Laurence R. Rainey (1904-1980), Hallsville, Missouri

Laurence Rainey was widely recognized as a Guernsey cattle herd manager and dairy leader in Missouri. Most of his working days were spent in Missouri where he had a distinguished career as a) Herd Manager at St. Albans Farms, near St. Louis; b) the long-time president of the Missouri Guernsey Breeder’s Association, and c) Superintendent of the Foremost Guernsey Farm, University of Missouri, Columbia, from 1952-1971.

Laurence was born December 8, 1904 at LaBette Kansas. In 1919 the Rainey family moved to Fair Play, Missouri bringing their Jersey cattle along and founded one of the first registered Jersey herds in the area. It was there he began his lifetime career as a dairyman. Upon his graduation from high school Laurence worked with a Jersey herd in Florida. He later worked at Longview Farms, Lee’s Summit, Missouri. His career with Guernseys started about 1930 when he became herdsman at Sunnymede Farm, Bismarck, Missouri. This was the beginning of the great depression of the 30’s. Money was tight and jobs scarce. Guernsey milk brought a-dollar-a-hundred and butterfat 15 to 20 cents per pound.

In 1932 Laurence went to St. Albans Farms, St. Albans, Missouri as herdsman. There he helped build a herd of 500 registered and grade Guernseys with premium milk sold on the St. Louis market. A number of outstanding cow families were developed. Included were the “Beauty Spots,” the “Hale Spots,” the “Faiths” and others that made history in production and the showring throughout the middle-west. Due to continuous flooding of the farm by the Missouri River the herd was dispersed in 1952 with an average of $724.45 on nearly 300 head making it the largest sale of privately owned Guernseys west of the Mississippi River.

In 1952 Laurence and his crew, including Byran Lail herdsman, were hired by the University of Missouri to manage and operate the Foremost herd and farm at Columbia which came to the University as an $875,000 gift from J.C. Penney. He served with distinction as Superintendent of “Foremost” for 19 years. He worked to maintain and expand the best of the Foremost bloodlines. He retired in 1971. Shortly thereafter he became associated with J. Jene Mungle at Atoka, Oklahoma as advisor and helping with the Guernsey herd and its breeding program.

Laurence did much to make Guernsey history in Missouri; in addition to managing two of its most prominent herds he was a leader in state dairy activities. For more than 35 years he was a Director and much of the time President of the Missouri Guernsey Breeders Association. He was the Chairman of the Sale Committee from 1938 until 1978.

Laurence was instrumental in the State Association establishing He was not content to coast in any endeavor. He was a member of the its own office and becoming self sufficient with sound financing. American Guernsey Cattle Club and followed its’ activities closely. In later years he was accorded an Honorary Lifetime Membership in the I Missouri Guernsey Breeders’ Association. He was active in community affairs and a member of the Hallsville Baptist Church.

Anyone who competed with Laurence in the show ring will remember him. He would not lead “a bad one” and while he was not always first he displayed animals to their best possible limits.

Laurence and his wife, Evelyn, whom he married in 1934, have a daughter Carol (Mrs. Phillip Chance, Dallas, Texas); one son Gerald, a veterinarian at Cameron, Missouri, and five grandchildren .