Arkansas Neighbors

While watching Paul Ahrens gently and efficiently shear sheep and patiently answer questions about what he is doing, a person would never guess he was formerly a National Guard First Sergeant serving in Iraq. In 2003 he was injured by shrapnel in the back of his legs and spent almost two years recovering. He gives credit to his physical therapists. “Those folks are hard on you but it is worth it to be able to walk again.” Ahrens was not able to shear at all in 2004, but has been back to the job he loves for three years now – shearing sheep around the nation.

It is 6:30 a.m. on Saturday with the sun peeking up over the mountains and the cattle peacefully grazing in the green pastures. It is mornings like these, when Donnie Willis can take time to enjoy the scenery and thank God for what he has, and why Donnie, of Deer, Ark., chose to live and raise a family in his native Newton County.
“When I graduated from school I didn’t want to leave Newton County.  I had my mind made up that I wanted to stay here.  I’m gonna stay here,” said Donnie.

Hard work and old-fashioned ways are important and are proving to be profitable for Kenny and Pam Underdown of Alpena, Ark.  They have taken their love for work horses and horse-drawn equipment and incorporated them into their farming operation.  The Underdowns own and operate Still Springs Farm, a 920-acre beef cattle and haying operation on the banks of the Osage Creek. They have 120 commercial mama cows and handle some 200 feeder calves per year and harvest approximately 70 acres of bermuda grass that normally yields 10,000 to 12,000 square bales of hay per year.

James and Judy Bell have not always been in the cattle business.  In fact, James has a poultry science degree from the University of Arkansas and worked for Tyson Foods before becoming the U.S. division manager and eventually the president of Cobb Vantress.  The couple had raised commercial Brangus cattle on and off while James was working, but after retirement, the couple took a new lease on life and began a registered Brangus herd, while also increasing the number of commercial cattle they had been raising on their 900-acre Rocking Bell Ranch.

James and Pamela Mason are two firm believers in the old saying that, “great things come in small packages."  On their Valley M Miniatures farm in southern Fayetteville, near Greenland, you’ll find 39 head of miniature horses and miniature donkeys, in addition to a kennel of miniature pinschers.  There are also a few “full sized” Wirehaired and Brittany Spaniels that James trains in one of his favorite past-times, bird hunting.  James grew up on a farm in southwest Missouri where he was surrounded by horses and a family that enjoyed the rodeo lifestyle.  Painfully, his past time of riding was cut short when James fractured his back in a riding accident.  After being told by his doctor that if he had another accident like that, he’d be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, James and Pamela decided to slowly divest themselves of their horses. These pet-lovers couldn’t bear to part with all of their horses though, and kept some until their natural deaths.

Hill’s Hobby Farm is not easy to find.  Located many miles off the pavement on the east side of Bull Shoals Lake, Glenn and Sheryl Hill and family share their home with 26 sheep, two Charolais heifers, one black steer, three dogs and some chickens.

It is a love for cattle and the country that brought Calvin and Laura Harris together and keeps their marriage strong after 26 years.
The couple, originally from Fresno, Calf., started raising Limousin cattle in 1979. They moved Harris Cattle Company to Tontitown, Ark., in 1987 to expand the operation and now have 65 cows and two herd bulls they use to raise Limousin, Angus and LimFlex cattle.
LimFlex cattle are a combination of Limousin and Angus, and flex is an acronym for flexible Limousin efficiency cross.
In 2004, the Harrises bought a national reserve champion Limousin bull to breed to their cows. In 2007, they decided to

At the age of 10 years old, Michael Economopoulos walked race horses at a New York track, and dreamed that someday he would have his own race horses. The dream started to become reality in 1979, when he purchased 120 acres at Witts Springs, Ark., and began raising Arabian race horses.

"To see a kid walking out of the show ring with a smile on his face – that’s what it’s all about,” explained Blake Morrison of Morrison Show Cattle near Mountain Home, Ark., in Baxter County. “To know the amount of work they have put into their animals and know that it has paid off. That’s the best part of this life.”

Karen Haralson, who owns and operates Griffin Flat Cow Co., knows well the challenges that face cattle farmers today.
Still, there is no other life she would rather lead.