Farming on the Mother Road - 4

Route 66 Transitions From Crops to Cattle Country in Southern Missouri

Chris Clayton
By  Chris Clayton , DTN Ag Policy Editor
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Jim McCann, president of the Missouri Cattlemen's Association, moved from Arizona to a small ranch near Miller, Mo., a decade ago largely because he was in search of grass and water. (DTN photo by Jim Patrico)

CARTHAGE, Mo. (DTN) -- As Route 66 breaks out of the St. Louis suburbs and meanders southwest across Missouri, the corn and soybeans that dominated in Illinois give away to pasture and grazing cattle.

By the time you hit the town of Cuba, in Crawford County, there are more cattle in the county than the number of bushels of corn produced. The market value for livestock is four times that of crops.

Welcome to cow-calf country.

"There are more cattlemen in this country around here than anywhere," said Jim McCann, president of the Missouri Cattlemen's Association. "This tall fescue is what has made this cow-calf country. There is so much of it down here that if you clear off a spot in probably a month it will be back full of fescue because there is so much seed around."

McCann moved from Arizona to a small ranch near Miller, Mo., 10 years ago largely because he was in search of grass and water. Land costs in Missouri were cheaper and the region was filled with sufficient grass and water. "I said this looks like cow-calf country to me."

Missouri prides itself on being the No. 2 cow-calf state in 2014, ranking behind only Texas in number of beef cows that calved. Nebraska and Oklahoma are right there in the mix with Missouri year-to-year, battling for that second spot.

Cattle dominate in Jasper County with more than 60% of the farm operations raising beef cattle and nearly as many farmers raising dairy cattle, according to the 2012 Ag Census. Jasper County was home to 45,000 beef cows and another 23,000 dairy cows. Neighboring Lawrence County has nearly three beef and dairy cattle for every person who lives there.

Destitute travelers on Route 66 in the 1930s, like those in Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" also were likely to see dairy cattle across much of the southwest corner of Missouri. By the 1950s, beef cattle in those counties had largely caught up with the dairy numbers. Lawrence remains the third-largest dairy county in Missouri even though the dairy herd overall in Missouri continues to decline.

Cattle sellers have a lot of options. Interstate 44, which parallels old Route 66, has the Lebanon, Springfield and Joplin Stockyards all in succession in a stretch of about 110 miles of interstate. The Joplin Stockyards -- actually located outside of Carthage, Mo. -- has become not only the largest sale barn in the state, but is considered the second-largest standing stockyard in the country -- topped only by Oklahoma City.

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In 1931 a group of Joplin business leaders pooled resources to create the Joplin Stockyards to help capture the growing demand for all the variety of livestock. Geographically close to Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma, Joplin quickly became a livestock hub. In 1995, the sale barn moved from sprawling Joplin to a spot outside of Carthage in the search for more space.

A recent analysis by the Missouri Cattlemen's Association showed about 10% of U.S. beef cattle are located within a 100-mile radius of the Joplin Stockyards. Over the past couple of years, the stockyard has marketed over 430,000 head a year.

Steve Owens, one of the co-owners of the Joplin Stockyards, said recent strong demand for beef -- coupled with the smallest national beef herd since 1951 -- is a double-edged sword for a stockyard. High demand can push short-term volume, but lead to a longer-term decline. Owens said sale numbers have dropped 15% to 20% over the past three or four years.

"The potential for profit is out there, which should drive building back the herd, but those heifers are worth a lot of money," he said. "I don't know if we are going to build the herd quite as fast as some people predict because there are a lot of things working counter to that.

"Obviously, the economics of the cattle industry are as good as they have ever been with what has happened in the last year or whatever," Owens said. "Hopefully, numbers are going to start pulling up. I do believe cattle operations are going to be larger than they have in the past. I know the average cow herd in Missouri has always been in the upper 20s. I think we're going to see more of those mom and pops with 30, 40, 50 head are going to go by the wayside and be replaced with those ranchers willing to run 200, 300, 400 cows."

A big issue for the area's livestock market is the ability of the next generation to get into the business. One hundred head of cows is $200,000. Pasture land runs $1,500 to $2,000 per acre, pushing the investment needed for a reasonable cattle operation into the millions of dollars. Unless an inheritance is involved, "It's going to be harder for a younger person to get into the business," Owens said.

Because of that, the stockyard now partners with a lot of people to graze cattle in different arrangements. "We will own the cattle and give them a start, and hopefully that's a step for them in the right direction to get into the industry," Owens said. "It's not just a matter of us selling cattle. They are our customers and we have to help them stay in the business and be profitable for us to be successful."

The 2014 farm bill may offer some hope for improving the number of beginning farmers and ranchers. The bill is laden with special incentives in loans and conservation programs as well as technical assistance.

"That's a good thing because I don't see how this next generation is going to build up the equity to get into the business," Owens said.

One of the bigger challenges in recent years is the number of grain farmers chasing acres and crops. "In my opinion, there is a lot of land that should not be used for crops. I'm not a crop farmer, but I know a lot of that land shouldn't be growing corn on it."

McCann also has seen the push by farmers to turn pastures into corn fields. "Now, the corn prices have come down and I'm not sure what people are going to do, but I think some people are going to go back to grass," McCann said.

McCann not only has a cow-calf operation, but also does a lot of backgrounding by buying calves at around 550 pounds, worming them, adding implants and shots and keeping them largely on grass with a little grain until they hit about 900 pounds. Then he will send them to the stockyards.

McCann also knows the lure of Route 66. He lived about 20 miles from the road in Arizona and was used to the tourism that comes with the road. Just last month, his wife met three couples from Quebec, Canada, riding Harleys in Carthage. The French Canadians spoke little English but were trying to find the Precious Moments Chapel in town. "My wife finally said 'Just follow me and I will take you over there.' She knew it would be easier," he said. "We see those foreign tourists all the time in the summer."

Chris Clayton can be reached at chris.clayton@dtn.com.

You can also follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisClaytonDTN.

(GH/CZ/AG)

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Chris Clayton

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