Hometown: Siloam Springs, Ark.
Family: Husband Joe Dean; children Kya (21), Tripp (14), Jade (11) and Ty (3)
In Town: “My husband Joe Dean and I are the proud parents of four, and I work as a school counselor in Gentry, Ark., where I was born and raised. I have been here in education for 10 years, the last seven as a school counselor.”
In the Country: “I’m up at 5:30 to get everyone else up, dressed and fed. The kids help by feeding the barn cats and horses while Joe Dean takes care of the cattle. Joe Dean and I own 26 acres and lease another 110 which is where the majority of our herd stays. We have a total of 14 Hereford momma cows bred by a Brahman bull that stays with them all of the time. We have 20 open heifers, some of which we recently purchased in order to expand our herd and some as replacements. While Joe Dean started with black Angus when he was young on his family’s farm, we now raise F1 Tiger Stripes because they are hardy and good mothers. Joe Dean saw Tiger Stripes when driving through Texas and subsequently met Hereford breeder Debbie Bacon and had a friend with an excellent Brahman bull.
“Calves are weaned at 6 to 7 months, and kept for 45 days in order to get shots and to ensure their health before they are listed on the internet. Joe Dean’s brother Jarvis handles the techie side, and we sell by private treaty as the calves reach the appropriate age and weight. Most of our cows are young and were purchased with longevity in mind. We work the herd twice a year as a family, which has Jade anxiously awaiting to enter the show ring once she decides where she would like to show. We treat flies both by injection and spraying. We make sure not to over graze and strive to keep the land productive and healthy. We supplement grass and hay by hand feeding cubes in order to keep the herd tame since Joe Dean believes gathering them using a sack is far less stressful.
“One day our oldest daughter, who is working on her doctorate, brought some friends from the East Coast who had never seen cattle up close. They climbed into the back of the truck and got to feed the herd by hand. Our bull Travis even came over wanting to be scratched. This is a family farm in the true sense whether we are cutting wood, working cattle or baling hay. As for the future, expanding our holdings and our herd are high on the list which may mean purchasing or leasing more land as we add more cattle, whether at this exact location or somewhere else.”
