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Aiming for Quality By Brenda Brinkley
Reggie Terry learns first hand that more hay doesn’t necessarily mean better quality Reggie Terry has lived on a farm all his life. His dad was a dairy farmer, but Reggie didn’t go into that. Around 1984, he started buying and raising bottle calves. He came across some crossbred heifers and decided to start a beef cow herd. He owns 70 acres of the farm where he grew up, and in 1996 he and his wife, Rachel, purchased a 40-acre farm about four miles from it in Webster County near Niangua, Mo. He rents another 100 acres near his home. Reggie called his farm, “a hobby farm that’s about got out of control.” He has a cow/ calf operation. Currently he has 22 cows, eight heifers, three bulls and 14 calves. His cattle are mostly Angus and Angus cross. Reggie stated, Photo by Brenda Brinkley “When I started out, I had five little crossbred heifers; bottle calves. He added, “I’ve got one field that has I think two or three of them were Lim- that wild lespedeza stuff in it and it’s just ousin/Holstein cross and the others were getting thicker and thicker. The cattle Hereford/Holstein cross. They were all are getting to where they won’t hardly eat black, so I just stayed with black.” it. It’s real tall and looks pretty; nice and Reggie grows his own mixed grass green. But they say it has no nutrition to hay and said 99 percent of the time he it, and cows don’t like it very well either.” has enough to carry his herd through Because of the previous drought, many the winter. farmers baled everything they could last In 2012 we had the drought but 2013 summer. Some may have hay to carry brought plenty of rain and farmers baled over to next winter. When it comes to lots of hay. However, Reggie the loss of nutritional value, Reggie stated, “The wet year was said, “I’ve always been told that it worse quality. I had more loses 90 percent of what it’s going hay, but less quality.” He beto lose the first year. That was lieves too much rain has a negback with square bales. They ative impact on the nutritional always said that once you put value of the hay. “I think it just them in the barn, the first Niangua, Mo. grows too fast and you get more — Continued on Next Page stem than you do anything.” FEBRUARY 10, 2014
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