Front and Center: Robyn MacSorley
About 13 miles north of Monticello on Highway 27 sits a little town called Oma. The community was not included in the recent census, so it is not easy to confirm how many people live there. What the U.S. Census has determined is that the three communities within a 10-mile radius of Oma contain no more than 718 residents.
Yet in 1985, Oma was home to royalty — Angus royalty — Mississippi Angus Queen Robyn Preuss, known today by her students as Dr. Robyn MacSorley, assistant professor at the University of Mississippi School of Nursing and director of the clinical skills and simulation center.
"I grew up on a 194-acre cattle farm — Black Angus. I was in 4-H and used to show Black Angus cattle," MacSorley said. "We did not have any other livestock then. My dad mainly dealt with cattle. I could not talk him into getting anything else."
MacSorley's father became an extension agent in Lawrence County after graduating from Mississippi State with a degree in animal husbandry in 1960. He introduced the family to cattle farming.
"He always wanted to have the cattle and for us to start showing them," MacSorley said. "He actually got his brothers involved in cattle. They had Monogram Farms in Terry, and our farm was called River Road Ranch."
The Preuss family discovered the meaning behind the farm's name in 1979.
"We found out with the flood of '79 that it definitely was a river road."
The flooded landscape brought unusual sights and moments.
"There was a little lady who lived in a trailer on the end of our place. On her front porch, I remember seeing a dog, a chicken and an egg between them. I remember possums on fence posts — animals trying to move up high."
MacSorley helped move cattle to higher ground, wading through water before catching a neighbor's boat to reach safety in New Hebron. The family returned after the waters receded to clean up what was left behind.
MacSorley and her husband, Billy, later moved to Brookhaven. Though no longer living on a farm, they kept horses in Oma so the family could trail ride together.
"I wanted to give what I had learned growing up, that my dad had taught us, to my children. I wanted them to have what I had," she said.
Billy, who grew up in Jackson and graduated from Forest Hill High School, traded loafers for jeans and cowboy boots. The family rode together, each with their own horse, and the children became active in the Lincoln County Youth Rodeo.
In 2011, MacSorley became a full-time instructor at the School of Nursing, and the family purchased 18 acres in Terry. They moved their horses there and began building a small farm.
"We purchased a bull and two heifers. We built a chicken coop and got some chickens. We have ducks, and we were recently given a couple of donkeys — a jenny and a jack. We call them Jack and Jill."
Mornings on the farm begin with letting chickens roam freely while MacSorley is at work. The animals share space with horses and dogs, while the donkeys keep order.
"Our little blue heeler will run behind our horses and grab their tail and swing off of them. How they have not made contact with her when they kick, I do not know. The donkeys are not allowing that."
Afternoons are more labor intensive, with shared responsibilities. Billy feeds the larger animals while MacSorley tends to chickens and ducks and gathers eggs, which average about seven per day in the summer.
The chickens also help fertilize raised garden beds where the family grows vegetables including tomatoes, okra, peppers and cucumbers. Plans to live more off the land have been complicated by one thing: attachment.
"The plan with the calves was to sell one and butcher one, but we have gotten a little attached to Bully, the little red calf. He is cute, so that is going to be difficult."
For MacSorley, the farm is her piece of home.
"I have missed this sound. I have missed this smell. I never would have thought I would, but I did. Either you love it, or you do not. And I love it," she said. "I do not mind getting muddy. I do not mind getting dirty. I go home, throw on my rubber boots and go out there and feed them. If I get stuff on me, so be it. It is part of the farm. I love it."