Madison County: Harris Family Farm

Kenny and Megan Harris are no strangers to farming. They have owned their farm for 35 years, and looking at their growth, it is easy to understand why they were honored this year as Madison County Farm Family of the Year.

“Kenny and I love farming because we’ve always done it and it just comes natural to us,” Megan said. “But also, because we get such great satisfaction from being able to look at all our cattle and sheep and see that all our hard work is paying off. The love and passion we have for farming is like no other.”

Their first year, the Harrises did not own any land and started off with 60 rented acres. Currently they rent 320 acres and own 100 acres. Their hay and forage production covers 170 acres with an annual yield of four tons per acre.

For livestock, the Harris Farm cow/ calf production includes 222 head of mature females; 100 head of mature female Katahdin and dorper sheep; 18 mature female rabbits, including Californian, New Zealand, mini rex and champagne d’argent rabbits; and a flock of 31 mature, egg-laying chickens.

Kenny also started a turf management business in 2005, helping customers with commercial and residential property management. The business began with sod production and then grew into a complete turf management program, including herbicide applications, landscaping processes and turf management.

At the height of the business there were 115 accounts that were managed on a bi-weekly to monthly basis. As time progressed, the business has scaled back on accounts to approximately 60 as of the end of 2022. The reason for the scaling back of the business accounts was to allow more time to devote to the cattle and other farm enterprises.

“Kenny and I also have a lawn and landscaping business,” Megan said. “So, for the warmer time of the year we are mowing grass and farming, all at the same time.”

Kenny got started earlier than most in the business end of farming.

“I was 12 or 13 years old and got a youth loan from FSA and bought a group of 10 Hereford heifers and a bull,” Kenny said. “From there the cattle herd slowly grew. I ran these cattle on my grandfather’s farm, and I also used some leased property to run them.”

Kenny also milked cows on his grandfather’s dairy until the dairy buyout and helped other local dairy producers with their operations while in high school. After college, he returned home and really started to invest in the cattle herd while working various roles in the timber industry.

Megan was involved in rodeo when she was younger. However, serious health issues limited her involvement as the years went on.

“She was originally from Springdale,” Kenny said, “and I like to say that I saved her from the city.”

Kenny and Megan have two children, Dooley, 18, and Kya, 15.

“Kya is heavily involved in 4-H and also in raising and exhibiting her rabbits,” Kenny said. “She has had good success in showing them and selling them to other youth exhibitors. She has gotten a lot of other kids involved in showing rabbits at the county fair level over the years, too. Dooley was involved in racing micro sprint race cars until an injury sidelined that activity. Currently he works for the North Arkansas Livestock Auction as a hauler and as a pen rider on sale days.”

“It’s been such a great honor to be selected as Farm Family of the Year,” Megan said. “We didn’t think it was real at first. But after it sunk in, we thought, ‘wow, someone or several someones have saw how hard we truly work for what we have.’ And what an accomplishment it’s been.”

One of Kenny and Megan’s favorite stories to tell happened about two years ago in February when a cold weather snap hit the area hard.

“At that time of year, we have a pretty large group of cows that calve,” Megan said. “When they started having babies, the weather was trying to kill

them. The mothers would give birth and the snow was covering them up and ice cold below zero temps were freezing them to death.”

“I couldn’t let them die,” she continued. “So, the only option we had was take them home and try to warm them up and get colostrum in their tummies. Some I was able to take back to their mom and several were too frozen to take back or mom didn’t want them back. So, I had 16 calves living in my house until the temperatures came back up. Then they all went out in the barn to grow big. A very stressful but rewarding time.”

Megan and Kenny have advice for young people starting out.

“Push through the rough times and always look for the good in every situation,” Megan said. “The cost of things is crazy high. And the farmers aren’t getting paid what they should for the hard work, so you have to think outside the box sometimes.”

Kenny added, “Just remember there are three downfalls to the world: No. 1 computers, No. 2 automatic transmissions and No. 3 people selling their farms. For the young people starting out, get up at daylight and go to bed at midnight and it’s ok if you have to go get another job to supplement the farm. If you take care of the farm and the livestock, they will take care of you. Just remember … don’t sell the farm!”