What part of Missouri do you like? and why?

springvalley · #1 02/15/10, 06:24 PM

We have been thinking about relocating to MO. and want you guys input. We want to get a farm(dairy possible) as that is what we do now. We don`t mind the Amish, as we have amish friends in MO. already. But we want you to tell us where and why you like it. We have the north east as a choice as it won`t be as far from family.Please feel free to be frank, as we want the truth, and we can take it. Thanks for your help!! Marc.

big rockpile · #2 02/15/10, 07:33 PM

Most your Dairy Operations will be South of the Missouri River,North of I-44.

North of the Missouri River and Bootheal is Row Crops.There is a mix of Hills and Row Crops on the West side.Rest of the State is Hills some much Steeper and Rockyer along Southeast of I-44.

To me there is two Lakes Regions one is my area which is Lake of the Ozarks,Pomme De Terre,Stockton and Truman.The other area consist of Lakes in Missouri and Arkansas Table Rock,Taneycomo,Beaver,Bull Shoals and Norfork.

Me I've spent most my life South of the Missouri River.Love the strip South of Jefferson City all the way over to Kansas City.Pretty good soil,not too rough,seems good Jobs are within reach and not too drastic as far as Winter.

big rockpile

NWMO · #3 02/15/10, 07:41 PM

Live in the northwest corner and love it. There are a few dairys in the area, but not many. Land prices are incredibly expensive. As Big Rockpile said, lots and lots of row crop, but it varies somewhat around here.....some great river bottom ground. I love the small towns and small town living and small local school districts. There are Amish in Gentry, Worth County and a few established in Nodaway County, but not a major population. Affordable land here is very hard to come by.....

MOgal · #4 02/15/10, 08:54 PM

I'm in Callaway County, about 30 miles east of Columbia. Land here was getting expensive due to retirees from St. Louis and from Columbia then took a bit of a nose dive with the economy. It seems to be picking up a bit now. There are 2 dairies in Callaway, one is less than 4 miles from me "as the crow flies."

The land here depends on what part of the county you are in. Northwest is fairly gently rolling with a lot of row crops. South of Fulton you run into some wicked hills with lots of timber. Northeast is mixture. Our place is gently rolling but just a few miles north, you run into some steep hills again. If you hunt, deer is the major quarry. Also, we have had a cougar killed on US 54 in the last few years and other cougar as well as bear sighted in the county.

The biggest negative in the county is our wonderful (sarcasm intended) nuclear power plant. The county just voted down a second reactor. All of this power serves St. Louis, not this area so why not put it nearer St. Louis? Anyway, the other major employers are the state mental hospital with a diagnositic clinic where all criminals are tested to see if they are competent to stand trial, a Dollar General distribution center and a printing company that appears to be in real trouble due to the economy. They do small, niche printing and many of their accounts have gone under. They've laid off a large portion of their employees in the last 6-12 mo. We have a lot of friends who work there which is why I am aware of this.

Incidentally, I don't know what your price range is but I have an elderly neighbor who is going to put her 160 acres on the market this spring. Her home is custom built, maybe 20 years old but well cared for, big lake, two nice garages accessible to the house and plenty of room for the dairy buildings. We are about 5-6 miles from I-70, 2 miles from paved road but the gravel road is very well maintained. I don't know what she is asking but I can put you in contact with her if you are serious about that much land. And you know you'd already have one like minded neighbor.

#5 02/15/10, 11:07 PM

Please tell me most of the state isn't like Fort Leonard Wood or St. Louis .

big rockpile · #6 02/15/10, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WV Hillbilly

Please tell me most of the state isn't like Fort Leonard Wood or St. Louis .

No most of it is not like Fort Lost in the Woods :smiley-laughing013:

big rockpile

salmonslayer · #7 02/16/10, 12:06 AM

I used to live in Raymore which is a little south of KC and my old house that used to butt up against several hundred acres of pasture is now right in the middle of suburbia and neighborhoods (I moved in 1993) so I would stay away from any of the big cities unless you like company. We looked all over the midwest to buy our retirement homestead and ended up back in the Missouri Ozarks for the beautiful country, the people (heck in 5 or 6 generations we might overcome the newby tag), the low cost, the lack of government intrusion (we bought in an unincorporated county) and most of all the laid back pace. We are out in the country but not too far that we cant get to town a couple times a week...do you know what I mean?

I strongly suggest you take a trip and check it out...my farm has the typical rocky soil but I also dont live in a flood plain so it depends on what you really are looking for.

Batt · #8 02/16/10, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WV Hillbilly

Please tell me most of the state isn't like Fort Leonard Wood or St. Louis .

What BRP said....Ft. Leonard Wood is stuck right in the middle of the Mark Twain National Forest. OK if you like it, but definitely unique. St. Louis is Missouri's version of Chicago. You have my permission to move all of it to the Illinois side. Because of the packed nature of the population, much of Missouri's politics are controlled by St. Louis/Columbia/Kansas City (I-70 corridor).

Geographically, the state is pretty much as Rock described it. Springfield has a pretty large milk processing plant. They pick up milk from Ft. LW to Joplin along I-44 and probably 40-50 miles either side.

Sorry, got a little off topic.....

