Owners: Dave and Darlene Shaw
Location: Talihina, Okla.
Family: Sons, Deston (and his wife Jessica) and Derick; and granddaughter Carlee
History: Like most farm kids, Dave Shaw was heavily involved in 4-H and FFA.
“I grew up hauling and working cattle. By my senior year I had started custom applying herbicides with a sprayer I had built in ag class. By the time I graduated college, I had a herd of around 200 commercial cows and was doing lots of vegetative management work for area ranchers and the Corps of Engineers. In 1992, I bought out a contracting business I had been working with and started D&D Ag Service LLC. Since then my company has done more than $9 million in right-of-way mowing, herbicide application, fence construction, metal building fabrication, pond digging, and other similar services for area ranchers and government agencies.”
Products and Services: D&D Ag Service’s main product is providing vegetative management for ranchers and government entities. This is mostly mowing and herbicide application.
“We also build barns, fences, and ponds,” Dave said. “In addition, we own several other businesses that complement D&D Ag.”
They own and operate a 600-acre cattle ranch, the Buffalo Creek Guest Ranch, and have had an income tax accounting service since 1982. Darlene also has a catering business.
“We now have six tractors that mow right of ways. In terms of agriculture we build all types of metal buildings including hay barns and sheds. We continue our herbicide application for ranchers which occasionally requires an on-site visit though not often. I almost always know the property so that a rancher and I can usually decide over the phone what is best for his particular situation whether that means weed control, brush control or total control. We also build fence typically when new owners want new perimeter barbed wire or net fencing. In those cases, we remove the old fence and place the new fence according to the results of a new survey. Pond building is another of our services which sometimes is financed through a cost share program. All of what I do in this business goes back to the skills I learned on the family ranch such as electrical work, welding, dozer work and the like.”
Philosophy: “With our businesses, Darleen and I firmly believe in diversification,” Dave said. “We live in an area that has a long history of being economically depressed. Diversification is an effective way to address that issue.”
