Arkansas Neighbors

White, black and red signs mark O’Neal Limousin Farm as it stretches along on both sides of Scenic Highway 23 through Branch, Ark. Just behind the home of Gary and Beth O’Neal, black Limousin cattle pepper the hillside grazing on grass made green by the unusual July rains. Their home overlooks a large pond and the pastures where they keep heifers and weaning calves. “I keep the first year heifers up here to give them a little extra care the first three or four months of their pregnancy," Gary said. “Spoiled is what they are,” laughed Beth. “Yes, they are spoiled,” Gary admitted, “but that’s okay.”

Dwight Carney has been around cattle all his life. After working for Walmart for a number of years and helping his father with his cattle, he decided to start building his own herd. Dwight and his wife Debbie now own 1,000 acres near Cane Hill, Ark., and have 150 cows as well as their home in Fayetteville on 90 acres. They have three children, a son and two daughters who still live in the area. “The farm in Fayetteville is just a play farm,” he said. “We raise cattle, mix our own feed and bale hay at (the Cane Hill) place.” Dwight used to raise Limousin. “But, we now raise Angus and cross them with black Limousin bulls,” Dwight said.

The red and white flowers of the crepe myrtles lining the road through Winningham Farms provide a hint of what you will find out in their pastures. For the past three years, Doyce and Peggy Winningham have been raising registered Polled Hereford cattle on their 500-acre farm located near Center Ridge, Ark., in Conway County. The Winninghams have found Hereford cattle to be just the right fit for their operation, and when it comes to farming you might say that the Winninghams have just about done it all.

There is nothing ordinary about Todd Stephens and his wife, Melissa.  Extraordinary would better describe their lives, their family and their farm. In fact, a close friend once called their farm “A little slice of Heaven.”

The youngest of six children, L.C. Ratchford is perpetuating the tradition of his father Odas Ratchford, who started the farm after he returned from World War II in late 1945. The family operation evolved and passed eventually to L.C., when his dad passed away in 1988.

Jared and Anita Munyon are do-it-yourselfers when it comes to their farm. The couple, along with Jared’s parents, John and Linda, run Tri M Valley Farm – a dairy and beef operation near Canehill, Ark.

Newt Mitchum’s love for riding horses started when he was only three years old. Since then, his passion has grown into the Arkansas 7 Express, a non-profit riding club that teaches Fort Smith, Ark., area youth the joys of horsemanship.

Ken Douthit has rhythm, and he shows it while caring for his seven-day-old turkey poults. Turkeys are naturally curious animals, which sometimes results in their piling up while looking at something or trying to reach something. This can lead to large death loss. To avoid this, Ken Douthit always pauses to clap and herd the turkey poults back up the rings before he leaves his barns. The poults have been following him questionably to the end of the ring, where they started bunching together, until Ken started his display of rhythm.

Kent "Woody" Porter started in the business fighting bulls. “One night me and a guy named Scooter were fighting bulls together. It was a tough show. Scooter split his lip and broke his nose. I broke my hand and something else,” Woody said. “We went to get paid, sitting at the fair waiting for the stockman contractor to come pay us our money. In walked the rodeo clown. He wasn’t even dirty. All happy go lucky. Nothing hurt. The contractor paid us and then paid the clown twice as much. I said I wanted his job. The contactor said,  'Good.  You’ve got it next week.' That is how I became a rodeo clown.”

Larry and Kathleen Holt, who own K and L Farms in Mount George, Ark., have two successful farming operations that they have decided, complement each other perfectly. On the Holt’s 1,000-acre farm south of Russellville, Ark., they have both a Beefmaster operation and a poultry operation.