Bison, llamas, sheep -- oh my!

Neal Franke has been in the business of buying and selling animals since he was 7 years old.

Franke, who will turn 53 on Thursday, says he bought his first sheep and calf with birthday money when he was 7.

Once he graduated into his teenage years, he began going to the local 5-H Ranch to watch and help out with the animal sales. Initially drawn to the bison for its ties to American history and early plains life, he decided to buy his first at age 20.

"I helped there at the sales for a while and slowly kept getting more of this and more of that, and I just got into [the business] like that," he says.

Ever since, he has been developing a menagerie of animals on his family's farm, from kangaroos and wallabies to water buffalo, big-horned sheep and zebu. He even has a coatimundi -- a small, raccoon-like Central American animal -- that his daughter, Logan, keeps as a pet.

Neal Franke holds a female kangaroo inside their pen on Franke's Perry County farm, Friday.Laura Simon

"I've just always had a like of animals," Franke says.

Although his farm might seem like a giant petting zoo at times, Franke says the menagerie is less of a collection and more of a business, considering he is constantly buying and reselling animals.

"You can have a hobby and still make a little money or enjoy what you've got," he says.

The number of different types of animals at the farm continues to change and grow, but currently includes Friesian dairy sheep, fallow and red deer, hogs, Bertrand and Belgian horses, alpacas, llamas, cattle, chickens and more. Franke routinely sells bison as well.

With the constant changing of volume and animal breeds, Franke says it helps keep things interesting from day to day, even if it does involve regularly saying goodbye to certain animals.

A peacock walks atop a Ford tractor at Neal Franke's Perry County farm on Jan. 29.Laura Simon

"There's very few pets around here," he says. " ... And it's hard to get rid of them sometimes, but most of them, it's a living, you know, make money, and to have something different."

He started breeding kangaroos with his wife Michelle's help about 10 years ago, when he and a friend acquired some from a park in Georgia. Since then, Michelle has taken over caring for the kangaroos, and the original two have grown to 10.

His four children also help on the farm, especially his son, Noah, who helps bale hay and feed the animals when Neal is unable or gone. His daughter, Allison, also helps him in the evenings by bottle-feeding some of the baby goats, including three new babies aptly named Dolly Parton, Hank Williams Jr. and Waylon Jennings to coincide with Parton's birthday on Jan. 19.

Along with some of the bottle-fed goats, Franke says he occasionally finds a way to keep certain animals around.

"There's a few little animals I like to have sometimes, when I have time to take care of them and stuff, but other than that, I just like things that are a little different," he says.

The best part of the job, though, will always be the constant change of scenery, he says, all while maintaining some favorite animals in the background.

"I really like the sheep, but as far as the other animals, I would have to say that water buffalo. Just 'cause she's my friend, she's a buddy. ... I like everything ... if I don't like it, I get rid of it, you know," he says.

And since he is in the business of buying and selling animals, Franke often buys a number of the less desirable-looking animals and works to clean them up for resale.

"I buy a lot of misfit stuff and try to make it pretty," he says.

Franke also works as the barn manager at the Fruitland Livestock Auction and said he has no plans to stop working with exotic (and not too exotic) animals anytime soon.

"To me, it's just normal," he says. "If I just had cows around here, it'd be boring."

Lyoung@semissourian

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