germ. $ Lb. Bag Lb.
RED CLOVERS
60 GAINER II MIX, Not Coated 90% 2.98
Inoc., 85% Red Clover, 15% Rampart Ladino 60 LANDSTAR, Forage 90% 2.92
Inoc./Not Coated, Equivalent to $1.85 coated seed 50 KENLAND, Inoc., Not Coated 90% 2.98
Equivalent to $1.91 coated seed
50 Hay Thickener 90% 2.98
75% Red Clover - 25% Hulled Orchardgrass
60 Hay ‘N Graze Mix 90% 2.78
Inoc./Not Coated, 70% Red Clover - 30% Haygrazer Alfalfa 50 MEDIUM RED, Raw/Not Coated 90% 2.82 50 MEDIUM RED, Coated, Inoc. 90% ASK
65% Purity
OTHER CLOVERS
50 LADINO, “JUMBO” Inoc., 90% 4.96 4.86
Not Coated, Giant Leaf, Equivalent to $3.16 coated seed 50 LADINO - Rampart, 90% 3.98 3.88
Inoc. Not Coated 50 WHITE CLOVER, Ivory 2 90% 4.08 3.88
Intermediate, Innoc. 50 WHITE CLOVER, Durana ASK
Coated, 65% Purity 50 WHITE CLOVER, “Nitro” 90% 4.98 4.78
White Dutch 50 ALSIKE, Raw, Perennial 90% 3.68 3.48 50 SWEET CLOVER, Yellow Blossom 2.98 2.78 50 SWEET CLOVER, Coated 3.98 3.78
White Blossom 50 ARROWLEAF, Yuchi
2.82 2.62
Winter Annual, 99% Pure 50 CRIMSON, Winter Annual 90% 2.14 1.94 ALFALFA
60 COMMON SENSE 90% 3.56 3.26
3 Way Blend, Haygrazer, Cimarron 400 & 500, Inoc./Not Coated
50 HAYGRAZER 90% 3.56 3.26
Cert., Inoc./Not Coated
50 CIMARRON VL400 90% 3.56 3.26
Certifi ed, Inoc./Not Coated 50 GENUITY, Roundup Ready® L446RR Coated, 65% Pure
7.96
GRAINS
48 GOLIATH OAT
Bu. Bag 13.31 19.96
Hay Type/Tall
48 HORSEPOWER OAT 13.32 19.98
Combine-Type/Dual Purpose
48 HAYDEN OAT 13.29 19.94 50 SOYBEANS - LAREDO 38.74
Very Tall Hay Type
50 SOYBEANS 29.95
Roundup Ready® Willcross WXR7878, 3.5’ Tall
50 SOYBEANS 38.90
Liberty Link® Willcross
50 SOYBEANS 48.90
Enlist® Willcross, 2, 4-D, Liberty, Roundup 80K CORN, Roundup Ready® Lewis RB110RR2 168.50 80K CORN, Roundup Ready® Silage R1315 VP2 224.00
GRAIN ADDITIVES
50 SPRING PEA, Little Giant, 0.76 Mix 0.96 0.74 50 TURNIPS, Purple Top 1.78 1.58 50 TURNIPS, 7 Top Forage 1.88 1.68 50 RADISH, Daikon 1.98 1.78 50 COWPEAS, Iron & Clay 1.32 1.12 50 COLLARDS, Impact Forage 2.48 2.28 LESPEDEZA
Cow/Horse
“A non-bloating legume” Summer Annual. Spring Plant. 50 KOBE/KOREAN MIX, Inoc/Not Coated 1.84 50 KOREAN, Inoc/Not Coated 90% 1.96 ORCHARD GRASS
Germ. $ Lb.
50 ARID “DR” 90% 2.96
Disease + Drought Resistant
50 ARID “DR” / RED CLOVER MIX 90% 2.98
75%/25%
50 POTOMAC 80% 2.72
Disease Resistant 50 HULLED ORCHARD, VNS, Limited 85% 3.28
50 FAST PASTURE MIX 90% 2.36
No Cover Needed, 63% Endophyte-Free KY-31 Fescue, 14% Hulled Orchard Grass, 19% Best-For Plus Ryegrass & 4% Timothy
SAVE YOUR SEED SAMPLE • SUBJECT TO PRIOR SALE
Nixa Hardware Company warrants to the extent of the purchase price that seeds sold are as described on the container within recognized tolerances. Seller gives no other or further warranty expressed or implied. Prices/Germination subject to change without notice. We reserve the right to limit quantities. 510 W Mt Vernon, Nixa, MO 65714 nixahardware.com
