I created this photo essay while taking a photojournalism course during the fall of 2017. My grandfather and our family's charolais cattle farm is the subject of the collection.

1. Hope Farming
Madi Nolte

2. Robert Hemeyer has farmed his entire life on the farm his Great Grandpa Koch purchased in 1859 in Hope,
Missouri. In 1957 he purchased a farm of his own just three miles away and has farmed them both since.

3. While checking his cattle on Nov. 22, Hemeyer stands up to get a better view to make sure all cattle in the pasture
are accounted for. Following a tractor accident in 2011 that left him in the hospital, his legs no longer work well
enough to swing one over each side, so he rides sidesaddle as can be seen in the photo.

4. Hemeyer’s herd of cows and calves come to greet him as he pulls up on the four-wheeler while doing his routine
evening checking of the cattle.

5. Hemeyer does not let his old age of 85 stand in his way of getting things done on the farm. Here he holds both his
cane and a wooden post of the gate in his right hand, while preparing to wire the gate shut with his left.

6. In cases of twins, cows often claim one calf but not the other. This was the case for this calf, who Hemeyer and his
youngest son Kevin (Stretch) have been bottle feeding since it was born in Septmeber.

7. Despite the end result of all of his cattle eventually being either butchered or sold at the sale barn, Hemeyer cares
deeply for his cattle and is always happy to talk about farming to younger generations.

8. As part of the evening chores on Nov. 22, Hemeyer gets ready to fill a couple of feed buckets.

9. Hemeyer fills buckets with feed so they are ready for Kevin (Stretch) when he gets home from work, to feed the
cattle as part of his evening chores on the farm.

10. The cattle know it is almost supper time, and make lots of noise as Hemeyer fills a bucket with feed from the grain bin.

11. This steer, Popeye as Hemeyer calls him, lost sight in his right eye following a case of pink eye last summer. By this
summer, Popeye will be in various freezers throughout the Hemeyer family, in the forms of steaks and hamburgers.

12. On the morning of Nov. 25 Kevin (Stretch) Hemeyer shows that it’s not all work on the farm, but some play too.
Stretch is getting ready to throw a makeshift Frisbee, made from a bucket lid, for farm dog Milo.

13. Aside from the hour trip to the sale barn, Hemeyer’s 1990 Chevy Cheyenne hasn’t ventured more than about 30
miles off the farm since the day he bought it.

14. Hemeyer watches the sun begin to set, signaling the end of his work day, on the evening of Nov. 22

15. Hemeyer has always kept a log of a variety of weather records over the years. As he noted as this photo was taken,
the sun sinks over the hills at exactly 4:35 p.m. during this part of the fall on his Hope, Missouri farm.