Larry and Kathy Barnes
In Town: Jerry said, “I own Barnes Four State Auction Service out of Highfill, Ark. We do all types of auctions with the last four years being lots of real estate, 90 percent of which is farm property. We also routinely sell guns and personal property both on-site and at our auction house. I always loved spending the whole day at auctions, and one day Kathy commented that getting paid for going would be better. Listening to her and then attending auction school was one of the smartest things I’ve ever did.”
In the Country: “We have three different farms with 360 acres and a commercial herd. We also hay for ourselves, as well as, to sell. In the last couple of years we made more on the hay than the cattle. We also raise breeder hens and just built a super-house which is 840 feet long with a processing center in the middle. Kathy hated working at a pharmacy, as well as, dealing with the traffic so now she runs the laying house.”
Building a better lifestyle: “Our goal is to be debt free, and now we are except for our new chicken house which is self-supporting. We have almost finished building a new maintenance free and energy-efficient retirement home with no stairs, which we are paying for as we go. Our goal to be totally debt-free in seven or eight years is reachable because we both work seven days a week and decided years ago that if we worked as hard for ourselves as we did for others we would be better off.”
Story and Photo by Terry Ropp
