Gasconade County Soil and Water Conservation District
Cooperator Spotlight
The Gasconade County Soil and Water Conservation District would like to recognize the Leroy Doyel Family as the 2008 Cooperator Family of the Year. This special family has been farming in Gasconade County since 1943. Leroy bought the farm in 1943 and married Eliza Tynes in 1945. They had two children, Ken and Ramona, and four grandchildren.
Leroy started with row crops and livestock and is currently running a cow/calf operation. Ramona and her husband, Dave, have been very active assisting their father to achieve his dream of making the farm as productive as possible through the establishment of an intensive grazing system.
With the help of Melvin Kottwitz and his family they have improved the fertility of the land using the DSL-2 legume seeding practice and have established numerous fencing projects in order to protect the woodlands. They have used the DSP-3 Intensive Grazing program and the Continuous Conservation Reserve Program to establish water sources in their fields and divide the land into manageable paddocks. This family has never been afraid to get out there and work hard in order to protect and improve the soil and water quality on their land.
In October of this year, at 93 years old, Leroy was called home to be with his Lord. He did know about this award and he was very pleased to be recognized for all of his family’s efforts over the years. We look forward to many more years of conservation with his family.
Congratulations to this hard working family.
