MAYSVILLE -- The Gittlein Farm near Maysville was chosen as the 2017 Benton County Farm Family of the Year, with the award presented in a special ceremony on June 13 at the Gittlein Farm.
Garrett Gittlein, 32, grew up farming on his family's farm in western Kansas, near Leoti, which is not far from the Colorado state line. His wife Amanda, 31, is from Nickerson, Kan., near Hutchinson and closer to the center of the state. They moved to Northwest Arkansas after Amanda's parents moved to Bella Vista. And they started their own family farm near Maysville nine years ago by buying 40 acres of land and eight registered Black Angus heifers from his wife's family in Kansas. And the Gittleins have been growing the family farm ever since.
"Those eight cows have led us to where we are now and have made Gittlein Farms a successful family farm," Garrett said.
The Gittleins now operate a cattle and hay operation on 820 acres south of Maysville, right on the Arkansas-Oklahoma line. The family owns 350 acres and leases another 470 acres. The operation houses a herd of 175 head of registered Angus cattle and allows the Gittleins to grow bermuda, alfalfa and fescue hay and triticale -- a hybrid of wheat (triticum) and rye (secale) -- in a forage production operation yielding about 1,700 tons of forage and up to 4,000 bales each year.
Garrett has incorporated the cattle and hay production operations into a single business and uses the hay produced to supply forage for his own herd and to another 10 or 11 ranchers. He cleans poultry houses and uses the litter as fertilizer on his fields. He also adopted a crop rotation plan and incorporated irrigation and drainage measures to increase yields.
Garrett said being able to produce his own forage and have enough to supply others gives him a cushion for the cattle business, which has it ups and downs and can change "on a moment's notice."
Garrett said he enjoys farming in spite of the long hours and is wanting to expand, but acquiring land adjacent to the current operation is difficult.
"We'd like to keep growing," he said, adding that he seeks to strike a balance between working and time with his wife and children.
In addition to caring for their two sons, Mason, 6, and Colson, 3, Amanda is employed as the marketing and communications manager at Ozarks Community Hospital in Gravette. She serves as secretary of the Gravette Area Chamber of Commerce and was chosen co-citizen of the year at the Chamber banquet in February. She is also expecting another Gittlein child, a daughter this time, she said.
Amanda says she enjoys the farming life but also likes being connected to Gravette and the Gravette community. It gives her the best of both worlds, she said.
Garrett and Amanda, along with their sons, were recognized June 13 as the 2017 Farm Family of the Year for Benton County.
Jim Singleton, chairman of the selection committee, said the program is designed to recognize farm families and to emphasize the importance of farming to Benton County and Arkansas. The program honors families who integrate modern farming practices into the traditional family farming model, he explained.
He said the objective of the Farm Family of the Year program, now in its 70th year, is to "give recognition and encouragement to farm families [which] are doing an outstanding job on their farms and in their community; to gain recognition of the importance of agriculture in the county and the state of Arkansas"; and "to disseminate information on improved farm practices and farm management." He said the goal of the selection committee "is to select a family [which] utilizes improved farming practices, plays an active role in the community in which they life, and best represents Benton County agriculture."
"Certainly the family we have selected today personifies those attributes," Singleton said.
Letters from Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., and 3rd District Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, that congratulated and praised the Gittleins were read to the crowd of a dozen or so people who attended the June 13 announcement.
County Judge Barry Moehring read a proclamation honoring the Gittleins, noting "22 percent of all Arkansans support their families on incomes from jobs in agriculture and related enterprises."
"The Gittlein family serves to illustrate that cooperation and hard work are viable principles in maintaining the success of a family farm, while instilling responsibility and a strong work ethic in our youth, which are keys to the vitality of our rural communities, our country, our state and our nation," Moehring's proclamation said.
State Rep. Dan Douglas, R-Bentonville, read a proclamation adopted by the state Legislature honoring the Gittleins. Douglas said he was pleased to see a young couple, with two young children and a third on the way, involved in agriculture.
"It's truly great to see a young couple with a young family involved in farming," Douglas said. "Most times you see folks like me who are old and gray-headed."
Farm Family Program
For 70 years, the Farm Family of the Year program has recognized district winners across Arkansas. Those families are eligible for recognition as the state Farm Family of the Year. That award is announced in December.
Source: Staff report
Tom Sissom contributed to this report.
General News on 07/06/2017