Livestock
Nodaway County contains some of the richest soil in the state of Missouri. As white settlers and immigrants moved into the area, many of them began to farm and generally specialized in either crops or livestock.
Livestock played an integral role in the Nodaway County farmers’ lives. Horses, mules, and bovine were used to work the fields. Chickens, hogs, and sheep provided additional income and food sources to those that raised them. As technology progressed, working the livestock in the fields became unnecessary, specialized fields developed within the industry for alternative uses of livestock. Beef cattle and hogs became some of the most popular because of consumer demand. For many years, the livestock were simply raised without much emphasis placed on breed or bloodlines.
Delivering the best product available led to the highly selective breeding of livestock to produce the largest and highest quality animals possible. Shorthorns, Angus, and Polled Herefords led the way in the cattle industry while the Spotted Poland China Swine eventually headed the hog industry. The selective breeding gave way to purebred livestock far more valued than their mixed brethren, due to the presence of the desired traits of the breeding.
Rising out of the late 1860s is growing empire of John Sliker Bilby. In 1868, Bilby arrived from Chicago and purchased 500 acres of land southwest of Quitman. After a very low profile trip to France and Belgium and seeing how their land prices were soaring, he made the conclusion that the same would happen in America. Upon returning home, he began buying up as land as he could. By the end of his life in 1919, he had purchased roughly 26000 acres in Missouri, similar amounts in Arkansas and Oklahoma, 4000 acres in Nebraska, 43000 in Kansas, 200,000 in Texas and 400,000 in Mexico. All of his holdings left him as the largest private land owner in the United States. The two ranches on his Missouri holdings formed one of the largest beef cattle operations in the state, shipping cattle to Saint Joseph, Kansas City and Chicago on freight trains. After his death, his properties fell to two of his three sons, who would retain the full size of the holdings until the Great Depression led banks to claim lands as payment on loans from more prosperous times. The Bilby empire was no more, but it had left its mark on the agricultural industries of the county, state and the nation itself.
Following the surges in demand connected to both of the World Wars, the Extension Service in Missouri began establishing programs and associations to improve and regulate the breeds that fell under their jurisdiction. The Better Bull Program was established with cooperation from Roy Kinnard, in order to raise the standards for stud bulls. AJ Dinsdale helped form a similar program for sheep in 1930. 1941 brought the establishment of the artificial breeding center for cattle in Nodaway County by Center Milk Products in conjunction with the Extension Office. The Jersey Breeders Association was established in 1943. The Northwest Missouri Shorthorn Breeders Association was founded in 1944 and the Northwest Missouri Dairy Association in the latter half of the year. 1945 and 1947 saw the establishment of the Northwest Missouri Sheep Association and Northwest Missouri Hereford Association, respectively.