Arkansas Neighbors

Coming together to make a family farm - despite breed preferences - was key to Frank (left) and Terrell Newberry's success

Two necessary traits are inherent in every successful Arkansas farmer.  One is the ability to accept change for the better.  The other is knowing when to hold onto something that is uncommonly good.

Two couples, Bryan and Amber Bench, and Randy and Nancy Williams, have combined their skills and resources to form Nature’s Green Grass Farms. Their goal is to raise tender and tasty grass-fed beef using nothing but what nature provides. They have chosen Devon cattle as the breed for their Everton, Ark., operation. The interesting thing about Devon cattle is that they were brought to America for the first time in 1623. If this rings a historic bell, that’s because the Pilgrims landed here in 1620, so it was just a few years later that three Devon heifers and a Devon bull first hoofed it onto American soil. The herd that the Benches and the Williamses now have is descendants of these cattle. Bryan is proud to call Devons a heritage breed, pure, not crossed with another breed. A few changes have been made since the first four were consigned from Devonshire, England, to the colonies. For example, American stockmen have developed a polled strain of purebred Devons. Interestingly enough, this traces back to a bull born in 1915 in Concordia, Mo., not too far from here.

Shiloh Shores uses lands granted to his great-grandfather to build his cattle operation When someone grows up in a rural area of Oklahoma where half...

Greg and Kinsey Bradford started their farm with laying hens, but now are a multi-species operation  DAMASCUS, ARK. - Bradford Valley Farms began when Greg...

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.

DeeDee and Ron Haynes started raising registered Red Angus cattle because their youngest son, Jordan wanted to show Red Angus cattle. They visited the Orys at their Circle 7 Red Angus Ranch in Missouri at the suggestion of a friend to see what the breed was all about. They had raised commercial cattle and at the time registered Beefmaster. “Registered Beefmaster didn’t work out too well with our kids showing so we switched to Red Angus and started showing those. That is how we built this herd,” Ron said. “Whatever breed you have is what you think is the best,” DeeDee said. “We like a color, red. I know most people like the black but, we just like red.” DeeDee believes Red Angus cattle have good dispositions, have a better coat, are more heat tolerant and marble out just as well as Black Angus cattle. “They are just a good breed,” DeeDee said.

A once nearly extinct American icon can once again be found grazing on the prairies of Delaware County, Okla., thanks to the effort of Cherokee Nation and the InterTribal Bison Cooperative.

Dax DeLozier is a budding busienssman, a cattleman and hopes to be a veterinarian FFA members have a plan. They’re taught this in both course...