65284 · #9 02/16/10, 09:55 AM

I love the Boone, Audrain, Randolph, and Monroe county area. I guess because it's home, I was born and have lived here most of my life. A large Amish community in northern Boone county so therte is a regular bulk milk pickup truck route. Get a few miles from Columbia and land is affordable. Outstanding medical facilities in Columbia, plenty of shopping and eating places, and the MU vet school is there which is great for anyone with livestock. Not a bad place to live.

Callieslamb · #10 02/16/10, 10:19 AM

I was raised in Douglas county - my mom and sisters live there so I vote for that county. Cheap place to live!

Razorback21 · #11 02/16/10, 10:47 AM

Got to tour quite a bit of Missouri as a kid as my Dad was transferred from end of the state to the other with his job. Liked Western Missouri, around St. Joseph/Savannah. The people there are wonderful. Graduated from High School in Moberly, which is in the area called "Little Dixie". Again people were good and land I understand is still pretty affordable. Have family that lives in Southeast Missouri, some in the Ozarks and some down in the Bootheel. Spent majority of my time in Ozarks, so I'm a little biased to that area. The Bootheel is Cotton and Rice farms, so needless to say, land is pretty expensive if and when it is available. I've rambled, but bottom line is I like Missouri. It would be number 3 choice in States to live, if given that choice!

springvalley · #12 02/19/10, 07:31 AM

Thank you all who had comments, they have helped. But I know there are more of you out there, so let her rip, tell us more about your state. We have heard you have lots of ticks, is that true? Thanks Marc

Callieslamb · #13 02/19/10, 08:42 AM

Yes, there are ticks and chiggers. I count the chiggers as worse than the ticks. summers are humid and winters can bring ice storms. But...there are some nice large towns if you need a good job market, cheap land, diversity and variety.

#14 02/19/10, 08:48 AM

My MIL grew up around Ozark, MO. She said that ticks and chiggers are the state pets.

I lived in St. Louis county for 10 years. I liked it, but it's hard to farm there! LOL If you want to be near theater, eating, etc. then try for Jefferson County or St. Francios County.

I now live an hour east of St.Louis in IL. I LOVE it here. The folks are friendly, you still can play in IL politics

and the soil is black. Not like that red stuff they call "soil" over there.

TheMrs · #15 02/19/10, 10:24 AM

Well, I don't have a whole lot to share. I have no knowledge of the northern portions of the state at all. I was born and raised in Southeast Missouri though.

DH and I wouldn't be able to live east of Poplar Bluff on Hwy. 60. The land out there is flat, treeless rice and cotton fields for the most part. Lots of mosquitos. Not a good fit for us. West of Poplar Bluff is where things start getting nice in my opinion. The country is beautiful and land prices are more reasonable. The Cape Girardeau area has a lot more opportunity as far as employment/shopping, but it's also a big farming area so land will be much more expensive than in the southcentral part of the state.

For homesteading, I think that Bollinger, Iron, Reynolds, and Madison county area would be nice. Of course, you may not be looking for the same things that we were, so my opinion may not be much help at all!

You mentioned living around the Amish. I know there's an Amish community around the Diggins/Fordland area east of Springfield. We've only driven through the area, but it looks very nice.

You mentioned starting a dairy. I don't know what type of sales you're interested in doing, but there is a demand in southeast Missouri for raw milk. We drive two hours away to Cape Girardeau to get raw milk. A source of raw milk that's not so far away would sure be nice!

I don't know if this will be useful for you or not, but I was recently introduced to this website. It helps to give you an idea of the cost of living for specific towns. It even breaks it down to show if the differences lie in housing prices, groceries, healthcare, etc.

http://www.relocationessentials.com/...alary/col.aspx

Rickstir · #16 02/19/10, 01:14 PM

We moved to Monroe county from St. Louis 16 years ago. We have 80 acres of scrub, hunting ground. There are serveal dairy farms around, closest about 2 miles. Land is as reasonable as you are going to find. There are problems with Meth as in any area, ours are probably not as bad as most areas. Good schools and county sheriff. Hog farms are here and there but not around us as we are in the Mark Twain Lake protected watershed. Check out the Monroe County Appeal online for more information on the area.

badlander · #17 02/19/10, 02:12 PM

We are new residents to North Eastern Missouri,Macon county, and we LOVE it here. Lots of dairy, beef and horse farms around us. Lots of Amish. Rolling hills and high ridges, great grazing land.We have a total of 50 acres at this time and would love to own more.

No, most of Missouri is far from Fort Lost In The Woods and St.Louie just like most of my home state of Illinois is vastly another world from Chicago.

I find that Missourians are friendly for the most part, eager to accept you in their area, at least in ours, and eager to make you feel at home. It's a lovely state to live in. Low taxes although you do have to pay personal property taxes, lower cost of living, great hunting and reasonable property prices.

The Meth problem has been mentioned. We are originally from Illinois, so we are no strangers to the drug problems in that state. We haven't encountered any problems so far where we live, but that's a good reason to keep a shot gun or hunting rifle cocked and locked near the door.

95% of our neighbors are Amish. Wonderful neighbors, hard working, friendly, God fearing folks. I have never had one fail to stop and chat while trotting by on horseback or in a buggy. Nor have I ever left a house without something delicious to eat in my hands. One recently stopped in a snow storm to help us push our van out of deep snow. Made a new friend that day.

Do I sound like a tourism sponsor for the State of Missouri? Hope not. We don't want our secret to get out so EVERYONE wants to come here!