Rich in Heritage, Rooted in Quality
Diversity fuels John and Heidi Ridder's quest for excellence on their Falling Timber Farm.
By Joann Pipkin
The last hints of fall line the horizon as we trek east along the bustling thoroughfare. A few miles west of the Gateway City we shift north, where the path leads us through Missouri’s Rhineland. Claimed first by the Osage, the region is rooted in American history as Kentucky adventurer Daniel Boone settled the area in 1799. In the 1830s Germans breathed life into the rural countryside brimming with steep hills and deep valleys. The region’s legacy perseveres by the cultural touchstones that still flourish in present-day.
Winding through the Corn Cob Pipe capital of the world, we cross The Big Muddy bound for the Katy Trail. Here, rich soil and steep slopes stake claim to the state’s wine route. Yet, today’s visit to the Warren County village won’t be found near the spirits.
Down a narrow country lane atop a ridge, just off Hwy. 47 north of Marthasville, we find a centuries-old legacy. In the family since the 1850s, today John and Heidi Ridder guide the work of Falling Timber Farm, a multi-faceted beef cattle and row crop operation centered on quality.
Driven by excellence, the Ridders make their mark on Missouri agriculture through business diversity, continual progress and customer service.
Breeding Better Bovine
John Ridder’s father, Glenn, grew up on the Ridder home place where his family raised commercial Hereford cattle and farmed. After high school, Glenn attended the University of Missouri in Columbia where he competed in collegiate livestock judging and met his wife, Yvonne, who was the National Shorthorn Lassie queen.
“It was really my mom’s doing more than anyone else’s that we started the registered cattle,” John explains.
Glenn and Yvonne began buying registered Herefords not long after the two married. 2024 will mark the Ridder’s 50th year of breeding Hereford seedstock.
Always a diversified operation, John says he knew early on he wanted to farm. Yet, the family faced a challenge with the ongoing development in the area.
Having earned an agriculture degree in college, John managed a feed store and worked at a propane plant to gain some experience after he and Heidi were married. A few years later, with Glenn ready to slow down, the couple returned to the family farm, two young children in tow.
Since 2004, John and Heidi have owned the operation in a 50/50 partnership with Glenn and Yvonne. Their daughter, Madison, is a junior in the pre-veterinary medicine program at the University of Missouri, while their son, Ben, is a sophomore at Oklahoma State University where he studies agricultural systems technology.
“I always showed Herefords when I was younger, and I made the marketing and genetic decisions since high school and was very involved in AI,” John says.
He adds that being the key mating decision-maker pushed him to raise better Hereford cattle. In the early 2000s, the breed lacked demand in the commercial cattle industry.
“We were part of a group of breeders from across the country that helped make (the situation) better,” John explains. “Our market share has increased (since then).”
Today, the Ridder’s run between 200 and 225 mature Hereford cows. They also have a small, registered Angus herd of about 30 head.
Herd marketing is centered around a bull and female sale the Ridder’s host the third Saturday in March of each year. In addition, bulls are offered by private treaty in the fall. Ridder says the strategy helps the family streamline trade efforts as private treaty sales often require a substantial time commitment for a longer period.
Bulls sold through the production sale can be grouped for delivery, which Ridder offers free to customers within 100 miles of the farm. Buyers can also choose for Ridder to house their purchase for 60 days after the sale.
“There are a lot of benefits,” Ridder says of their spring production sale.
Using a strict artificial breeding protocol where estrus is synchronized in cows and heifers, Ridder seeks out the best genetics to complete his mating decisions.
"We figured out that we made a lot of genetic progress by saving our own bulls from the best cow families in our herd,” Ridder explains. “That really made a difference back in those early days.”
After using AI for one heat cycle, Ridder uses home-raised bulls to continue natural breeding any females that have not settled to AI service. He also uses embryo transfer in the breeding program to help replicate the farm’s top genetics.
“We know the genetics on the cows,” John says. “We’re selecting sires based on quality and carcass traits, too.”
Heidi adds, “We have very high standards. So, you’re going to find high quality in everything we do.”
Forages and Feedstuffs
The quality bar doesn’t just hang over the Ridder’s cow herd. The family strives to grow the best quality forage and crops as well. From fescue and alfalfa to corn, soybeans and wheat, the Ridders focus on merit creates an enviable resume.
Longtime proponents of rotational grazing, the Ridder’s first started the management system when John was in high school.
"We used to fertilize our pastures up until that point, and we used to put clover on them,” John explains. “But we have not fertilized the pasture in over 25 years except for lime, which we do about every 10 years. Period.”
John says the shift in grazing management strategy upped their stocking rate and completely diminished the need for commercial fertilizer in one year. Spot spraying and brush hogging helps control weeds when necessary.
“We get a lot of production off (the pastures) with very little inputs,” John says. “If you want to feed the stuff that feeds the cows, you leave that fescue alone. Do not fertilize it, especially in the spring. Let all the oddball things that might look like weeds come up. The cows get a lot out of that all summer, even in the fall.”
Being cooperators with the Natural Resources Conservation Service helps the Ridders use programs that benefit the environment, including the Conservation Stewardship Program. Ridder solely uses no till on the farm’s hills, while conventional tillage takes place in bottom land every two years.
“I feel like we’re getting better yields, especially on a dry year,” John notes. “We cover crop with wheat to help retain moisture through the summer from the mat of straw that’s laid down.”
Improving timber stands and managing natural glades is also a focus of the Ridder’s stewardship efforts.
