Hometown: Gravette, Ark.
Family: Husband, Jason; and four children, Jaden, Gemma, Levi and Luke
In Town: Becca Sprinkles is a retail sales associate with Tuckers Furniture and Appliance in Rogers, Ark.
“It’s a lot to help people pick out appliances and furniture for their homes,” Becca said of the family-owned, local business.
In the Country: Becca and her family operate Spavinaw Cattle Company, raising Highland and Angus cattle.
“We bought the farm from Jason’s parents, Jack and Brenda Sprinkles, in the fall of 2021 and transitioned their cow/calf operation into finishing grass-finished beef,” Becca said. “It took a while, but we are now harvesting one beef per month.
“We’re trying to bridge the gap between the grocery store and the buyer. We figure there are a lot of people who want to buy from a farmer but don’t know how.”
The family’s farming practices at Spavinaw Cattle Company take a natural approach, using no herbicides and pesticides. Instead of using chicken litter or other fertilizers, the Sprinkles added plant varieties to improve the soil condition and implemented a mob grazing system.
“We wanted to have more variety and try to fix nitrogen as much as possible,” Becca said. “Our goal is to have 12 different forages growing at one time, so we planted a lot of winter peas, Triticale and hairy vetch. It just made it beautiful. Our goal is to make our beef as nutritious as possible, so giving them more variety of what to eat helps.”
The Angus side of the operation came with the farm, but Becca and Jason brought the Highland cattle when they took over. “We thought they were fun,” Becca said. We had a barren heifer and decided to butcher her, and she was incredibly tender and delicious. We read how nutritious the Highlands are, and they are slow-growing, whereas the Angus is much quicker.”
The majority of beef sold is Angus, but a Highland will be processed in May. Becca also said the popularity of both breeds aids in the marketability of their products.
This year is the first time they have Highland/Angus cross calves.
“Jack and Brenda asked us to put some of their heifers in with our Highland bull, and we had our first crosses,” Becca said. “We hope to get the growth of the Angus, but the health aspects of the Highland. That’s an experiment right now.”
