Family Farm By Mary Furness Photos by kim watson
I T ’ S A G R A Y , windy day, and the wind tosses the branches of the trees around Phyllis Ward’s property just south of Columbia’s city limits. It whines around the eaves of her barn as we talk, and as we walk out over her property and down to the pasture to see her horses. Phyllis heads up a farming family with property in both Boone and Cooper counties, and says that while there are some similarities in family farming today, there are a lot of differences. She took over more direct work of the farm after the death of her parents. “I knew more about livestock—my dad dairy farmed for quite a few years—I had a 4-H dairy calf when I was young. I didn’t pay that much attention to crops until later, when we had horses and we were buying hay. I had to know about the quality and different types of hay.” Her son had been helping before the death of her parents, and when they bought the property in Cooper County, they quickly moved the crops and cattle operation over, due to heavier vehicle traffic in the area of Ward’s property. She says cars would—and still do--regularly take the curves too fast and end up in the fields, and cattle could stray out through those openings. Ward says it is getting harder and harder to farm around Boone County. Very few farmers are raising livestock—most farmers still in the area are raising crops. The building of residential subdivisions, the increased traffic on roads--especially in the southern part of the county--take up the land, and make it difficult to move farm machinery on the roads between fields. Ward’s own farm, where she now raises hay and horses, is surrounded by property that has been annexed by the city of Columbia; most of that property is being turned into residential subdivisions. As she discusses the changes in the last ten years and more, Ward’s usually chipper voice and face become somber; “I grieve what’s happening. I think it’s inevitable. At this point, there’s certainly no turning back, but….as I drive into Columbia thinking this farm used to be here, that farm used to be there, all the old farms have been torn down; I’m glad Dad can’t see it.” Ward’s mother’s side of the family came to Columbia from Kansas in 1902, and the family history details many changes in the city. One she remembers is that her child-
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