JANUARY/FEBRUARY - VOLUME 29, NUMBER 1
MAINE-ANJOU
VOICE
Building a Breed and a Family
A visit to Larry James’ farm near Paris, Mo., will quickly show the importance of the Maine-Anjou breed in the family’s lives. James was honored during the American Royal as the 2018 American Maine-Anjou Association (AMAA) Heritage Road Hall of Fame inductee. James humbly says he hasn’t done anything out of the ordinary to deserve the award, but is honored that others feel he has contributed enough to the breed he loves to receive it. The James’ journey in the Maine-Anjou business started in the early 1970s when sons Ronnie and Rickie were showing steers and they met Dave Steen, former AMAA commercial marketing director, who at the time was raising and selling cattle. Larry liked the looks of the Maine-cross calves and a conversation with Steen led to the eventual purchase of four MaineAnjou heifers. “We really liked the idea of raising the calves the boys would show, so Helen and I decided to make the trek to Montana to pick out some heifers,” says Larry. “The morning we went to look at the heifers we became hooked on the Maine-Anjou breed because of their incredible disposition. We could walk right up to them.” Through the years, the James family had fed out cattle. Larry grew up with Herefords and Angus and they used Simmental in their herd CONTINUED ON PAGE... 16
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by Jennifer Carrico