Decades of Diversity
Not ones to put all their eggs in a single basket, John and Heidi diversify the operation with enterprises that complement the cow herd. That said, John is a sales representative for ST Genetics where he works with other cattlemen to fulfill their AI mating decisions. He delivers liquid nitrogen to cattlemen when needed to store bull semen. And, the Ridders have been a top distributor of Vita Ferm® mineral in Missouri for several years. Except for protein supplements and minerals, the Ridder’s grow all the feed for the cow herd, which helps keep farm inputs in check.
But that’s not all.
Add in a keen freezer beef business and part ownership of a processing plant and the Ridder’s entrepreneurship skills come full circle.
Building the operation’s freezer beef business has been decades in the making. In fact, it was Yvonne’s brainchild when she worked as a Parents as Teachers (PAT) educator in the early 1980s.
“It worked out really well because a lot of the families that she was visiting for Parents as Teachers were either teachers themselves or nurses with small children,” Heidi explains. “She was visiting these families and became well acquainted with the community. They were interested in farm-raised, local, healthy freezer beef.”
Over the years feeding farm-raised grain has been a huge asset to the family’s freezer beef business, she adds. “Customers want to know where their beef comes from, what it ate, and that it was raised humanely. It’s important to them to know all those things.”
After John and Heidi joined the operation, Yvonne turned the freezer beef business over to them. Heidi worked the farmer’s market scene for a time, selling individual cuts of beef. It was challenging to figure out what customers wanted to buy, so they turned marketing efforts to offering whole, half and quarter beef.
Then when the COVID pandemic hit in 2020, the Ridders found themselves faced with another challenge: lack of processor availability. As arduous as the time was to secure processing dates, John says the pandemic doubled their freezer beef business.
“We got together with some other farmers and started a processing plant,” John explains.
Owned by a group of Missouri farmers, Oak Hill Meats and Processing in Cuba is a USDA meat processing facility. The business opened in September 2020 to help fill the need for processors in the area. Being a part owner helps the Ridders secure processing dates and ensure customers a consistent, quality product.
Since the craziness of beef orders brought on during the pandemic, Heidi has streamlined the ordering process by including an order form on their farm website.
Amid all their endeavors, John says time and labor are the most important aspects of the businesses they have. To counteract that, he and Heidi are both full-time, all-the-time on the farm.
“The key for us is quality in everything,” Heidi says. “Our customers are quality driven. Everything that we do has to be quality.”
From registered cattle to freezer beef and everything in between, the Ridders and one full-time employee manage the farm’s day-to-day activities at full throttle.
“We’re fortunate to have really good working relationships,” Heidi explains.
John chimes in, “Building those relationships with your employees or the community or your customers is important to making this work.”
Rely on Relationships
John and Heidi Ridder were already familiar with FCS Financial’s crop insurance services. They were also acquainted with loan officer Carol Meyer who works out of the cooperative’s Union office. When they had an opportunity to purchase a farm from Heidi’s dad, the relationship they had already built with the lender was a good fit for their financial real estate needs.
“I really trusted Carol because I’d known FCS Financial for a good while,” John says.
“And they have a good reputation, but it really comes back to the relationships.”
Heidi adds, “Carol has always been very good about being quick to respond back to us. She’s very helpful in anything that we need whether it’s filling out paperwork or any time you need something.”
With a vested interest in the local community, John says FCS Financial is always supportive of customer meetings and other events as well.
“It’s nice to know that it’s farmer owned, too,” John adds.
According to Meyer, “I’m just very proud to say that the Ridder’s are our customer because of how the community and its people look at them as a very well run, very people-oriented operation. Everybody thinks highly of them, and I’m proud to be able to say that we work with them.”
The Ridder’s relationships run deep in the state’s agriculture community, too. John is a past chairman of the Missouri Beef Industry Council. He’s also a past chairman of FCS Financial’s nominating committee, which assists in identifying key leaders for the cooperative’s board of directors.
When Madison and Ben were in high school, the Ridders were avid volunteers at the Washington Town & Country Fair. The farm has hosted several tours for a wide array of groups as well — from St. Louis chefs to the Missouri Junior Cattlemen’s Association and Women in Agriculture groups.
“We’re always excited when people ask us if they can come tour the farm, because it’s an opportunity to educate not only others in agriculture, but also those individuals who are not involved in the industry and want to learn more,” Heidi says.
Whether it’s the relationships they’ve crafted with their customers, FCS Financial or the community, the Ridder’s focus on service, quality and affordability in everything they do serves as a testament to the farm’s legacy.
It’s a legacy that’s rich in early American history. One that began in the early 1800s when the John Wyatt family followed Daniel Boone from Kentucky to settle in an old two-story brick house that sat on top of a hill on what is now the Ridder’s Falling Timber Farm. That heritage has been such a treasure to the family that when John and Heidi built their own home in 2007, they hoped to replicate the one the Wyatt’s had built.
“When the last of the Wyatts died, they were neighbors of my grandparents,” John explains. “My grandparents cared for them, and they didn’t know it at the time, but the Wyatts left them the farm. That’s how my grandparents got a bigger farm, because their neighbor left it to them.”
Diversity. Progress. Service. Relationships. Simple words centered on quality. A farm legacy rooted in Missouri agriculture.
“We do our best to take care of the land, take care of the cattle,” Heidi concludes. “We strive to take care of what takes care of us with hopes that gets passed on from generation to generation.”
