just a
thought
What’s On Your Mind, Ozarks?
Life Is Simple By Jerry Crownover
A
PO Box 1319, Lebanon, MO 65536
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bout three years ago, I switched the breed of bulls that I use on my cow herd. My cows, even though they are various colors, are all “English” breeds, and I had revbeen onwusing orC yarrdifeJ yB ferent English breed bull on them for the
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past 20 years. Jerry Crownover farms One of my neighbors across the road raises purebred catin Lawrence County. He tle that are Brahman influenced, and I was envious of how is a former professor of they seemed to outperform my calves, so I switched. Agriculture Education at My cattle auction field man warned me that I might have Missouri State University, to take $2 or $3 per hundredweight less for them, when it and is an author and came time to sell the calves because their buyers were a litprofessional speaker. tle reluctant to bid up the calves that showed a “little ear.” To contact Jerry, go to He was right on the price discount, but I’m sure I more ozarksfn.com and click than made up for the slightly lower price with the signifion ‘Contact Us.’ cant increase in pounds marketed from the heavier calves. I’ve always started my spring calving around Feb. 1, and nine years out of 10, I’m glad that I did because normal years allow me to avoid the bitter cold of January and the sloppy mud of late March and April. Alas, not this year. I don’t have to tell any cattleman in the Midwest how awful the weather has been for calving through the entire month of February – with lows below zero and highs in the single digits for what seemed like an eternity. Tagging the newborns was easier than most years, with neither the calves, nor their mommas, moving too quickly, to avoid the procedure. On those frigid mornings, however, I noticed that most of the calves I was grabbing needed tagging a little closer to their heads than I usually do, because the tips of their long ears were a little (or sometimes, a lot) frostbitten. From experience, I know those frozen ear tips will likely slough off, when normal weather resumes. A group of cattlemen gathered at the local feed store last week, and we were all bemoaning the trials and tribulations experienced in this extended period of snow and freezing weather. Some were telling of all the baby calves that were scattered around the insides of their homes,
Saturday, March 20, 2021 1 p.m. Central At the Ranch • Carthage, Mo.
Visit our website for video’s and sale catalog. LIVE INTERNET BIDDING AT: www.cowbuyer.com
Larry & Peggy Aschermann Carthage, Missouri (417) 793-2855 cell • (417) 358-7879 e-mail: hayhook@gmail.com
www.aschermanncharolais.com
Come see
Toll Free: 1-866-532-1960 417-532-1960 • Fax: 417-532-4721 E-mail: editor@ozarksfn.com
Eric Tietze
President/Publisher
Pete Boaz
Vice President
Administrative Amanda Newell, Marketing Manager Eric Tietze, Accounting Advertising Amanda Newell, Display & Production Sales Amanda Newell, Classified Sales Circulation Eric Tietze, Circulation Editorial Julie Turner-Crawford, Managing Editor Jerry Crownover, Columnist Frank Farmer, Editorial Page Editor Emeritus Production Amanda Newell, Production
Contributors Brenda Brinkley, Rachel Harper, Patricia Kilson, Jaynie Kinnie-Hout, Cheryl Kepes, Taylor Short and Abby Wendel
About the Cover
The Shortt family raise have a commercial cattle and farm-to-plate beef business in Douglas County, Mo. Read more on page 15. Photo courtesy of the Shortt family Ozarks Farm & Neighbor accepts story suggestions from readers. Story information appears as gathered from interviewees. Ozarks Farm & Neighbor assumes no responsibility for the credibility of statements made by interviewees. © Copyright Ozarks Farm & Neighbor, Inc., 2020. All rights reserved. Printed in USA.
us at
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