CAPE STILL A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY

Just over the fence from bustling thoroughfares, businesses and growing subdivisions graze reminders of Cape Girardeau's farming heritage.

Cape Girardeau is home to 220 cattle and 58 horses, Cape Girardeau County Assessor Jerry Reynolds said. Chickens and roosters and an assortment of other livestock live within the city limits, but not enough to show up on the assessor's rolls.

Motorists on Mount Auburn Road may notice two calves in a tiny field near the Hopper Road intersection.

Horses graze and gallop near Bertling and Sprigg Street Road where two ponies are expecting colts.

"Oh, lots of people come by to watch the horses," said June Mahy. "Just the other day a man asked me if his seven-year-old girl could pet one of the horses. Occasionally people give them carrots."

The horses and ponies don't seem to notice the traffic or the fuss. "It doesn't bother them," she said.

The Mahys have had ponies on their farm for years, long before it was within the city limits. "We love it here," she said. "It is just like country and still just a few miles from the main part of the city."

As Cape Girardeau has grown over the years, pastures and fields have become subdivisions and shopping centers. But remnants of farm life remain.

Charles Stucker, the city's code enforcement officer, said the city allows residents to raise whatever animals they like.

The city requires that the animals' living areas are clean and that the animals don't run loose and or become a nuisance to neighbors.

Stucker said a nuisance could be cows knocking down fences, roosters crowing at all hours or an unpleasant odor.

"I have issued summonses in the city limits for cattle running loose," Stucker said.

He also helped a city farmer pull a cow from a frozen pond.

Before someone considers bringing livestock to live in the city, Stucker recommends a conversation with him. "I really need to talk to them about the ups and downs of having livestock in town."

Jo Renfrow, who lives on North Sprigg Street Road, says the cattle and horses on her property don't generate much interest, especially when compared to the former tenants.

At one time, three camels made their home on the Renfrow farm. "We got a lot of notice then," she said. "We had a lot of people who came up and asked about camels."

The cattle and horses who graze now are rarely visible from the road.

But Renfrow said she enjoys watching the new calves run as she puts up the laundry. Her neighbors to the north have horses and chickens.

"I hear roosters crow every once in a while," she said. "I think there is a lot more country in the city than most people realize."