Greene County Soil and Water Conservation District
Cooperator Spotlight
2013 Grassland Farmers of the Year - Eric Bowers
Grassland Farmer of the Year award recipient Eric Bowers and District Board member David Hall
This year’s 2013 Greene County SWCD Grassland Farmer of the Year award goes to Eric Bowers from Walnut Grove. Eric has grown up in the Walnut Grove area helping his father Tommy Bowers run a cow/calf and hay operation. Just a few years ago he purchased his own farm and began running 60 cow calf pairs on 209 acres. Recently, he has become interested in the benefits of rotational grazing and after attending a grazing school, decided he would like to install his own system. After working with the SWCD office to develop a grazing plan Eric was able to utilize the DSP 3 Grazing Practice to install a new well, 1300 feet of pipeline, 3000 feet of electric fence and a tank on 94 acres of his farm. Eric’s efforts have not gone unnoticed in the neighborhood as several of his neighbors have inquired about grazing systems and even his father Tommy is about to complete a system on his farm down the road. Congratulations to Eric for all his hard work, for being an example of good resource management and for being named Greene County’s 2013 SWCD Grassland Farmer of the Year.
2013 Cooperator of the Year - Daryl Davis
Cooperator of the Year award recipient Daryl Davis and District Tech Will Rhodes
This year’s 2013 Greene County SWCD Cooperator of the Year award goes to Daryl Davis from Rogersville. Daryl has been working to implement his conservation plan by decommissioning an unused dairy lagoon with the Federal EQIP program and planting 51 acres of crop ground back to grass utilizing the State’s DSL 1 Seeding Practice. In addition to this he has completely fenced his livestock off from a stream that runs through the middle of his farm. Daryl completed the WQ10 Stream Protection Practice on 6.7 acres of stream-side area and the N391 Riparian Buffer Practice on an additional 5.1 acres. This included planting 1900 trees, building 6300 feet of fence and installing 600 feet of waterline and a tire tank. All of this was completed in addition to Daryl’s regular business of putting up hay and selling it to customers all around the Midwest. Congratulations to Daryl for all his hard work and for being named Greene County’s 2013 SWCD Cooperator of the Year.
2012 Grassland Farmers of the Year - Steve Squibb
Grassland Farmer of the Year award recipient Steve Squibb and District Board member Joann Pipkin
Steve Squibb farms over 3,000 acres in Greene County. His farming operation includes cow/calf and stockers, plus haying and row-cropping.Steve attended a Management-intensive Grazing School in 1997, 2nd offered in Greene County.He installed his first grazing system in 1998 using the NRCS EQIP program on a 160 acre tract.In this system Steve used buried concrete water tanks, above ground pipe with portable tanks and 1-wire electric crossfence. He then planted 17 acres of Reeds Canarygrass on a wet soil in the system. He also interseeded the existing fescue with clover to improve the pasture.
In 2004, Steve planted his first warm season grass, Caucasian Bluestem, for summer pasture and hay. Since then, he has panted another 120 acres of Big Bluestem. In 2010, Steve started on another grazing system on a 425 acre tract using the EQIP program. He has installed 10 tire water tanks using large implement tires on this system. He is now in the process of dividing it into 20-40 acre paddocks with electric fence. Steve has been the host farm for our Grazing Schools in the past, plus allowed us to show his systems to other producers.
2012 Cooperator of the Year - Robert Hawkins
Cooperator of the Year award recipient Robert Hawkins and District Board Chairman Jan Wooten
The 2012 Cooperator of the year award goes to a long time farmer and resident from south-eastern Greene County. This year’s winner raises Beef Master cattle on 309 acres along the James River above Lake Springfield. Over the last two years this cooperator has become very active in the Pearson Creek SALT project. He has used the WQ 10 Stream Protection program to build 3300 feet of fence along the James River, excluding 58 acres and 7500 feet of river frontage. He has also divided his farm into a ten paddock Rotational Grazing System and installed multiple watering tanks for his livestock with the DSP 3 Grazing System Program. This past January he was featured on the cover of the Missouri Ruralist in an article about dealing with the effects of urban pressures on farming. Currently he is inter-seeding clover on 128 acres of his property. Congratulations to this year’s winner Robert Hawkins!
