Published: September 01, 2008 12:34 pm            

‘Making it bigger and better’

Mayes County Farm Family of the Year

The farm family of the year has been in agriculture four generations.

Roger and Renita Moore and their son Daniel own and operate Moore Farms west of Pryor. The Moores won the title 2008 Mayes County Farm Family of the Year.

Roger and Renita both grew up on farms.

“I wouldn’t know how to do anything else,” said Renita, 47.

Roger, 48, is a third generation farmer. He has farmed and sharecropped in Mayes and Rogers counties since the age of 14.

“We’re working on the fifth generation,” said Roger, indicating his 2-year-old grandson Ryan Moore.

Roger and Renita owned 10 acres when they first married in 1978. Over the years they steadily increased the size of their farm, buying up land as they could.

Moore Farms now holds 600 acres. Roger and Renita own land Roger’s grandpa bought when he first moved to Mayes County in the late 1940s. They own part of the homeplace of Roger’s mom and dad.

A year ago the Moores opened a feed store on their farm. They carry sacked feed at the store, including feed for chickens, rabbits, goats, horses and cattle. Roger said they sell a lot of feed for show animals at the fair.

Their daughters Amber Coblentz, 26, and Stacy Crawford, 23, help out in the feed store.

Though the Moores always hired summer help for harvest, they have only employed full-time help for the last four years. They currently have two full-time hands and three part-time hands. Renita handles the books for the farm and

figures the pay for their farm hands.

The Moores own 150 head of cattle and average 140 calves a year. They raise corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, milo and hay.

“We’ve always tried to be pretty diversified,” said Roger.

The Moores work their fields by a natural process called no-till to preserve fuel. No-till involves one pass over the field and creates less erosion.

“There’s a lot of technology we’re not using,” said Roger.

Roger and Renita have a flock of 48 chickens in addition to their cattle and crops. They sell their farm fresh eggs in the feed store.

“We sold 13 dozen today,” said Renita.

Son Daniel Moore, 28, and his wife Nichole, 25, homesteaded 80 acres that Roger and Renita bought in the 1980s. Daniel operates a third generation dozer business that Roger’s dad, George Moore, started in the 1960s.

“Making it bigger and better,” said Daniel with a grin.

George began the business with one dozer when diesel prices were 19 cents a gallon. Roger said the current cost to fill up a tractor is $700. The Moores now have two dozers and one trackhoe.

Roger has been on the Mayes County Fair Board for nine years. He serves on the Mayes County Farm Bureau Board. He is a director for Farm Credit Services of East Central Oklahoma.

Roger has worked as a rural mail carrier for 24 years and currently runs a Chouteau route.

Roger and Renita are members of Pleasant View Baptist Church, located up the road from their farm.

The Moores were nominated for 2008 Farm Family by Jerry Koelsch. President of Mayes County Fair Board, Kenneth Kvittum, called in April to tell Roger and Renita they had been chosen.

“We just feel very blessed with what we’ve accomplished in the last 30 years,” said Renita. “The Lord’s been good to us and our family.”

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.