“We don’t want a standard farm, We want to be a little bit different.”
CLEVELAND, ARK. – Teresa and David Scroggins own Lanty Cattle Company, which raises Black Angus cattle. Lanty Cattle Company is located near Cleveland, which is in North Conway County in Arkansas.
In 2024, as the State of Arkansas prepared for the Total Solar Eclipse that moved across the state, officials told residents and communities to expect more than a million people to visit the state.
While not quite as many visitors came as expected, local communities on or near the path of totality had the unique opportunity to host guests from all over the country, even the world.
David and Teresa’s property is 100 acres, 95 of which is farmland. Teresa said they had visitors from six different states for the Eclipse. She also said that more agritourism is part of their plans for Lanty Cattle Co.
One idea is to allow families to schedule photo shoots or family picnics on the property. Teresa recently visited farms in New England to get new ideas from farms that thrive on agritourism.
“We don’t want a standard farm,” she said. “We want to be a little bit different.”
There is another way that Lanty Cattle Co. is unlike many farms in the state. It is designated as a Homegrown By Heroes Farm due to David’s veteran status. In 2005, after he came home from serving in Iraq, the couple purchased their first few head of cattle. They raised them on land leased from her grandfather, Teresa said.
According to the Farmer Veteran Coalition website, “The Homegrown By Heroes label (HBH) is the official farmer veteran branding program of America and is administered nationally by the Farmer Veteran Coalition. It certifies ranchers, farmers, and fishermen of all military eras to sell their products as veteran-owned and produced. The label informs consumers that agricultural products donning the logo were produced by U.S. military veterans, and it allows veterans to differentiate their farm and ranch products in the marketplace.”
The couple later moved to their own farm near the Lanty community, which is the community where her great-grandparents also farmed.
Most of their cattle are Black Angus, and the Scroggins have about 40 cows, several bulls, and about 20 calves. They also have four donkeys.
“With 100 acres, we could have more cattle, but that’s all we have right now,” she said.
While the cattle have access to loose minerals in their feeders all the time, they otherwise free graze in the farm’s meadows, which include clover, Bermuda grass, and Bahia grass. In the winter, the cattle are fed hay that is harvested from the land during the summer. The herd also has access to shelter in the barns when the weather turns harsh throughout the year, Teresa concluded.
Teresa reiterated information that is on the farm’s website, in that the cattle are all taken care of well.
“We treat our cattle in a personal manner,” she said. “They even have names.”
Part of the cattle program involves vaccinations twice a year.
“If we didn’t vaccinate, we wouldn’t have a healthy herd,” she said.
They used to sell most, if not all, of their cattle at the sale barn, but then the COVID-19 Pandemic changed things. They then decided to try having their meat processed locally and selling directly to the consumer.
All of their meat is USDA certified and is processed at Cypress Valley Meats in Pottsville.
“Most farms offer all cuts (for sale),” she said. “We save the tenderloins, then have all the rest of it ground up. So our meat is more like a steakburger.”
In addition to selling their ground meat, Teresa said the farm now has products for sale at local farmers’ markets and online, such as beef snack sticks, dip mixes, and snacks.
The beef snack sticks are USDA-inspected snack sticks from cattle raised on the farm. The sticks are processed in Miami, Okla., at the Quapaw Food Service Authority’s meat processing facility.
The Bull Mountain seasonings and dip mixes, as well as the various snacks such as pretzels and spicy crackers have been incredibly popular at farmers’ markets.
“We want our farm to be used for something related to bringing more people in,” she said.
For more information about the Lanty Cattle Co., including online ordering of some of their products, visit https://www.lantycattlecompany.com/.
