Diversified family farm for over 200 years
For generations, we’ve been believers in diversification and not putting all of our eggs in one basket. This diversification includes corn, soybeans, wheat, hay, cow-calf pairs, and feeding cattle. Diversification allows our different business units to work together, like feeding corn silage and straw to our cattle, and spreading cattle manure on fields before we plant corn. We thrive on diversity. Long gone are the days of horses and plows, and today we are on the pulse of modern technology and conservation.
Cox Land and Cattle, Inc. is a family farming business headquartered southwest of White Hall, IL, owned by Maria Cox and her parents, Ethan and Penny Cox, and operated by the family and dedicated full and part-time employees. We bring experience, new ideas, and customized support to individual needs and concerns. Whether you’re a landowner looking for a row-crop tenant or cattle feeder looking for hay, we hope this website provides you the necessary information about partnering with us.
The Farming Business
Hay PRoduction
If it’s sunny and dry, you will most likely find us in the hay field. From May until October, we roll up 4000+ round bales of reeds canary grass hay and straw, and some large squares of grass. We feed a little of what we produce, but sell most of it to cattle producers. 1st cutting reeds canary routinely tests 13% protein, and later cuttings test 18%.
Row Crop Farming
We use minimum and no till approaches to grow corn and soybeans in a region where most farms around us are highly tilled. We have planted cover crops on highly erodible farms since 2015. With cover crops we see benefits of reduced erosion, tilth and mellow ground, and better weed control. In 2019 we incorporated winter wheat to add diversity in our crop rotations. We rent, share-crop, and custom farm.
Cattle Feeding
In response to local availability of by-products for feed, we expanded feeder cattle in 2006. Today we background cattle at our home feedlots, and finish in Garden City, KS. We incorporate cattle manure into our fertility program.
Cow-Calf Pairs
We have had cow-calf pairs for several generations. A cow-calf operation is a method of raising beef cattle in which we keep a herd of cows that produces calves for later sale. We have both spring and fall calving herds.
““You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth.”