Today’s people are busier than ever, but the Keenen family in Prairie Grove, Ark., pushes that to the limit.
Grant and Heather each work off the farm, run both registered Brangus and commercial cattle herds and are civically active in addition to raising their 3-year-old daughter Bella Cate. Grant is the George’s Cattle Division Manager while Heather is the business manager and executive broker for Team Ag Real Estate & Appraisals in Lincoln, Ark.
In addition, Grant is now overseeing his mother’s farming operation after his father Mark suddenly passed away in August.
Meanwhile, Grant is on the Arkansas Cattlemens’ Association Executive Board, and Heather is president of the Lincoln Area Chamber of Commerce and both serve on the Washington County Farm Bureau Board. In December of 2015, Keenens won the Arkansas Farm Bureau Excellence in Ag Award, an award that focuses on career impact on agriculture as well as leadership and community involvement.
Grant and Heather met when they were in college. Grant was working for a Western apparel store in Springdale, Ark., when Heather came in with her sister to buy a pair of boots. The next fall the couple were married and purchased 144 acres in Carthage, Mo., from Grant’s grandfather to begin their cattle operation. After living on their farm for six months, the couple moved back to Northwest Arkansas and began working for the J.B. Hunt family, with Grant managing their ranch and Heather working as an assistant to Mrs. Hunt.
The couple continued to live in Northwest Arkansas where career opportunities are more plentiful.
“Northwest Arkansas has offered us professional positions that make our involvement in the community and agriculture possible while allowing us to own and continually improve our farm in Missouri,” Heather said. “If that meant living and working away from the farm to be able to keep it successful for our future, then we were going to make that happen.”
The Keenens recently finished renovating their Missouri acreage, which now consists of multiple pastures of 8 to 15 acres each with fresh water cattle fountains with cattle groups numbering around 25 cows, the perfect size for one bull. The groups are moved according to weather and forage conditions. The herd is grass fed and supplemented with Vitalix tubs for vitamins, minerals and extra protein as needed. Their fescue, clover and orchard grass hay is purchased. A little Bermuda hay is also procured for horses and weaned calves.
“There may be a less expensive way to do this, but with everything we’re doing right now, buying hay makes the most sense,” Grant said. “I get to Missouri on the weekends and sometimes more often, especially when days are longer.”
Keenen Land and Cattle (KLC) grew significantly last year when the couple purchased the registered Brangus Polk Creek Farms herd in its entirety. Grant had known the Oden, Ark., owner, R.C. Smith, for several years. Smith messaged Grant about selling his cow herd because of a new career path. Grant told his wife about the call. Heather said, “Why not us? This is just the kind of opportunity we have been working off the farm for.”
Grant and Heather’s registered Brangus herd consists of 102 mommas and three primary herd sires with “others in the tank.”
The females are AI’d once and then bulls are used to cleanup. They run both fall and spring calving seasons and are in the process of revitalizing the herd through culling and retaining heifers. KLC markets registered bulls to commercial cattlemen and other registered breeders. They sold their entire crop of fall 2014 and spring 2015 bulls this year. They currently have yearling, and 2-year-old bulls hand picked to cleanup breeding heifers and a select group of open and bred registered heifers available.
Grant’s off the farm job is managing George’s 500 to 600 head commercial herd at multiple locations in Northwest Arkansas. The herd is 100 percent black, both Brangus and Angus influenced and bred naturally. The calves are weaned, vaccinated, boostered and are sold in load lots which allows him a handful of different marketing tools.
“We currently use live auction, private treaty and video sales. We will be pursuing new marketing options in the near future,” Grant said. “The George family treats everyone who works with them well and with respect. They are very interested and invested in the cattle program. I am happy to put my knowledge and experience to work for them caring for their animals and managing their ranch investments.”
As business manager, Heather has helped Team Ag Real Estate & Appraisals grow. Team Ag is a full service real estate agency whose primary business is poultry farm appraisals. In the last five years they have expanded to a new retail office, grown their team and are now performing nearly 400 poultry farm appraisals per year. To add to that, Heather is a top selling Realtor, personally closing nearly $5 million in sales in 2016.
The Keenens have several Quarter horses both in Arkansas and Missouri.
Bella Cate loves helping dad work cows and doing playdays with her horse named Peanut Butter. At these events she participates in all four activities: speed, poles, barrels and goats.
