Farm Is 100-Year Tradition

For more than 100 years, the Rose family has been farming in Southwest City. The University of Missouri Extension recognized the family on Saturday as a century farm.

Bob Rose and his wife Joyce, along with their daughter Debbie Smith and her husband Mike, were among those present. Bob said the farm was deeded to his grandparents, George and Dora Rose, in 1907, but there may be an earlier family relationship on the farm going back to 1887. The family hoped to do additional research in order to determine that the family farm was actually established in 1887.

Bob said the family farms beef cattle on 160 acres. When his grandfather owned the farm, there was a little more than 400 acres, but when Highway O was built, it split the land in half. Bob’s uncle owned the other half, and his descendants have sold their half.

Debbie and Mike Smith have a daughter, Latasha Pinc, who is married to Mike Pinc. They have two daughters, Remington and Tinley. They all live on the farm.

Bob recalled his grandfather planted pine trees on the property at a time when the county paid farmers to plant the trees, he said. At one time the government also paid farmers to build terraces, he said. There is also a working windmill on the property that has been there for more than 100 years. His grandfather hand- dug the well under the windmill and almost drowned when he hit water, Bob said.

“Granddad kept a stock tank with goldfish in it, and we swam in it,” he said. “The cattle drank out of it too.”

Debbie said of her formative years, “We had chicken houses; we had cows. We learned a lot farming. It was fun. Wide-open spaces to be able to play in. Back then you didn’t have to worry about being home at a certain time unless you had to work or you had to eat.”

She moved away from home for a time but came back with Mike and Latasha in 1996 and built a house.

Latasha said she does not remember anything before living on the farm. She said she loved the wideopen spaces and riding four-wheelers.

“I learned a lot,” she said. “It’s nice living here, raising (my children).”

The extension service presented the family with a sign designating the farm as a century farm.

RACHEL DICKERSON/ MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS The Rose farm in Southwest City was recently designated a century farm by the University of Missouri Extension. Pictured are Tinley Pinc (front row), Joyce Rose (middle row, left), Latasha Pinc, Remington Pinc, Bob Rose (back row), Mike Pinc, Debbie Smith and Mike Smith.