meet your neighbors
Photos by Ashley Wilson
Focused on Quality Cattle and Beef
Clint and Elizabeth Hetherington, along with their son Cole, started with 160 acres and 40 cows. Today the couple have about 1,000 acres and 150 cows.
By Ashley Wilson
Clint and Elizabeth Hetherington offer farm-finished beef and seedstock to their customers
Clint and Elizabeth Hetherington, along with their son Cole, raise beef cattle on the hills of Stone County, Mo. Clint is a first-generation farmer. Elizabeth grew up on a small farm in Northwest Missouri where she raised hogs, beef cattle and horses. Farming ran deep in her family. In fact, her great-uncle Gilbert Batt is pictured in the Missouri State Museum Resources Hall in the exhibit Making a Living from the Soil. It wasn’t long before Elizabeth was ready to put down roots and start farming with her husband. Their adventure began in 2009 when they happened upon some acreage in Stone County. Not having enough money for the asking price, they took a shot and offered what they could afford. Surprisingly,
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it was accepted. They purchased the Clint and Elizabeth currently run home, 160 acres and 40 cows on the about 150 cows. With the use of AI, property. Over the next few years, Clint they grew their numbers from 40 to 150 and Elizabeth would add land to their head. growing farm. Most of their roughly “AI gives us the ability to get some of 1,000 acres lie in Crane, Mo., but they the best genetics and still maintain herd also have acreage in Flat Creek. diversity,” Elizabeth explained. The Hetherington’s raise a mixture of This year was the first year Clint tried Simmental, Angus and SimAngus cross. his hand at AI. He focused on half his Clint said he chose the breed due to the cows with this method and then used cattle price spike in 2014. They needed a his bulls for clean-up. bull but didn’t want to pay the When it comes to feeding their herd, high price to bring a quality Clint likes to use rotational grazing. bull to the farm. So, they Depending on stocking rates and opted for AI with a good Simgrass condition, Clint moves mental bull over his beef herd. the group(s) about every week “We really loved the calves on average. Crane, Mo. from him. They grew better, The Hetheringtons prefer looked stouter, and we got heavithe taste of grain-fed and er weaning weights,” Clint said. finished beef. Ozarks Farm & Neighbor • www.ozarksfn.com
“We start them out on about 3 to 4 pounds a day after weaning and then increase that in the last six months from 10 up to 18 pounds a day,” Clint added. Clint also hays about 250 acres of their land to provide feed for the winter months. If owning and operating their cattle farm wasn’t enough, Clint and Elizabeth hold full-time jobs off the farm. Clint works for Springfield Engineering Company doing commercial and industrial heating and air conditioning service. Elizabeth is a nursing instructor at Ozarks Technical Community College. Not to be left out, their farmhand and son Cole, 8, is a proud student of Hurley R-1 school district. Even among busy schedules, Clint and Elizabeth are still able to focus on marketing their farm. They advertise their whole, AUGUST 23, 2021
