Smith surprised to gain top cattlemen honor

By Brooks Taylor, Mt. Pleasant News

Editor?s Note: Jerry Mabeus of Mt. Pleasant also was named a Henry County Cattleperson of the Year but declined a request from The News for an interview.

Larry Smith saw his daughters in the room when he arrived at Manning Hall Feb. 2 for the annual Henry County Cattlemen Banquet.

However, seeing his daughters, who live a distance from Mt. Pleasant, he didn?t have any suspicion that it might be a special night.

He did, though, when the presenter read Smith?s biography before presenting him with the 2017 Henry County Cattleperson of the Year award.

?I was very surprised,? the 74-year-old cattleman said, reflecting on the award. ?I never caught on at all. My daughters, who had moved away from the area, were there but I never gave it a second thought.?

Smith, who grew up on a cattle farm, began raising his own herd in 1961, following graduation from high school and after a course in farm operations at Iowa State University.

Growing up with both dairy and beef cattle instilled the seed ? and also told him to forget the dairy cows. ?My dad had milk and beef cows,? he stated. ?I don?t know if it?s the best of both worlds, or the best of one world and worst of the other.

?Dairy cows were a lot of work, a lot of early morning and evening chores,? he continued. ?We didn?t get electricity on the farm until the 1950s, so it was a lot of milking by hand. That?s why I never got involved in dairy, I didn?t like milking by hand.?

Smith and his wife, Mary Frances, live on her parents? farm, located on Marsh Avenue, east of Mt. Pleasant. He has never ventured far from his roots and his family?s farm was just two-and-one-half miles from where he now lives.

Throughout the years, Smith has had a cow-calf operation. ?That is pretty much all I did,? he said. He tried to market his calves at 550-650 lbs. In 2003, he purchased 70 registered Angus cattle from Montana and bred them with Hereford bulls.

Today his herd includes 70 cows and three bulls. However, these days his son, Adam, does more of the cattle production, Smith admits. ?It is more like I am helping him. It has been that way for 12 years.?

From 1961-1983, he also had a hog operation but the early 1980s were years of drought conditions in southeast Iowa. ?I had enough silage to finish about 100 head (of hogs). When that was gone, I never went back.? He fed close to 500-600 head of hogs a year during most of the 22 years of swine production.

It was an easy choice, he said, to switch all his energy to cattle. ?Cattle are a lot easier. I had a lot of open buildings and it seemed like I was grinding feed every other day. With cattle, you can just turn them out to the field.?

Smith turned over the crop operation to Adam two years ago. However, that doesn?t mean he escapes planting and harvesting. ?It (cropland) isn?t my worry any more. I am not ready to hang it up yet. That?s why I like cattle, they keep you young.?

Being in the cattle business is a marathon, not a sprint he said. ?With the way the market is now (low), you have to be cautious how much you pay for the cows. However, you have to have enough guts to stay in it (raising cattle). You also have to watch your feeds costs, it takes a lot of management.

?With cattle, you take the good with the bad,? he continued. ?I remember 35-cents per pound feeder calves, and I remember $2 per pound feeders. When the price went to $2, everybody got spoiled. Now they are $1.40 to $1.60 per pound, depending on the day.?

As for the short-term, Smith believes the market will rise by fall, due to the opening up of more foreign markets and strong demand for beef. Long-term, he said producers might see good to excellent prices before the market plunges, noting that the market fluctuates about every five years.

The Smiths have two sons and four daughters, nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

The cattle producer said he hopes to keep his hand in the business for a while yet. ?I just love it. I won?t give it up until they pack me up. I will be 75 years old this year and hope I have another 12 to 15 good years left.?