Seven Generations on the Farm
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Austin Johnson
Team Luster
Since 2015, Russel Miller, 39, has operated Galaxy Beef, the Century Farm passed down by his father, Steve Miller, 66. Steve still helps with the harvest, but the day-in and day-out of the operation falls on Russel's shoulders. For six generations the Miller family has toiled to preserve and expand their land from the modest homestead established by Isaac Miller in 1880 to technically advanced farm it is today. The Miller’s 1,000 head of cattle do make Russel one of the larger independent cattle producers in the area, but the key word is independent. The entire operation is run by Russel and his only hired man, Garrett Meyer, 26.
The number of independent farmers and ranchers has faded from the landscape over the decades. Profit margins have narrowed and the children of many farm families have chosen to leave the land to pursue more profitable, less labor-intensive careers. Big business farms now dominate the agriculture economy, and Russel cannot say for sure whether his sons, Madden, 8, and Cutler, 5, will take up his mantle. He only wants them to do so if they hold the same passion for the land.
“Green pasture like this, cow and calves running around,” said Russel as he rode his off-road ranger through the grazing fields. “It’s pretty hard not to be romantic about the cattle business.
Russel Miller, 39, runs the combine through his crop while unloading on the go at his farm just outside of Maryville, Mo., on Sept. 24, 2026. “If a plane was going doing down, I think if you gave me enough time, I could probably get the plane landed since I drive one of these,” Miller said jokingly in reference to the technological sophistication of modern grain combines.
Freshly harvested corn moves through a wheel loader into a large grain silo on the Miller’s family farm near Maryville. The corn moves in a fluid motion from field, to combine, to silo until the work is done.
Russel’s sons Madden, 8, right, and Cutler Miller, 5, get ready to head off to school from their farmhouse home in Graham, Mo. Miller was raised in this same house by his parents Steve and Rita Miller, both 66, making it home to three generations of the Miller family.
A trio of Black Angus cattle graze freely at sunrise through a tract of Russel’s land near Maryville. Approximately 75% of the cattle on the property are produced from in vitro and share no genetics from their surrogate mother.
Russel, right, watches as his hired man Garrett Meyer, 26, uses an excavator to load corn silage into a large mixer with soybean meal to create a high energy–high protein feed on his farm near Maryville. The red barn in the background was built by first generation Miller, Isaac, at the age of 56 in 1880.
Russel chases down a calf to tag and gather a DNA sample on his land near Maryville. The DNA sample is used to register the genetic quality of the Black Angus calf, but the method of acquiring the sample requires the same grit as it did a century ago.
Russel leads his son Madden’s flag football team in some pregame stretches before their match in Maryville. Miller has coached his son’s team for four years and enjoys teaching the boys leadership and how to work together as team.
Three generations of Millers have dinner at El Maguey in Maryville. Before dinner, the entire family was at Madden Miller’s flag football game. They try to eat meals together whenever possible after sporting events, involving Madden and his younger brother Cutler.
A wind turbine looms over the horizon near Russel’s farm outside of Maryville. Wind turbines have become a common feature of Nodaway county’s landscape over the past two decades, but no wind turbines stand on Miller’s land.
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