Farms & Work Stations

Agriculture Office

The mission of the Agriculture Office is to assist the agriculture professors and students in the general operation of the department. The office seeks success through a focus on appearance, student recruitment, teamwork, attention to detail, and providing information about the Agriculture department.

Student workers are involved in all phases of office work which include organizing the office and maintaining records and reports.  Office assistants are often assigned to manage projects that benefit faculty and students in various areas, including technology. 

The largest project each year is the FFA Workshop.  Judging materials are prepared and distributed to over 2,000 FFA members who attend this workshop. The office assistants are available Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to assist other students with computer programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.  The office assistants also schedule and give tours of the agriculture department to prospective students. 
If you are interested in a tour or more information, please call (417)-690-3360

Beef Farms

The College of the Ozarks beef herd is dispersed on six locations within a 24-mile radius of the main campus. The farms include the Winfrey place located near Reed Springs, the Stewart farm located near highway 76, the Belt farm located east of the Hog Farm, the Holliday farm located west of the Hog Farm, the Hog Farm itself, and on campus.

The main function of the beef farms is to provide students with the knowledge and experience of a working beef cattle operation.  Approximately 7 to 10 students work at the beef farms.  There are approximately 200 head of registered and commercial Polled Hereford, Angus, and Limousin beef cattle on the farms, as well as crossbred cattle comprised of these breeds. 

Students are involved in all phases of beef production. Their responsibilities include animal health, nutrition, breeding, and merchandising as well as facility maintenance and forage production. 

A biennial auction is held at the College's on-campus Sale Barn every other year. Students are responsible for all aspects of the sale. They help to create the sale catalog and with advertising, auctioneering, serving as ring men, clerking, fitting, loading, and selection. Students auction off around 60 lots of the College's beef cattle including cow-calf pairs, bred and open heifers, and cows and bulls. Some bulls are sold on private treaty arrangements. The Processing Plant also utilizes other beef animals for campus purposes. The beef farms keep their own heifers as replacement stock and for sale at the auction.

Belt Farm

The College recently acquired a new farm. It is called the Belt Farm and is located on 220 acres just east of the College’s Hog farm. 

The Belt Farm is currently being refurbished through the clearing of brush, bulldozing, and removal of old fences and debris. Pastures and forage areas are also being improved. In addition, new fences are being built and the barn and corral system upgraded.

In the future the Belt Farm will be used as a beef and forage operation as well as for conservation purposes. Two students are assigned this work area, and other farm crews periodically help as well.

Dairy Farm

The College of the Ozarks Dairy Farm is located on campus.  This location assists in not only the education of Agriculture students, but also the informing of the many tourists and visitors to campus.

The Dairy milks approximately 50 registered Holstein, Jersey and Guernsey cows. The Holsteins comprise about 90% of the herd. Heifers are raised as replacements and for consignment sales, and the bulls are sold.

There are typically 36 students assigned to the Dairy for their work station. Student activities cover everything found on a working dairy including feeding, haying, milking, ensiling, vaccinations, calving, cleaning, general farm maintenance, etc. 

The Dairy processes and bottles milk to furnish the College's needs. The milk is also sold to faculty, staff, and students. Through these activities students are expected to acquire knowledge in nutrition, health, reproductive physiology, and farm management. 

Feed Mill

The Feed Mill is a service area for the Agriculture department.  It is located on the campus next to the dairy. 

The primary functions of the Feed Mill are making and delivering high quality feed for the College's livestock production units. The feed mill also has a six ton feed delivery truck for transporting the finished product to the various farms. Students learn about the feed making process by operating machinery, grinding corn, rolling grain, mixing rations for feed, delivering feed, and keeping the feed mill clean and organized. 

Additional responsibilities of Feed Mill workers include helping with the Garden and other farms as needed. Students also learn about crops, control inventory, keep accurate records, represent the College well when purchasing ingredients and supplies, and aim to be service oriented.

Hog Farm

The College of the Ozarks Hog Farm is located 6 miles from campus on Highway BB south of Hollister, Missouri. The farm is 154 acres and specializes in the production of quality Hybrid and Registered Hampshire hogs. One of the beef farm operations also utilizes a majority portion of the hog farm for a cow-calf operation, pasture grazing, and forage production.

The purpose of the Hog Farm is to provide students with the proper skills and work experiences associated with managing and working with swine. Students are active participants in every aspect of the production including the marketing, record keeping, herd health, breeding program, farm maintenance, etc., of the operation. Generally 5 to 6 students are involved at this workstation.

The Hog Farm is primarily a farrow to finish arrangement that has 20-25 sows. Farrowing and a cold weather piglet nursery occur in a confinement arrangement while all other aspects of the operation take place outdoors. The majority of the hogs are utilized by the College’s Processing Plant while others are marketed to the public for freezer meat, special occasions, show projects, and as herd builders.

Lab, Teaching Orchard, & Garden

The College of the Ozarks Horticulture Lab, Orchard, and Garden are utilized in many courses to allow students opportunities for hands on experience with horticultural crops and production practices. 

The Tissue Culture Laboratory functions as a state-of-the-art facility for micro-propagation of a variety of horticultural crops. Students work with a variety of methodologies and media compositions to learn and experience the effectiveness and usefulness of micro-propagation to the horticultural industry.

The Teaching Orchard and Garden contain a wide variety of fruit crops as well as seasonal plantings of vegetable crops providing students with additional learning opportunities. Through these work areas students are exposed and trained in propagation, pruning, pest management, irrigation, weed control, fertilization, soil testing and preparation, quality control, and harvesting. The College also maintains a single hive of honeybees for the purpose of pollination as well as exposing students to the importance of insect pollinators to the agricultural industry. The Garden is a joint effort with the Agriculture, Landscaping, Hotel and Restaruant Management and Keeter Center departments. It is of great benefit educationally and for our dining customers.

Processing Plant

The College of the Ozarks Processing Plant has typically 12  student workers. Students are taught, through hands on experience, every phase of the meat industry from harvest to finished product. 

The Processing Plant, which is USDA inspected, harvests approximately 250 hogs and ten beef cattle annually. Carcasses are fabricated into wholesale and retail cuts. The Plant also has a line of fully cooked and heat treated products, such as our smoked hams, smoked bacon, smoked pork chops, smoked pork ribs, snack sticks, summer sausage, smoked ham hocks, smoked turkey, beef jerky, bologna, cottage bacon, and smoked beef briskets. Finished meat products are sold and provided for the College's Pearl Rogers Dining Hall, Dobyns Dining Room at the Keeter Center, and Fruit Cake and Jelly Kitchen.