Maxey Valley Farms
Proudly Raising Simmental Cattle Since 1973

Maxey Valley Farms wins multiple awards at NAILE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MORNING VIEW – Larry Maxey is proud of his Morning View family farm. He has reasons to be.

 

Last month Maxey Valley Farms won multiple awards at the North American International Livestock Exposition in Louisville. Their young bull was named grand champion, the bull and his mother received the overall supreme championship, the Pinnacle Award, (this was the second year in a row they’ve won this) and they received the Premiere Breeder Award.

 

“This was a big honor for us,” Larry said. He said it feels good to receive recognition for the work they’ve been doing with the full blood Fleckvieh Simmental breed. “The mission I’ve been on is to protect and preserve the breed,” he said. “Most breeders have either exited the business, or switched to other breeds, or switched to black factored Simmentals. My objective has been to get these cattle back in the mainstream. We’ve done it. They’re becoming popular and there is a demand for them.”

 

“Traditional” Simmentals, as Larry refers to them, are based on the genetics originally introduced to the United States in the 1960s mostly via Canada originating in Europe. Within the Simmental breed, there are various strains to include Swiss, French, German and Austrian. Each of these strains were developed in their home country for various purposes those being either milk, meat or draft or some combination of those. The Maxey Farms Simmentals are bred for meat.

 

They use modern breeding technology, regularly using artificial insemination and use embryo transplant on occasion. Of course, they use natural service as well and are very particular in their sire selection.

 

Another aspect of the farm for which Larry is proud is its heritage.

 

“Since 1693 the Maxey name has been associated with agriculture in America,” he said. “The mission of Maxey Valley Farms is to communicate the importance and uniqueness of that heritage to subsequent generations and provide a strong foundation that will enable them to grow, prosper, and build on that legacy.”

 

Maxey Valley Farms derives its name from a place in Central Kentucky in Lincoln County, known as Maxey Valley where Larry’s ancestors settled having arrived from Virginia in the early 1800s. The Maxey name can be traced back to 1693 with the arrival in the New World of a young man called Edward Maxey believed to be from England. He came as an indentured servant and by the Census of 1725 had taken a wife, had eight children and owned several 400-acre patents of land in Virginia.

 

“Our farm (founded in 1973)… like so many, a family endeavor and has been since inception,” Larry said. “Our daughters were active in the livestock side of our operations over the years and hopefully our grandchildren will feel an affinity for the Maxey legacy of land and family.”

Larry’s daughter Amy Maxey, of Taylor Mill, who does marketing for the farm, credits the farm’s success to her father’s “hard work” and “dedication.”

 

“For us to compete at the livestock exposition at the level we have is a true testament to what dad has accomplished here,” she said.

Larry said he works so hard because he loves what he does.

 

“I think it’s something hard to explain,” he said. “It’s just something in you to love land and to farm. It’s hard work. When you’re raising livestock, they have to come first. Rain, sunshine, blizzard you still have to get out every day and take care of them. For us, it’s a family thing.”

 

Larry owns the farm with his wife Linda. They have two daughters Amy Maxey and Lori Collins and two grandchildren. It is family’s hope that the farm will stay within the family for generations to come.

 

“We’re doing this so that we have a legacy for our future generations moving forward,” Amy said. “This will always be in our family’s name and lineage. It’s important to us.”

 

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