Harveys Named Commercial Producers Of The Year

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 Submitted by Sandra Ebeling 

Old fashioned values are what drives Don Harvey as he works the generational family farm that he was raised on near Memphis, Missouri. After serving in World War II, Don’s father bought the farm neighboring Don’s grandparents in 1949 and when Don got out of the navy in 1974 after being drafted in 1969, he came home and rented 220 acres and started farming with his parents. Following suit, in 2007 after serving 5 years in the marine corps and two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, Don’s son, Brian, also returned home to Missouri and rented a neighboring farm. 

Today Don and his wife of 54 years, Linda, and alongside Brian and wife, Ashley, farm corn and soybeans and run cattle on 2,000 acres. After almost 30 years of crossing South Devon bulls over the original Angus cow herd that he bought from his father, Don is being recognized as the 2024 South Devon Commercial Producer of the Year. 

Don was introduced to South Devon cattle in 1995 when his neighbor, Arlo Trueblood, showed him some South Devon bulls. 

“I went with him one day to go get some bulls from Bill Kuntz, it’s a couple hour drive, he was one of the people who brought South Devons to this country back in the early seventies, and anyway I brought a bull home and that’s how I got started”, Don says. 

He was drawn in by the big calves that he was seeing, and even more enticed to try the breed after seeing their docile temperament. 

“The disposition and stayability are at the top of the list for me,” Don says. 

After Kuntz passed away, the Missouri Farmers were tempted to quit crossing with South Devons, there were so many Angus and Simmental breeders within an hour drive, but they liked the breed so well that they started sourcing their bulls from Jordan Vander Molen, JVM Cattle Company in Iowa, and later on Dar Giess, DLCC Ranch in Minnesota. 

“I have to drive a little further to get them, but if those guys stay in it, we’ll keep buying the cattle,” he says. 

Before South Devon, the Harvey’s originally purebred Simmental, Charolais and Gelbvieh. For the last 30 years, the herd has seen mainly South Devon bulls with a few Angus here and there to keep some hybrid vigor from crossbreeding. 

“I’m probably 80 percent South Devon or more now,” Don says. “They’re black and red so you can’t really tell what’s what anymore, but it’s been a really good cross what South Devon has done. They’re really nice cattle and they’re docile, that’s probably my favorite thing about them.” 

EPDs changed the game for Don’s herd. Long gone are the days of choosing bulls simply from their phenotype. 

“Now you look at a bull and you know everything about him, of course you don’t give two thousand dollars for him anymore either,” Don says. “I always look at the spread, a positive birth weight, 70 to 80 pounds, with a high yearling weight. Any time you can get a 70 pound calf to wean 750 pounds, you’ve got a heck of a deal going. The weaning weight is ok, but I always look for that yearling weight and if they’ve got a low docility score, I just almost always look them over. No one needs to be getting hurt around cattle and you can breed that right into them faster than you can breed it out of them.” 

The Harvey’s background all of their calves for 45 to 80 days, depending on the time of year, and typically sell them when they are between 700 to 750 pounds. 

“If you’ve got small cattle, you’re just not going to get top price because they are wanting to feed these calves to 1,400, 1,500 pounds or bigger,” Don says. “I sold some about a month ago that were 800 pounds and that’s really what I like to do. 800 pound calves are really good money right now”. 

Just like his bull dealers, Don’s choice of sale barns is a little bit further away than the sale barn that might be more convenient, closer to home, but he is loyal to the sale barns he started with over 30 years ago, and those old fashioned values that drive his farm and cattle operations. 

“I don’t jump around,” he says. “People know your herd and they know your name and they know what you’ve always done. There’s a lot of trust in cattle. I really enjoy meeting all the people in the cattle business.”