Couple Is McDonald County State Fair Farm Family Of Year

RACHEL DICKERSON/MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS Dennis (left) and Tricia Coberly of Pineville have been named the 2019 McDonald County State Fair Farm Family of the Year.
RACHEL DICKERSON/MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS Dennis (left) and Tricia Coberly of Pineville have been named the 2019 McDonald County State Fair Farm Family of the Year.

Dennis and Tricia Coberly of Pineville have been named the McDonald County State Fair Farm Family of the Year for 2019.

They were selected by the University of Missouri County Extension Council, Dennis said. Each county has a council, and each one selects a farm family to honor each year at the state fair. Farm Family Day will be Aug. 12 at the state fair in Sedalia. The families will be honored at a dinner and awards event.

Dennis raises beef cattle and feeder calves. He was raised in the farm business. His father's old place where he was raised is half a mile from his home. In 1977, he bought the property where his house is located. It is 80 acres and adjoins the property that was his father's.

"Growing up I always helped my father, took Ag classes in high school and was a member of FFA," he said, noting his father used to raise hogs, and his FFA project involved hogs.

Dennis has served four terms on the University of Missouri County Extension Council over the years, he said.

"I guess they just felt like they wanted to honor me and my family," he said.

Dennis and Tricia have a daughter, Sarah, and a son, Joshua, and five grandchildren. Sarah and her husband, Jeremiah, live in Anderson, and they help with the cattle, Dennis said. Joshua and his wife, Hannah, live in Dennis' father's old house. Joshua has a job in Neosho but also raises beef cattle.

In addition to his work on the farm, Dennis also does carpentry work.

Tricia teaches third and fourth grade at Neosho Christian School. She has been there for 11 years. Before that, she stayed home with her children. And before the couple was married, she taught at Noel Elementary.

Regarding being selected as the farm family of the year, Dennis said, "It's an honor. I'm happy about it. Family is important to me and farming also, so I guess that kind of goes together."

"I think it's nice that it's the farm family because his father started the farming in this area and Dennis has carried that on, and both of our kids are interested in farming, so it's nice that it's a farm family award," Tricia said.

"I think farming and family to me go together well because it allows us to work together doing things on the farm," Dennis said, "where that's not always the case in other jobs. Even my grandkids, even though they're little, can help. It gives you more time to be together as a family than some other jobs might."

General News on 05/23/2019