Across The Fence

By Julie Turner-Crawford

May is my favorite time of year. Kids are getting out of school, and county fair season will soon be in full swing, and we all know how much I love fairs. May is also Beef Month, which makes this time of year even better.

I fire up the grill or smoker even when it’s snowing or raining, but there’s something about eating a burger or steak on the porch or deck on a warm spring day that makes it all taste so much better.

The cattle industry is enormous in the Ozarks, and our cattle farmers and ranchers attribute millions to our local economies. The Livestock Marketing Association recently released the findings of its economic impact study that proves the point.

Julie Turner-Crawford is a native of Dallas County, Mo., where she grew up on her family’s farm. She is a graduate of Missouri State University. To contact Julie, call 1-866532-1960 or by email at editor@ozarksfn.com.

The case livestock auction market in the study was in a rural Missouri town with a population of less than 5,000, much like many of our hometowns, selling all classes of cattle in a weekly sale. The study of an average, fixed-facility livestock auction market revealed the

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