What started out as a hobby has turned into a full-time job for Gary and Kristi Sewell, and ultimately their love and passion.
Each year the Arkansas Farm Family of the Year program selects the top farm families in each county. And the Sewells passion and love for their farm has led them to being named Union County’s Farm Family of the Year for 2018.
Gary Sewell said cattle started out as a hobby for him 30 years ago, “and over the years, it’s just grown.”
With over 4,200 total acres, the Sewells use 3,668 for timber production, mostly in pine plantations ranging from two to 20 years of age, Sewell said. The timberland is evaluated and cruised for timber values every two years and stream side areas are left in natural hardwood production for wildlife management and soil conservation.
“Wildlife management is very important to our family as our children and grandchildren spend many hours each fall in the woodlands hunting,” he said. “We have approximately 30 acres in planted food plots ranging from two to 10 acres each.”
Sewell’s cow herd consists of a total of 477 head, including Brangus bulls, females and calves, Brangus yearling bulls, commercial females and others.
“Our main objective is to grow the best replacement females in the market today,” Sewell said.
They do that by artificially inseminating (AI) all of their females and cleanup with top quality Gene Trust Bulls.
Sewell said one of the reasons he thinks they were chosen as Farm Family of the Year is because he is practicing new agricultural technologies.
“Right now in the cattle industry, one of the technologies at the forefront is EPD (Expected Progeny Difference),” he said. “It’s a way to select the best males and females in your herd.”
Sewell said approximately 30 of his top heifers are kept in their herd for replacement females each year and that they are constantly upgrading their herd by “breeding the best females to the best bulls in the Brangus breed by AI.”
Sewell said that the most popular Brangus bull today is a bull called Three-D.
“In 2016, we AI’d 50 top quality females to Three-D and got 27 offspring,” Sewell said. “The quality of these bulls and heifers is really awesome. They are pictures of what the Brangus breed is about. We could not be happier with this breeding selection.”
Sewell said he is very proactive in trying new grasses.
“Although we are farmers, we are grass farmers first,” he added.
The Sewells harvest the grass through grazing their cattle and hay production. The cattle graze 460 acres of hybrid Bermuda pasture. The grasses they have are Tifton 44, Coastal, Alicia and Summerall 007 Bermuda grass. Sewell said the Summerall 007 is a new hybrid Bermuda grass developed in 2010 by Billy Summerall through the Mississippi State University Agriculture Program.
“The 007 has a very deep rooted system, which allows it to withstand drought and cold weather better than most Bermuda grasses,” he said.
Hay is harvested from 120 acres and their goal is to produce 6 tons per acre, per year. Soil samples are taken annually and pastures are fertilized according to the University of Arkansas recommendations, he said.
“Every farm’s ability to produce a quality crop is totally dependent upon moisture received,” Sewell said. “In 2016 we produced the Grand Champion Hay and in 2017, the Reserve Champion Hay at the Union County Fair.”
Sewell said he originally purchased the farm in 1988 from ConAgra Poultry Co. The farm was 160 acres, “and over the years, as property became available, I would add to it.”
“I’m originally an oil and gas drilling contractor, and I still am an oil and gas drilling contractor,” he said. “I’m just lucky enough to have a good superintendent that runs the drilling company, which gives me time to spend here at the ranch.”
In addition to raising quality cattle, Sewell also breeds and raises top performance cutting horses. He said two of the top cutting horse stallions being bred and shown today are Metallic Cat and Woody Be Tuff.
“We have an own daughter of Metallic Cat, Metallic Star, who is in foal to Woody Be Tuff,” he said. “We are most excited about this breeding and wait in great anticipation of the foal, due in February.”
According to a press release, President of Arkansas Farm Bureau Randy Veach said, “The Arkansas Farm Family of the Year program recognizes great farmers and ranchers each year and these families are involved in noble and important work to provide food, fiber and shelter to the world.”
Since 1947, the Arkansas Farm Family of the Year program has recognized outstanding farm families throughout the state. The objectives of the program are:
• To give recognition and encouragement to farm families who are doing an outstanding job on their farm and in their community;
• To gain recognition of the importance of agriculture in the community and state;
• To disseminate information on improved farm practices and management.
The county winners will all be visited by a set of judges to determine eight district winners in the state, which will be announced June 20. On Dec. 6, the state’s Farm Family of the Year will be announced at the Farm Family of the Year luncheon in Little Rock.