Side farming: Farmers commonly have one foot in an office, another on the farm

Tom O'Loughlin comes from a farm family and always loved agriculture, but says he was never very good at it. That's why he became a lawyer. He continued learning to farm through experience, though, and it's been his second career since 1964.

O'Loughlin now has two successful farms: 600 acres between Jackson and Oak Ridge, where he lives with nearly 500 black angus cows, and 1,200 acres of row crops between Allenville and Whitewater. His Cape Girardeau law firm, O'Loughlin, O'Loughlin & Koetting, includes himself, his brother Pat, and his daughter, Erica Koetting. O'Loughlin's wife, Teresa, is the firm's office manager.

"My lawyer work is flexible, more than most people think," he says. "I can anticipate planting and harvesting dates and then limit my court appearances and trials, or try not to schedule them when I'll be on the farm."

O'Loughlin also has help from two longtime farm employees and his family. O'Loughlin's wife, their daughter Erica, and her husband Matthew, also a lawyer, all help out on the family farm.

"Farming comes in stages," says O'Loughlin, explaining that spring and summer are the most intensive seasons because it's time for vaccinations, weaning, planting, harvesting and irrigation. He says he works more with the cattle on the weekends but still goes out to look at them every day.

"I think farming is a lot like golfing or fishing or hunting. It's in my veins. I like it a lot," says O'Loughlin. "At the end of the day, I can look back and see where I've been. It's more tangible."

John Peters also grew up in a farm family. His mother's side of the family was in the farm business, while his father started Peters Heating and Air Conditioning 42 years ago. Today, Peters carries on both family traditions. His 350-acre farm near Dutchtown holds corn and bean crops.

"Some nights I work late, and sometimes I work weekends," he says. "A lot of times I work eight or 10 hours at the shop, then take off and work until dark on the farm."

Like O'Loughlin, Peters has family to help him in both areas: his wife and father work at the shop and on the farm, and his brother and nephew help on the farm, too.

"My wife comes from a farm family, too, so she understands how the whole system works," he adds. Peters has even taught his two sons, ages 10 and 12, to drive tractors and help him carry seed bags.

"I just keep going," he says. "It can be a bit of a rat race in the heating and air conditioning business, but then I go out to the farm all by myself and do what I want. A lot of times that's when I do my best thinking. ... It's fun. It's my life."