Hometown: Harrison, Ark.
Children: Linton, Arielle, Landon and Haley
In Town: MaLora McElroy works for United Insurance Advisor in commercial customer service servicing policies after they have been sold. She has been with the company for 10 years.
Walter McElora is starting a new business, selling “The Pride” dog performance feed, which comes from Kentucky and has been formulated for working dogs such as Foxhounds, Border Collies, Australian Shepherds and Labradors used for duck hunting.
He purchases the feed by a truckload and serves as the Arkansas distributor.
In the Country: The couple has 137 acres on which they produce raw Jersey milk, commercial beef and fat hogs, in addition to raising Foxhounds.
“We have seven Jersey cows bred by a Jersey bull I raised. We sell raw milk off the farm, by the gallon, 12 months of the year and have two part-Jersey cows we use as a nursing cows for our milkers’ calves, which we finish and sell by private treaty for meat,” Walter explained. “Our milking technology is really from the 1940s and involves a belt that goes over the cows. The milker has a handle on the belt with an attached vacuum hose providing suction for milking.
“Our commercial beef herd is comprised of mostly Angus-influenced mommas bred by a pureblood Angus bull. We have 30 mommas and calve in both the spring and the fall. We wean at 6 to 8 months and usually sell at weaning though we do background occasionally. We buy retired show pigs from Tim Morris and finish them for sale as fat hogs. The biggest concern we have is animal health, regardless of the type of animal, especially in terms of drug resistance in dogs which is why I keep my brood females in separate pens.”
Future: “At this point in time, I occasionally have competitive field trials where 40 to 50 dogs compete in finding coyotes in a 100-acre fenced area,” Walter said. “I am hoping to expand that part of my business with far more competitions and increased fenced acreage for the trials. I am also planning on training puppies to increase my profit margin when I sell them. Finally, our son Linton, who is now welding pipeline, will hopefully someday come back and take over the farm.”
