Few cattlemen are full timers. Usually one or both of the heads of household will hold a job off the farm. That normally entails working in town at a retail store, or for the electric company, or maybe as a teacher or a realtor. But this story might be the only one in which the cattlemen also market hog sauce.
Roy and Kathy Sisco have lived in the Harrison area of Boone County all their lives. Roy tells the story of how he lived in the little rock house now located on Highway 62, now the Harrison Land Office, until he was in fourth grade. At the time, that was way out in the country. They were in the real estate business even back then. His sister, Arah Dean Turner, still runs the business out of the same building.
But the Sisco family roots go back even further than that. Roy’s ancestors came to Arkansas from Tennessee around the end of the 1800s. They settled in the Osage area and his grandfather had an Arkansas land office located near Alpena, Ark. The sign over the door read “Arkansaw Land Office.” That’s why Roy and Kathy’s Popa Sisco’s Arkansaw Hog Sauce ends in a “W” instead of an “S”.
The Siscos’ home is surrounded by 230 acres. They have a commercial cow/calf operation with around 40 momma cows. Roy believes that the cattle industry has good days ahead and he is actually increasing the number of his herd. Since Roy’s retirement, he has been spending more time clearing and making the best use of his pastures. He’s trying new grasses and reseeding. He has his hay custom cut and keeps it all for his own use. He’s learned that rotational grazing is the way to go on his land. He said, “I have been able to up my numbers because I’m using rotational grazing now. That’s how we’ve been getting by in these drought years.”
Roy and his sister Arah Dean have about 250 additional acres where they run about 60 to 70 cows together. They also have an additional place southwest of Harrison. Roy said, “My sister and I own the highest point in Boone County, up on Gaither Mountain.”
Another thing that Roy’s become more serious about is his barbecue sauce. He played around with the recipe for about five to 10 years. Finally, Kathy said, “Roy kept messing with the recipe and giving it away… I told him we need to leave it alone and just stop. Getting him to stop (changing the recipe) was hard.”
Marketing barbecue sauce wasn’t the intention in the beginning. Roy and Kathy have four children and eight grandchildren, so whenever there was a big family get-together, Roy would try another new recipe. He did it purely for the enjoyment of it. Kathy said it got to where they did lots of bartering. People would do just about anything in exchange for “a jar of that sauce.” So Roy and Kathy finally decided to get serious about it and have it bottled for them so they could sell it. Roy wanted to set up a processing plant and do it themselves, but Kathy told him, “we have too much to do.” They went in search of a bottling company.
Kathy said, “The House of Webster in Rogers, Ark., bottles for us, so we are totally Arkansas based.” She added, “We’re just getting it started. We’ve been at it just a little over a year now. We’re still very local. Harter House has it in Springfield. That’s how Ozarks Farm & Neighbor found us.”
The sauce can also be found at Hudson’s and Edward’s grocery stores in Harrison and at a few other local venues. The best way to find it is online.
The sauce has won many awards: third place in San Diego, first place in the Sauces of Honor competition, and many more. Kathy said they don’t compete in cooking competitions; they win just on the sauce.
Kathy will be the first to tell you, “There’s nothing better than a pork butt and our sauce.”
