DeeDee and Ron Haynes started raising registered Red Angus cattle because their youngest son, Jordan wanted to show Red Angus cattle. They visited the Orys at their Circle 7 Red Angus Ranch in Missouri at the suggestion of a friend to see what the breed was all about. They had raised commercial cattle and at the time registered Beefmaster. “Registered Beefmaster didn’t work out too well with our kids showing so we switched to Red Angus and started showing those. That is how we built this herd,” Ron said. “Whatever breed you have is what you think is the best,” DeeDee said. “We like a color, red. I know most people like the black but, we just like red.” DeeDee believes Red Angus cattle have good dispositions, have a better coat, are more heat tolerant and marble out just as well as Black Angus cattle. “They are just a good breed,” DeeDee said.
Ron and DeeDee are both from Greenland, Ark. Ron and DeeDee helped manage her parents' farm and seven chicken houses for seven years. “That is how we started raising the kids. We were with them on the farm. We never had to have a babysitter. They grew up with us and the chickens and barns,” Ron said. An ice storm damaged some of the chicken houses, so they bought a small farm in West Fork, Ark. DeeDee’s parents talked them into moving back home. They bought 15 acres next to DeeDee’s parents' farm and another 38 acres nearby with several chicken houses.
Because of Ron’s duties with the military taking up so much of his time, they decided to sell the acreage with the chicken houses. Ron has been with the Army for several years traveling from community to community. He even had a deployment to Iraq where he was a first sergeant for Alpha Company. “My guys did convoy security from southern Iraq to Baghdad and back,” Ron said. Ron is now a brigade senior supply sergeant with the Army and has finally been promoted to work for the rest of his career in Fayetteville. “I still travel around all of northwest Arkansas inspecting facilities,” Ron said. “I just get to pick when I want to travel now.”
The stability of Ron’s new position will enable the family to concentrate on building their herd. “We won’t get much bigger of a herd than we have now,” Ron said. The Haynes currently have 26 cows and calves with a bull on their farm. “That is why it helps to have in-laws that have property surrounding us because we just don’t have enough land for that many cattle."
“Growing up on a farm, you just learn so much working on equipment and working with the cattle,” T.J. said. “I couldn’t imagine growing up any other way. You learn so much and the knowledge you get surpasses anything you can learn growing up in the city or anywhere else." T.J. is just finishing up a degree in Ag Business having earned several scholarships from participating in 4-H and other agricultural groups. “Having a small farm like we have so close to the University of Arkansas, many of T.J.’s friends come out here to shoot skeet or work in the shop,” Ron said. Ron and DeeDee’s younger son Jordan has just joined the Marines and is at boot camp in Florida.
Still the farm is, and always will be, a family operation.
