Looking Back: Sni-A-Bar, 100 Years Ago

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society
 
Frequent readers of this column and long-time residents will know this, but as a quick recap, or information for new readers, Sni-A-Bar Farms was registered with the State of Missouri in 1913.

William Rockhill Nelson, the owner, died in 1915 and the farm was put into a trust. During the first ten years of operation of the Trust, it was under the immediate direction of Mr. Nelson’s daughter, Mrs. Irwin R. Kirkwood. She established a herd of purebred Shorthorns and bought the best bulls available in the United States and Great Britain for the grade herd.

Top females in the leading state, national, and international sales were secured for foundation stock. She also encouraged fitting individual steers and car lots of fat cattle (name given to grade cattle, or cattle without a pedigree). Complete reports of the operation of Sni-A-Bar Farms under her direction were made through publications of the United States Department of Agriculture, the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, and the agricultural press.

Upon her death, the administration of the farm fell to the trustees to have full charge of the estate for the remainder of the thirty years. W. A. Cochel served as advisor to the trustees. My grandfather, James Napier who was hired as herdsman for the purebred “show” herd in 1922, became superintendent in charge of all operations of land and livestock until the sale in 1945. He remained and employee of Mr. Ralph Smith until the dispersal the following year.

Some of the achievements during the first 10 years included:

• the up-building of the grade herd. Steers from the grade herd were shown in local, state, national, and international shows, where they routinely won highest honors both as individuals and in lot classifications.
• A number of steers were sold to 4-H Club members and Future Farmers of America.
• Creep feeding, feeding calves before weaning, was developed at Sni-A-Bar. Additional gains of 100 to 150 pounds before weaning made it possible to market at 12 to 15 months with weights of 900 to 1100 pounds.
• Cattle from the purebred herd were sold to Argentine, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Cuba, Santo Domingo, China, and Australia.
• Sni-A-Bar made a signification contribution  to the improvement of soi; fertility and the introduction of new crops, as the first use of lespedeza in the state.
• Atlas sorgo as a silage crop was also introduced at Sni-A-Bar.

And all of this before 1925! Sni-A-Bar went on to produce many more firsts over the next twenty years.

Visit the Historical Society and learn about many more FIRST that happen right here in Grain Valley, and all before the original Highway 40 (now Eagles Parkway), "America’s Main Street", was built through our town!
​