3 minute read
Erin Thompson finds balance between her family’s farm and their businesses
from OFN JULY 4, 2022
by Eric Tietze
meet yourneighbors A Good Balance
By Eileen J. Manella Erin Thompson and her family have a busy farm life, as well as other business ventures
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Erin Thompson and her husband, Toby, of Mountain Grove, Mo., assessed their roles as parents to three children. They agreed that even though they had ventured away from their own childhoods, from farming into the business world, they couldn’t think of a better way to instill values in their children than teaching them to raise animals on a farm.
“The main reason we got back into cattle was for our kids. We wanted them to be able to have the same experiences that we grew up with, have that same opportunity to learn,” Erin said.
“I grew up on a dairy farm with Holsteins,” she said of her early years in Norwood. She milked the cows and raised bottle calves.
Toby’s family runs the Wright County Livestock Auction in Mountain Grove.
“He grew up with his dad, Skip Thompson, raising cows and having the sale barn, so we both just decided that we wanted our kids to have that opportunity too. We just feel like it teaches them a lot of life lessons: responsibility, cycle of life and how to care for an animal,” Erin said.
“My Grandma, Virginia Housley, she’s who I milked with and she taught me how to be around cattle, how to work with them, how to have patience and understand them and pay attention to their needs,” said Erin. “This winter, I was the one who went and fed them everyday, so when we went to work them up, my husband said ‘you’re going to have them up with your sweet voice.’”
When Erin and Toby were first married, they lived in town, then bought a house outside of Mountain Grove. They only had a few goats to start as they were busy. They had three children and were running multiple businesses.
“Toby bought us a couple horses for Christmas and surprised us,” Erin said of getting the family started with animals when they moved to their present farm.
Little by little they acquired more land, 240 acres of which they currently farm, raising 76 head of cattle, chickens, turkeys, sheep, goats, hogs, zebu and they also grow hay. The primary breed the Thompsons raise is Angus, which they chose for having the best market value.
Photo by Eileen J. Manella
Mountain Grove, Mo.
— Continued on Page 13
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