Arkansas Neighbors

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.

Wayne and Annie Anstine of Mulberry, Ark., have spent their lives trying to find a balance between their economic needs and farming. In 1981, the couple purchased an unused army barracks from Fort Chaffee for $800 but paid $1,200 to have the building moved to their new 160 acres in Mulberry. The home has undergone numerous additions growing into a beautiful, rustic style home and the homestead for two children and eight grandchildren.

Roots run deep at Styles Ranch in Coal Hill, Ark. Jamey Styles’ father was an Ag teacher at Hartman and Coal Hill, who had started out teaching Vocational Agriculture to the newly-returned veterans of World War II in the late 1940s. He was an innovative farmer and owned both the first automated square baler and the first round baler in the county. The family raised cattle, horses and hay in the fertile river bottoms of Johnson County.

For 82-year-old Harley Swan, Jr. (2nd generation), herding and milking the Holstein and Brown Swiss cows on the Swan Brothers Dairy Farm in Claremore, Okla., is not just a job. It is his benefaction towards the 90-year legacy left by his dad Harley Swan, Sr. Twice a week and during vacations, Harley Jr., herded the cattle to the milking station for its daily 300 gallon production of wholesome goodness, Grade A raw milk.

In 2006 James and Elaine Couch sold their home and bought 211 acres in Colcord, Okla. The couple’s goal was to raise free-range cows, chickens and hogs as well as the meat goat herd they brought with them, with the intent of making naturally raised food affordable for everybody. They currently have a commercial cattle herd of 28 momma cows, 20 yearlings and 20 calves and are steadily improving the quality of the herd with Beefmaster genetics.

Troy and Kathy Cline have always been a busy couple, so busy they had a marriage license but had difficulty finding time to marry. Then one day it snowed, really snowed, a full 18 inches. They had worked all day and night the day before in Springdale, Ark., at the sale barn and then traveled to Berryville, Ark., to work when it started snowing. Kathy said, "That was when we finally had time to get married. We called the Justice of the Peace who had gone fishing on Groundhog Day. He came back and performed his first wedding on us." Then Troy grinned and said, "I got her young enough to train her the way I wanted." Kathy nodded in agreement and said, "My mom had cows that basically took care of themselves so I knew nothing about cattle. I married into this mess."

The rugged beauty of Hancock horses drew Jennifer and Brett Keller to research and to ultimately start their own breeding program in Mulberry, Ark.

The alarm came over the phone, and Larry and Juliana Davis of Miami, Okla., scurried into a recently built safe room. A minute and a half later a tornado touched down 200 yards away before returning to the storm above. This tornado had been spawned by the same system that demolished Moore, Okla. After 20 minutes the owners of Twin Rivers Grain and Cattle emerged to find their house and one equipment shed with all of their equipment unharmed, but six buildings and their grain bins destroyed. Cows were racing every which way; old trees were snapped and uprooted. One blessing is that none of the cattle were injured although it took three hours just to get a truck in to begin rounding up the frightened animals.

East of Tulsa, Okla., on Hwy 412, one can certainly tell where the farming life begins. It is almost instantly innocuous. No whirling sounds of emergency vehicles, no threats of crime and an immediate realization of a population decrease. North off of Hwy 412 outside of Inola, Okla., the winding road eventually turned into a one lane road, hovered trees and plentiful wildlife with an amazing stretch of a panoramic view of the Moore’s Fish Farm.

Arkansas has recently instituted a program that designates and honors farms that had been in the same family for 100 years, and the Morgan operation in both Lamar and Clarksville, Ark., was among the first, even though part of the farm was established almost 140 years ago. The operation that Steve and Carol Morgan run is highly diversified with cattle, turkeys and a pick-your-own peach orchard. Steve’s son, Mark, works full-time with his father on the farm which also supports three full-time employees. Steve said, "Every part of the operation has downtime, and the diversity allows us to keep everybody busy all of the time. In fact, we' re never caught up."