The Gumpond Community in Pearl River County is a little more than rolling field after rolling field and a four way stop on the map. It’s a light breeze with cotton ball clouds, blue sky and green grazing grass. It’s a perfect back drop for a South Mississippi cattleman like Jeff Easterling.
Easterling’s home sits right in the middle of this beautiful scene. With his wife, Rachel, and their two sons, he can almost see every field of cows they are raising from their backyard. Even after nearly 30 years of buying and raising beef cattle, the sight never gets old.
“We bought are first set of calves in 1996,” he says. “It’s a joy to watch them go from being a little rough around the edges when we buy them to big, fat and healthy when we ship them out west. Watching them grow and be properly taken care of is what keeps me doing it. It’s the heart of it.”
In addition to his own cattle, Easterling manages cattle for Parker Livestock and has for more than 20 years. On a typical day, he can be found feeding livestock, riding pastures to make sure they are well and sorting cattle to be shipped.
Easterling takes pride in his jobs and the agriculture industry which is why he decided to run for the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation south Mississippi vice president position in 2022.
“We’ve got to help people become better – better farmers, better leaders, better people – but we have to give them the tools to do it,” Easterling says. “That’s one thing I want to see Farm Bureau to grow in for the future. We need to be the catalyst of change.”
No matter what he is doing, whether it be running a cattle farm or serving as the vice president of the No. 1 agriculture organization in Mississippi, Easterling believes you have to rely on faith. He strives to share this message daily to everyone he meets, especially with the congregation he pastors at the Barn Church in Poplarville.
“I’ve learned so much about faith through farming that’s relevant to most people,” Easterling says. “That’s why I like to incorporate that into what I preach on Sunday. It’s the exact same faith in both occupations. A wise man once told me, ‘I don’t see how you could be a farmer and not have faith in God.’”
Easterling hopes to one day pass his life’s work to his sons, but says their calling will be their choice. For now, he has no plans to slow down. He’ll just keep moving from pasture to pasture and field to field. Whether that’s the cow pasture on the mission field really depends on the day, and that’s how he likes it.