2011 Grassland Farmers of the Year - Alan Scarrow
Grassland Farmer of the Year award recipient Alan Scarrow with Daryl Davis and District Board Chairman Jan Wooten
Alan Scarrow owns 120 acres east of Springfield. In 2007 he began working with NRCS and the Greene County Soil & Water Conservation District. Alan installed a Management Intensive Grazing System using both permanent electric fence and portable polywire for crossfencing. He installed 6 large implement tire tanks for livestock water. Since the installation of that system, Daryl Davis began assisting Alan with the daily paddock rotations and daily management of the grazing system. They also planted warm season grasses for summer pasture. Daryl & Alan use high density grazing management on this grazing system to manage the forages. They also became a USDA Certified Organic Beef operation in 2009.
Alan has participated in the Environmental Quality Incentive Program, the EQIP Organic Initiative Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program with the local Greene County NRCS/SWCD Office to implement this grazing system and improve the grazing land.
2011 Cooperator of the Year - David and Wade Hall
Cooperator of the Year award recipient Wade Hall and District Board Chairman Jan Wooten
The 2011 Cooperator of the year award goes to a father and son team from Eastern Greene County. David and Wade Hall raise Black Angus cattle on 160 acres along Turner creek South and East of Turners Station. Over the last two years these two cooperators have become very active in the Pearson Creek SALT project. They have used the WQ 10 Stream Protection program to build 4000 feet of fence up and down the hills along Turner creek, excluding 16 acres of creek and timber. They have participated in the Conservation Stewardship Program as well. Currently they are building another 2400 feet of barbed wire fence to exclude more timber and facilitate a future rotational grazing system. Congratulations to David and Wade!
2010 Cooperator of the Year- Dan Banasik
Cooperator of the Year award recipient Dan Banasik and District Board Chairman Larry Jones
Dan Banasik farms 80 acres north of Springfield. When he started implementing his conservation plan, there was no cross fencing, low fertility and very little water on the property. Since 2007, Dan has implemented the DFR-5 state cost-share program which provides 75 percent funding in order to fence livestock out of timber. Through this program, Dan installed an 1,800-foot barbwire fence excluding 15 acres of trees. The next year, Dan went on to Grazing School and then signed up in the Districts 319 special project for help in implementing a grazing system. A well was drilled; two water tanks were installed along with cross fencing. Additionally, soil fertility was increased and orchard grass and rye were planted. Congratulations Dan on being chosen Cooperator of the Year for 2010.
2010 Grassland Farmers of the Year –
M & M Dairy, Randy Mooney and Kent Miller
Grassland Farmers of the Year award recipients Mr. and Mrs. Kent Miller of M & M Dairy and District Board Chairman Larry Jones
This year's Grassland Farmer of the Year award goes to the owners of M&M dairy, Randy Mooney and Kent Miller. Kent and Randy operate 200 acres on the Greene / Christian county line by Rogersville. Currently, they are milking approximately 200 head in a full-time grazing dairy. With the assistance of the Greene County NRCS office, they have recently upgraded their existing management-intensive grazing system to allow them to rotate through 30 paddocks, moving the livestock every 12 hours. Permanent electric wire and temporary polywire have been used as cross fencing and lane fencing in the grazing system. For their water supply, 31 large implement tires were installed to be used as livestock water tanks in each of the paddocks. Forage species they have planted include perennial ryegrass, novel endophyte fescue, orchard grass and ladino clover.
Kent and Randy have also installed an animal waste system to handle the small amount of manure not deposited on their pastures during the limited time the cattle are at the milk barn.
In addition to all of their other duties, Kent and Randy have been gracious enough to host several field days and Grazing Schools for the Greene County SWCD and NRCS. Congratulations to Kent Miller and Randy Mooney, 2010’s Grassland Farmers of the year.
2009 Cooperator of the Year - Gayer Dixon
| The Productivity of the Land | | Print | |
| Written by Brad Thummel, OFN Contributor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday, 27 July 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
It has been often stated that one of our most precious natural resources is the land, and it should be used and cared for as stated in ancient medical tradition – 'First, do no harm.' This is the philosophy of Ash Grove, Mo., farmer, Gayer Dixon. “We must preserve our farm lands for future generations,” he said with heartfelt sincerity. Due to urban development and limited government regulations our priceless farms are disappearing. Conservation and protection of our nation’s farmlands should be of the utmost importance to everyone.
Previous Years Award Winners
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