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Greener Pastures: Why One St. Louis Couple Returned to the Family Farm

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Living St. Louis

Contributed by Ruth Ezell, Senior Producer, Living St. Louis

For four generations, the Evans family has owned Pierced Creek Cattle Company in Londelle, Missouri. 

Kent Evans of Ladue is the fourth generation to run his family’s farm in the Franklin County community of Lonedell (about a one-hour drive south of St. Louis). Growing up, Evans spent weekends playing on the farm when it belonged to his grandparents. But he said he wasn’t yet a farmer when his mother and father started showing him and his partner, Rachelle L’Ecuyer, the ropes several years ago.

In 2019, Evans founded the Pierce Creek Cattle Company. L’Ecuyer joined him as a full-time business partner in the fall of 2022. Pierce Creek offers grass-fed and grain-finished beef, without steroids or unnecessary antibiotics, to customers across the St. Louis region.

For his day job, Evans works in commercial real estate development, including on projects like the first iteration of Crestwood Plaza’s redevelopment. L’Ecuyer specializes in business development and marketing. She spent 13 years as director of community development for the City of Maplewood, followed by nearly five years as executive director of the Delmar Loop. At first glance, their backgrounds suggest they might not be suited to rural life or running a farm, but they’ll both tell you it’s quite the opposite.

Rachelle L’Ecuyer was once the executive director of the Delmar Loop. Now she helps manage Pierce Creek Cattle Company, which provides pasture-raised beef to the region’s restaurants. 

Their top priority when managing Pierce Creek’s 240 acres of pastureland is to ensure it remains healthy.  According to Evans, the cattle they produce are byproducts of their primary task, which is grass farming. And rotational grazing is at the heart of making it all work.

Evans and L’Ecuyer have done the majority of the manual labor themselves, though they recently hired the teenaged son of a neighbor to help manage things. After upgrading their fencing and clearing away invasive plants, they’ve witnessed the return of plants, flowers, insects, and wildlife native to the area. With the help of apps identifying them, Evans and L’Ecuyer are documenting how their spread has flourished. Their stewardship of the land may be, in the end, the most rewarding aspect of their venture.

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