Oldest daughter Sydnie seems well beyond her 14 years, especially when it comes to handling horses.
She is one of seven Parsons children Dwain and LuDonna rear on their farm about two miles east of Springdale, Ark.
LuDonna homeschools the children and Dwain works for the city of Fayetteville.
“My dad grew up having horses. They rodeoed a little bit.” said Dwain.
Pat Hutter, Dwain’s aunt, serves on the Springdale Rodeo Board. Shorty, father to Pat and Dwain’s father Harold, helped start the rodeo in the mid-1940s.
“He probably had 100 race-bred mares,” said Dwain.
The family kept some of the offspring from that venture.
They have bought mares, kept mares, sold them and finally gotten down to about 25 broodmares that are producing quality foals, said Dwain.
There are three generations of mares producing foals.
“We usually sell a 75 percent foal crop.”
Foaling is from the first of April to mid-June.
Mares foal in the pasture and Harold checks on them each morning during foaling season. Foals are weaned at about four or five months.
The offspring are sold as yearlings.
The family keeps some beyond their year birthday. Dwain’s oldest son Trey and Sydnie work with the horses and break them to lead. Landon is also involved with the horses and runs a pastured chicken operation.
“Barrel racing seems to be the strongest market right now for Quarter Horses,” said Dwain.
When he asks for information about a horse’s particular pedigree, Sydnie can name them pretty quickly. Like Harold says, “She lives it.”
Dwain adds that horses are, “just natural to her” and have been since she was a toddler.
She also raises pot-bellied pigs and wants to be a vet. In addition, the family raises Shetland ponies, 29 goats and 18 sheep.
The cow-calf operation includes 300 momma cows of the Corriente breed crossed to composite black bulls (Angus, Tarentaise and Limousin). Dwain and Harold also have a feeder-calf operation.
The farm sits on 480 acres, with another 400 leased, all of it east of Springdale.
While horses and cows are the chief concerns on the farm, there are other ventures, and a new one set to begin in September: A corn maze with other features such as a petting zoo.
The venture is titled Farmland Adventures and other attractions will include a pumpkin patch and pony rides. The idea is for it to be fun and educational, which is like an average day at the Parsons household.
