Concord cattle company receives county honor
CONCORD — William Arthur “Bill” Davis III and his wife, Gail Davis, have been named the 2021 Cleburne County Farm Family of the Year. They own and operate the Chimney Rock Cattle Co., where they raise registered and commercial Brangus cattle on 2,100 acres.
“I am very grateful for this honor,” Bill said. “It is quite an honor to be recognized in Arkansas, which is truly an agricultural state.”
Gail said she “couldn’t believe it when we learned we had been named Farm Family of the Year.
“It’s really a great honor,” she said. “Bill loves his cows.”
Bill said their main business is “selling seedstock registered Brangus cattle for breeding.”
“We sell our commercial cattle for beef,” he said.
“We bought our first commercial cows in 1999 and registered cows in 2003,” Bill said.
“The cattle business is not for the faint of heart, but it is certainly as rewarding as it is challenging,” he said. “I think we face many of the same challenges as our friends and neighbors — weather, markets, etc. — and each is approached as best we know how.
“The seedstock business in particular is challenging, with the average producer lasting approximately seven years. We started putting together our purebred herd in 2004, and this fall, we will host our 15th consecutive sale. We’ve seen just about everything in that time span, and the one thing we have learned is good cattle will always help you through the good times and the bad.”
Bill said his grandfather, the late William Arthur Davis Sr., owned and operated a livestock market and packing plant in west Arkansas.
“I lived for sale day and learned much of what has helped me in business and life from him,” Bill said. “One of the things I learned was a passion for the cattle business. The love of the industry was in my DNA, and when I had the opportunity to jump into the commercial cattle business at a large scale in the 1990s, I took it, and it has morphed into where we are today.”
Chimney Rock Cattle Co. will host a production sale Nov. 5 and 6, “where we will sell approximately 150 registered Brangus and Ultrablack bulls, 100 registered females and 300 commercial females,” Bill said.
“We also market bulls and females privately at the ranch throughout the year,” he said. “In addition, we are partners with four other ranches across the country in a marketing alliance called Geneplus, where we pool our genetics with these ranches, allowing us to spread our genetics not only through our own sale, but those hosted by our partner ranches.”
After the couple’s first production sale in 2007, Gail opened an event center at the ranch called The Cow Palace as a commercial venue.
“We hosted many parties, weddings, proms and company banquets,” Gail said, “but I have retired from that business.”
Bill, 70, was born in Fayetteville but moved to Little Rock with his family when he was 5. He is a son of the late William Arthur “Jake” Davis Jr. and Tommye Arbogast Davis of Little Rock. Bill has one sister, Diane Lord of Little Rock.
He is a 1970 graduate of Catholic High School in Little Rock.
Gail, 75, is a daughter of the late Joe and Maude Welborn and the stepdaughter of the late John Stair, all of Batesville. Gail is the youngest of five children and has one living sister, Ann Hankins of Cabot.
Gail graduated from Batesville High School in 1963.
“I went to Lyon College for one year but decided I wasn’t really a student and would do much better working,” she said. “So I went out to seek my fortune. I met Bill when I was 28. We have been married since 1975.”
The Davises also own Bill Davis Trucking Inc. in Batesville.
“He bought his first truck 46 years ago,” Gail said. “I still help with that business. I think we started with
five trucks and now have about 60 trucks. We now haul loads coast to coast.
“This business has been extra good to us,” Gail said. “We have such good people working for us.”
In 1986, Bill got into the race-car business. He owned auto-racing team Bill Davis Racing from 1987 to 2008.
“He had as many as five teams during the height of NASCAR racing popularity,” Gail said, adding drivers that included Mark Martin, Ward Burton and Jeff Gordon. “It was exciting, but very hard. He moved that business to High Point, North Carolina, in 1995. I stayed here and ran the trucking business out of Batesville. I still do the financial stuff.”
Among Bill Davis’ racing accomplishments was winning the Daytona 500 in 2002 and being inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.
Bill said he has no plans to expand his cattle business.
“I’ve never worked for anybody except myself,” Bill said, smiling. “And I’ve always worked, even in high school. We are ‘practicing retiring,’ but I am still working.”
Gail added that they do have another home in the Blue Ridge Mountains where they go to relax.
Bill said they “never quit trying to build a better mousetrap.”
“We are constantly trying to find ways to improve our facilities, our herd management and our genetics,” he said. “We have recently hired what we believe to be the two top herdsmen in the entire Brangus breed, and they are taking our programs to new heights at every level. Too many seedstock programs are too reliant on supplemental feed, but to the contrary, we are going back to the basics and enhancing our grazing program with our balance of Bermuda and fescue and seeing excellent results.
“My grandfather taught me at a young age — you take care of the ground, and it will take care of you,” Bill said. “We have great interest in leaving the land better than we found it and have built our management and fertility programs around that, so as to have little or no issues with erosion, exceptional soil health and abundant grass that is not overgrazed and is given rest so the land has time to recover. Just like people, the ground needs rest from time to time in order to reach its maximum potential.”
Gail said she and Bill have had a great partnership.
“I do the things he doesn’t know about, and he does the things I don’t know about,” she said. “We work well together.
“We have no children, but we have had lots of help along the way. I knew he loved the trucks and the racing, but at some point, I knew we would have cattle in our lives. I have a lot of respect for his vision and his abilities.”