Did you know George Strait has a degree in Agricultural Education? Brantley Gilbert showed hogs at the fair. Luke Bryan grew up on a peanut farm in Georgia and worked in his dads fertilizer business before heading to Nashville.
Many country music artist sing about farming, but few actually have real farm experience.
I knew the members of the group Alabama had grown up in cotton country, but was surprised to learn Randy Owens, the lead singer of Alabama not only owns Tennessee River Music Herefords and Angus, but has been actively involved in the cattle industry his whole life.
Randy Owen with his Hereford cattle at a show. Photo by the Associated Press.
Owen?s farm is located in Ft. Payne, Alabama where he grew up.? It?s a 3,000 acre operation that? consist of 500-head of Hereford and Angus cattle. Much of land that is now part of the farm was sharecropped and rented by his? family for row crops.
The name of the farm comes from Alabama?s first number one single, Tennessee River Music.
In a 2006 interview with CMT Owen said, ?I?ve been in the cattle business all my life. I didn?t get in the cattle business. I was born in the cattle business. Hog business, chicken business, farming business. I grew up with my parents picking cotton. We had pigs, chickens, cows, dogs, sheep, goats, mules, horses. The only difference is, when I got a little successful in the country music business, I wanted to raise registered Hereford cattle. Then a few years later, I got some registered Angus cattle. Here again, you can?t seem to ever get this straight to people, but I didn?t decide. ? The only thing I ever changed was the fact that I bought some registered cattle.
I?m also very knowledgeable about the cattle business. I keep up with it, and I have all my life. It?s not like I?m some guy that just decided to have cows. I make all the decisions about what goes on at my farm?
He says his knowledge of the cattle industry comes from his? father and two grandfathers.
?My Paw-Paw Owen always had cattle and mules. My grandfather, Henry B. Teague Sr., had cattle, horses, a beautiful farm. He could pick more cotton than anybody I?ve ever seen, to this day. Of course, nobody picks it anymore. He picked a double row. When I hear that song by Merle Haggard (?Tulare Dust?) about ?Seeing Mom and Dad/Both of them taking a double row,? I know what a double row is. ?
Each year the farm holds a production sale and the Hereford operation will celebrate its 30th consecutive production sale May 25th, 2013. Owens performs at the sale each year and all concert proceeds are donated to the Hereford Youth Foundation.
Randy's youngest daughter Randa was very active showing cattle in her 4-H day and appears to still own cattle of her own. Here she is pictured with her dad and mom, Kelly after winning Supreme Showman at the Alabama Beef Expo. (Photo courtesy of Alabama Co-op Farming News)
Owen said in his book, Born Country, ?What I?ve tried to do with the book is let kids who grow up on farms in the sticks know that it?s cool to do that; it?s cool to be a kid that drives a tractor and raises corn and cotton, and if you want to do something else in life, that?s possible, too.?
Heather Hetterick has been promoting agriculture from an early age. From her 4-H and FFA days to present, sharing the ag story has been important to Heather.
Her current responsibilities include reporting for the Ohio Ag Net, filling in for Dale Minyo and sales for the radio network. She is also involved with sales for Ohio?s Country Journal.
She is a graduate of the Ohio State University, where she was named one of the Top 10 Seniors in the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. After college Heather was the Director of Marketing & Education for the Ohio Pork Producers Council. She then went on to work for Clear Channel Radio and Time Warner Cable before joining the Ohio Ag Net.
Heather also blogs about food, frugality and freebies at http://www.heathershelpings.com. She resides in Shelby County, near Botkins, with her husband Zach.
Source: http://ocj.com/2012/11/alabamas-randy-owen-at-home-in-the-cattle-business/
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