My son, Nathan, is guest writing today!
Standing on a faded red and white thirty foot tall tower, the white Charolais bull statue at the junction of Highways 5 & 36 in Laclede, Missouri, is a local legend. Erected in 1972, the statue has for many years informed passersby of the location of Lamme Farms, the now-defunct ranch once run by June Lamme and her late husband, Bill. Despite the statue’s landmark status, many people have forgotten that Lamme and her husband were instrumental in the introduction of Charolais cattle into the region. 
Initially, Lamme’s husband raised Charbray cattle, a Charolais-Brahma cross developed in Mexico, but Lamme says, “They were really touchy. They wouldn’t let us pet them, we couldn’t get close to them.” Their experience with the Charbray taught Lamme and her husband they would prefer to work with a breed that was more approachable.
Finally, in the early 1950s, her husband made the decision to “breed up” to full-blood Charolais, which was a tamer, gentler animal. He then bought full-blood Charolais from the Wrigley family in California. When asked if she meant the family that founded Wrigley Company, Lamme exclaimed, “Yes, and Bill always said it like that, ‘Wrigley Chewing Gum people is where we got our start!’ ” With this choice, Lamme Farms became one of the first breeders to introduce pureblood Charolais into Missouri, along with the McGinnis brothers of Lathrop, Missouri, and the Litton Charolais Ranch of Chillicothe, Missouri.
Lamme and her husband then joined the American-International Charolais Association, or AICA, a registry designed to prove the pureblood pedigree of Charolais cattle. This required them to send in paperwork and documentation for every animal to the headquarters of the AICA, which at the time was in Houston, Texas, but was later moved to Kansas City, Missouri. She remembers travelling with her husband to the international meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. Lamme tells how one year she and her husband were invited by their hosts to dinner at their host’s home in the mountains, “We could look down and see Phoenix, and see all the lights. This was quite an experience for me.” She sweeps her arms apart as she speaks, to symbolize the magnitude of the view, and her eyes sparkle as she stares into the distance.
The Lammes also worked to promote the Charolais breed as a whole, and in 1963 they helped found the Missouri Charolais Breeders Association, or MCBA, an organization devoted to the promotion of Charolais cattle. Lamme laughs as she passes on the wisdom of her husband, “Bill always said it’s easier to sell someone else’s cow. You can brag on it and it doesn’t sound like you’re the one bragging.” Mr. Lamme would be elected to the first board of the MCBA, and would later serve as president of the organization.
When asked about her role in the group Lamme says, “They’d give anybody a job. One time, they asked me to be in charge of decorations at our Charolais Congress in Kansas City at the Muehlebach Hotel.” The Charolais Congress was an educational event on the promotion of Charolais, which preceded a “Red Carpet sale,” held in conjunction with the American Royal livestock show. “For the first time [the Charolais Congress] met, I had these beautiful flowers for the head table, then I would move them to…wherever there would be a meeting.” Lamme smiles as she reminisces about the splendor of the event, “Then we moved, on a Sunday, to the Red Carpet sale… We used the same flowers all around where the red carpet was and the cattle were brought out on the red carpet to be introduced to the crowd, who would then start buying… Who’d ever heard of going to a cow auction and have flowers there? But the Charolais people did it up right.”
Despite all that, in the mid-1970s the Lammes decided to sell their herd, after Mrs. Lamme began leading tours. “In 1970, I planned my first tour to Europe. It was 21 days long and it cost $750… We had enough [people] that we did two tours.” Mr. Lamme had planned to join her for the first tour, but one of his bulls injured him and he was unable to travel. The next year, however, was different. “Bill got to go this time, and he realized what a wonderful trip it was, and I enjoyed it so much more when I could share it with him.” A fond smile tinged with sadness crosses her lips as she describes travelling with him, “I’ve had a wonderful life, and gone on wonderful trips, but those years when Bill and I went together, those were the best years, looking back on it now.”
Shortly after those first trips, Mr. Lamme began contacting other ranches, looking to sell his herd. Lamme sighs wistfully before completing the story of their herd, “He had been writing this ‘special report,’ as he called it, a list of every Charolais breeder that advertised in any magazine…he knew quite a few people through that, so he talked to somebody up in Canada, and they came down and bought all of [the Charolais].”
The Lammes sold their herd, and after everything they had done to promote Charolais, they were now out of the business. Mr. and Mrs. Lamme would go on to start the Green Hills Travel Center and would lead tours around the world together until Mr. Lamme’s passing in 1991. Now, many people have forgotten the history of Lamme Farms, and this story ends where it began, a lonely white statue atop his tower, watching over pastures long void of his kin.
Lamme, June. Personal Interview. 2/9/2015
Tannachton Farm 
That was interesting. Thanks for sharing, Tauna and June!
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Whoops! Nathan and June!
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🙂
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very good story and ahistorical one..wow..I did learn some things in this..always wondered about that place..went by it many of times but never knew the history..
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Glad you liked it! I’m glad he chose to interview June.
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I grew up in purdin, where my parents, Phillip and Loretta McClaren still live. They accompanied the Lammes on several trips along with their good friends Jim and Rita Wohler.
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Hi DeEtta! Glad you commented – i remember you from going to church at the little Baptist (?) church on Hwy 5 with my Grandma Falconer MANY years ago! So much change since then. Hope you are well! tauna
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Great story. Also driven by it many times. Now I know the history. Thanks so much for sharing.
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I spent 25 years hunting deer up in Purdin. From the first time I went up there from Kansas City that statue of the bull showed me where to turn. Thanks for the history lesson.
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That “cow” means so much to me and my daughter. My grandpa used to ask me as a little girl how that cow got up there and why he didn’t jump off. Then he would ask me how they fed him. He continued the tradition with my oldest daughter Ashley and my twins. It was always a sign we were getting close to where we were going. My daughter Ashley and I still talk about that “cow” every time we go there. Thanks for sharing the history
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Thank you for sharing your story! I’ll be sure to show it to my son who wrote the article. Methinks it may be time to write another one with more history.
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I loved Nathan’s story, especially after having visited Aunt June recently. It brought back many memories of visiting Aunt June and Uncle Bill and the Charolais in my childhood. Well done!
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He even received an ‘A’ on that assignment as well in high school dual credit course through Trenton College. So glad you guys came up for a long visit!
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I pass it everyday.but never knew who put it there it has been there so long .I know it is need of some repairs would be nice if some volunteers would take care of that so it will be there for many more years..
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totally agree it needs repair and loving care – where to find the time is the tough one. Dallas and i did spend a few days last fall to uncover the front of June’s rental house which had been devoured by vines and trees!
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