Glendenning J Bar J
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Coming Full Circle by Megan Silveira
imply put, four generations of the Glendenning family have come to love the Limousin breed. From the first duo of Jack and Jane, to the current gang of boys under the age of three that wander the land in Lebanon, Missouri, four generations of the Glendenning family have called J Bar J Ranch home. “I was raised on a cow-calf operation,” said Jack Glendenning, Jack and Jane’s son and the second generation to run the operation. “The neat part about it is I was born and raised on the farm my parents have right now. They own it and will own it forever.” Since the beginning, cattle have been a part of the family on the ranch. While Herefords and black Angus were the first breeds to join the ranch, Glendenning said he became hooked on the Limousin breed in 1984, when he and his father purchased their first fullblood bull. “I never switched back,” Glendenning explains, describing how he slowly infused Limousin genetics by breeding up those 50% females before committing to a registered herd. Nowadays, with the help of his children and young grandchildren, Glendenning runs 120 registered and commercial cow-calf pairs, a combination of registered Limousin and red Angus. The ranch operates on a 60-day calving period in both the fall and spring with extensive embryo transfer (ET) and artificial insemination (AI) programs. When the ranch first shifted to the Limousin breed, Glendenning said the weaning weight of their herd almost doubled. “We liked the extra muscle involved when we put Limousin on English cattle,” he said. “The main reason we stuck with them all these years was performance.” As J Bar J Ranch became more engrossed in the breed, Glendenning said he had the unique opportunity of watching his children grow up as a part of the Limousin industry. Glendenning and his wife, Vicky’s, three children—Josh, Jace and Jayme—all expressed an eagerness to be involved in the breed. “I didn’t make them do any of it,” Glendenning said. “They love the cattle business.” From working on the operation as they grew up to showing livestock at county fairs, all three of the Glendenning siblings were involved in the ranch until they reached college. “The way my parents raised us really effected our whole lives,” Josh says. “We couldn’t be any more blessed to have the parents we do.” Josh reflects on childhood memories of attending cattle sales and hours spent feeding cows as a family. He said from the moment he was first allowed out in the pasture, he had no doubts about his passion for the cattle industry. continued on page 68 Top: While separate entities, often times the lines blur between Jack and Vicki’s “day job”—Sand Spring Resort— and their cattle operation. Not only is their beef served at their Gravel Bar restaurant, many Limousin meetings and sales have taken place on the Sand Spring property. Bottom: It takes between 15 and 20 head to supply the Gravel Bar with the Glendennings home-raised beef.
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• JULY 2021
