

HELSLEY FARMS
Family owned Century farm in Hartville MO

CENTURY FARM IN HARTVILLE MO
We are 6th generation farmers living in the heart of America
Missouri ranks 2nd in the nation for family run farms, just behind Texas. The Helsley family farm was a dairy for many years. But when the dairy industry no longer became viable because of massive dairy companies, many farms transitioned to beef cattle to make a living. Now the middlemen are pushing beef prices so low that farmers are barely making it. We want to make our farm sustainable because Americans deserve to have quality beef from the USA, not Brazil or other countries. We want our children to grow up on the farm and potentially become the 7th generation to farm this land.

HOW WE RAISE OUR COWS
Our cows are born and raised on the farm. Our mama cows give birth in spring and fall. Gestation is 9 months and calves nurse until they are 6-9 months old. We keep or sell our females cows and process our steers. We use rotational grazing during the grass growing months and feed hay during winter.
OUR BULL
We look for high quality angus bulls from local farms. Our cows are bred naturally. We separate the bull from the cows for 3 months in the spring and fall so we don't have any midsummer or midwinter babies. It's more stressful on mamas to give birth during those times and there's greater risk for the calves of dying, so we try to coordinate births during ideal conditions for the best possible outcomes.


GRASS FED GRAIN FINISHED CALVES
The calves we process will nurse 6-9 months, feed on grass and finish on grain/grass/hay until they are around 1100 lbs. Grass fed, grain finished means they are not confined to a feed lot and can graze and eat hay freely. They live a stress-free life on open pasture. We supplement them with grain for higher quality steaks.