Jerry Crownover – True love

just athought What’s On Your Mind, Ozarks?

Life Is Simple By Jerry Crownover Life is Simple By Jerry Crownover J udy knew she wasn’t my first love when she married me, but somehow she has tolerated my other proclivity for going on 38 years now. On a recent, quiet Sunday afternoon, I was a bit surprised when, out of the clear blue, she asked, “What was her name, again?”

Dumbfounded, I asked, “Whose name?” Jerry Crownover farms

“Your first love?” in Lawrence County. He

“Oh,” I responded, thoughtfully. “It was Annabelle.” is a former professor of

“Was she pretty?” Agriculture Education at

“Beautiful.” Missouri State University,

“What color were her eyes?” and is an author and Truthfully, I answered, “She had the biggest brown eyes professional speaker. you’ve ever looked into.” To contact Jerry, go to

“And her hair?” ozarksfn.com and click

Choosing my words carefully, at this point, I stated, “It on ‘Contact Us.’ was mainly red, but it had occasional streaks of black, so I guess you’d call her brindle-colored.”

Since I had started my description, I figured I had just as well continue with the details.

“She had two stub horns that she kept shiny to the point that they gleamed in the sunlight, a pearly white face and, in an oddity of nature, six teats that all produced milk the first time she calved.”

I went on to explain that my dad had given me a bred gilt when I turned 7, but when she farrowed a couple of months later, I was devastated. As I did chores the next morning I discovered she had eaten all of her babies. Deciding that the swine business was not for me, I asked my father if I could trade the gilt for a good heifer. He agreed, Annabelle became mine, and so began my lifelong love of anything to do with cows and the cattle business.

Annabelle was most likely a Hereford-Jersey cross, that had obviously been raised on a bottle before Dad purchased her with a group of calves. She was so gentle both my parents considered her a nuisance, always wanting to be petted and forever in the way when we needed to be

— Continued on Page 5

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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.

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