Arkansas Neighbors

On the outskirts of Fayetteville, Ark., is a 5-acre show pig operation known as HogWild Showpigs owned and operated by Jeremy and Dawn Mabry. Jeremy teaches elementary PE in Fayetteville while Dawn, a University of Arkansas employee for 15 years, currently works as a records analyst in the Office of Development.

Jim and Elsie Parker own 280 acres and lease 300 acres in Stilwell, Okla. They raise registered Black Angus using 100 momma’s including 16 heifers and four breeding bulls for cleanup. Both Jim and Elsie came from agricultural backgrounds. Jim remembers feeding cattle when he was in the first grade because his father was gone all week as a traveling carpenter. Elsie, on the other hand, remembers shucking corn for the family’s hogs when she was very young. The couple met through FFA in high school when Elsie was helping her brother with his FFA sheep and Jim came over. Jim and Elsie began dating and later married in 1960. Elsie said, “In those days there was no FFA for girls but our oldest daughter, Tammy Bartholomew, was one of the first girls in FFA in Stilwell and is now an Ag teacher in Missouri.” All three of their children, Tammy, Cindy and Randy were active members in the Stilwell FFA Chapter and showed cattle.

The Ozark highlands in Stilwell, Okla., is home to Jerry and Shirley Garrison. Both moved to Stilwell in 1965 to begin their married life in an 8-foot trailer, that grew to a 12-foot trailer and eventually into a home they built. “Some people who start a farm, want it all today. You have to have patience. We did not live the luxury life. Everything we made, we put right back into farming,” said Jerry. He started out on a dairy farm, working for his dad, and then off to college he went to study Animal Husbandry. “For anyone working with farm animals, you need both the hands-on workmanship and the education.” Jerry took his education very serious.  

Austin Wilkerson may only be 20 years old and pursuing a degree in ag education at North Arkansas College with the intent of transferring to Arkansas Tech to finish his degree, but he is definitely a knowledgeable and experienced show goat farmer. He attends class five days a week though sometimes only for an hour and a half and spends the majority of his time with goats. The young Harrison, Ark., resident owns no land as of yet but already has an enviable show goat business called A&A Show Goats in partnership with Austin Evans who is also in college but a year younger. They rent several locations for raising their herd.

Earlene Boone’s infectious energy spills out onto her farm. She’s a 6-year breast cancer survivor and in September of this year had open-heart surgery. “This is Earlene a week after surgery,” her husband Richard said, holding up his phone with a picture of Earlene tagging a calf.  

Gary and Jewell Proctor of Lincoln, Ark., were both raised on farms and met while they worked at the Baldwin Piano factory in Fayetteville, Ark.

When brothers Kent and Steve Livesay, sons of the late David Livesay, took on their farming partnership of the Livesay Orchards in Porter, Okla., in 1976, adverse weather conditions came with it. Acres of fruit trees and livestock keep the two families involved in the tenable lifestyle. Risk of loss runs high on their 130 acres of peach and apple trees since two of nature’s concerns can instantly be counterproductive and wipe out a season of production. “Difficult challenges and the highest risk on our farm is a spring freeze after blooming. Normally a freeze would not kill trees but would keep the fruit trees from producing. We have had spring freezes and it is just not practical to cover peach trees when you have thousands of them,” said Kent. Drought also makes it difficult. They have limited amounts of water in some of the orchard locations but most of the peach trees have irrigation.

Exclusively raising market lambs for 4-H and FFA shows is a very distinctive feature of Wagner Club Lambs. Unlike many other farms in the state, their only product is sheep. They reach a broad national market for their Suffolk, Hampshire and crossbreds through shows and their website. Clay and Rhianna Wagner have lived just outside of Greenwood, Ark., since 2003.

Many future beef cattle farmers learn to handle a variety of animals by participating in 4-H Clubs or FFA. Others, such as sisters Colleen and Allison Byrn, learn first hand from a family of farmers. The 2013 Tulsa State Fair captured the attention of Colleen and Allison, daughters of Terry Byrn and the granddaughters of Ronnie and Patsy Summers of Afton, Okla., in Ottawa County. Both Afton High School Agriculture students had winning achievements from the Tulsa State Fair. Colleen, 17, won Reserve Champion Heifer and Champion Bred/Owned Angus-Santa Gertrudis cross. Allison, 16, won Grand Champion Heifer and Reserve Champion Bred/Owned Santa Gertrudis.

Each farm or ranch has its own specific charm, but Sawoaks outside of Tahlequah, Okla., is like a manicured park with rolling hills, heavy metal fences and dotted with clumps of beautiful red oak trees. The difference is these hills are home to 152 registered Angus with 40 bulls being sold per year. Al Williams started in the late ‘80s with 110 acres that has gradually grown to 575 acres with a beautiful home sitting on the crest of a hill and overlooking picturesque land. The ranch didn’t look like this in the beginning, however. The land had been full of rock, brush, dead trees and other debris, and Al began clearing by using a brush hog. Patience and persistence have paid off in a big way.