E.R. Stephens
(1918 - 2002)

With the passing of ER Stephens, we have lost another of our great Jackstock men.

ER, as he was known, was a rare phenomenon in our times. He was a third generation producer of fine Jackstock and no one loved his donkeys more than ER For most of his 84 years, ER rose early to tend his stock and was never happier than he was feeding, breeding or discussing donkeys, mules or horses.

ER was born in Kentucky and lived there all his life. His Pine Crest Farms prefix (PCF) appears in the pedigrees of many jackstock. At his home in Millersburg, just north of Lexington. ER greeted uncountable numbers of people who came to buy, see and trade Jackstock. ER was friends of all the great breeders who went before him and those that are still here.

Beside his jackstock, ER had a band of nurse mares that he rented to breeding farms. During the winter foaling season he slept with the phone on his bed. Someone needing a mare to nurse an orphaned or rejected foal regularly awakened him in the middle of the night. These calls put ER into high gear. The mare had to have her current foal weaned and be sent off to the breeding farm without delay and ER was the man to do it. ER also ranted "teaser stallions" to breeders who wanted to know if a mare was in heat but did not want to chance an injury to a valuable stallion. For this purpose, ER kept 40 stallions together in a pasture.

ER loved the land almost as much as he loved his donkeys and every summer he cut and rolled hundreds of bales of hay. And he loved his country, which was fitting since he was born on the Fourth of July.

ER was indeed a fortunate man: He did what he loved and loved what he did. And he had his granddaughter, Susan, to keep his books and to feed his stock the rare times he was gone overnight to visit a breeder or attend a sale. He once told me he could not have run his business without her.

So, ER we will miss you, but you have left a legacy of great Jackstock behind for us all to remember you by.

Mary Ellen Nicholas.