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The Rev. Jerry and Dena Whitley say that when they purchased nearly 350 acres of land off Narrows Road in Crows in 2000, they didn’t know they would be farming, and they had no previous experience.  Jerry Whitley, who also is a paster in Bryant, shows off his Angus and Fleckviegh cattle on his farm in Crows that has earned his family the 2008 Saline County Farm Family of the Year award. The family is eligible to become the Arkansas Farm Family of the year in December. The program is sponsored by Arkansas Farm Bureau, Arkansas Press Association, Farm Credit Services of Western Arkansas, Agheritage Farm Credit Services, Farm Credit Midsouth Associations and Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas. (Courier photo by Matt Burks)
“I didn’t know the front end of a cow to the back,” Jerry Whitley said. “I bought the land because I wanted it, and the land forced us into farming ... but now I love it and don’t want to stop doing it.”
Eight years later, the family finds itself with more than 500 acres, more than 250 cattle, producing round bales of hay — and now named the 2008 Saline County Farm Family of the Year. They also are eligible to win the Arkansas Farm Family of the Year in December.
 Saline County residents Jerry and Dena Whitley were recently honored as the 2008 Saline County Farm Family of the Year for their cattle and hay farm off Narrows Road in Crows. Jerry is also a pastor at the Bryant First Pentecostal Church on Arkansas 5. Dena is holding the family dog Sissy. (Courier photo by Matt Burks)
The Whitleys have been married for 20 years and have four children. The couple adopted the two oldest children, Kendra, 26, and Curtis, 28 who live locally. The youngest two, Seth, 12, and Jordan, 17, live with their parents and help with the farm.
Jerry Whitley said that although he started farming to manage the land he’d fallen in love with, he now finds it therapeutic.
“Sometimes I just drive my four-wheeler out into the pasture and watch the cattle feed,” he said. “It is a relief and therapy for me. I just love it.”
Dena Whitley said it is good to have a place for her husband to find a release of emotions since she has had health issues.
“I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005,” she said. “It metastasized in 2007.”
Jerry Whitley said she has exceeded everyone’s expectations and is able to help with the accounting for the farm.
Both Whitleys are originally from Arkansas, but they moved to Texas years ago when Jerry Whitley decided to become a Pentecostal pastor in Fort Worth. In 2000, he was called to lead the Bryant First Pentecostal Church on Arkansas 5, he said, and that’s when he found the land in the small Saline County community of Crows.
“It was a small church then when I came back to Bryant to preach,” he said. “It is now one of the largest churches in Bryant. I don’t take compensation as a pastor, so I looked into something else to make money. I love the land and river and found this piece of property. I called and said that I had to have it, and I bought it.”
The Whitleys said they tried a variety of ideas to cultivate the land, including bush hogging, but they found it was a lot of work with little reward. For two years, they had a pumpkin patch and a petting zoo for children.
“We use to have hundreds to thousands of kids come through the pumpkin patch,” Dena Whitley said. “We had a hundred to a thousand pumpkins and it was a lot of fun, but on the third year, the deer found the pumpkins. They say deer won’t eat pumpkins, but don’t believe that. ... We even planted pumpkins twice on that third year, but the deer got into the patch again.”
Five years ago, the Whitleys decided to build a house and try their hand in farming hay and cattle. Though they had no experience, they were determined and said they found that farming was the best way to manage the land.
“I started with the cattle to manage the land,” Jerry Whitley said. “It was a lot of work and we had some failures, but we stuck with it and fell in love. We just learned what we could, spent a lot of money and we’ve lost calves before because of poor management skills.”
To help with the management of the cattle, the Whitleys hired David Klaeger in 2007 to be a farmhand.
“He is invaluable around here,” Jerry Whitley said. “Not only does he have a ton of experience and a degree in agriculture, he can fix the equipment and do just about everything else.”
The Whitleys said they also felt it was important to include their children with the aspects of the farming lifestyle. They said that not only have their children grown accustomed to the lifestyle, now they do not want to leave the land.
“We thought about selling the property not too long ago,” Dena Whitley said. “During our thinking about it, our kids begged us not to move away from the farm.”
Jerry Whitley said he and the children have learned to ride the few horses they have on the farm and are building a horse arena for team penning. The family said they also have another barn under construction.
The land, which Jerry Whitley said was full of brush and other nuisances when they purchased it in 2000, now has five ponds, two barns, more than two miles of fencing, and more ponds and barns under construction. They usually sell about 2,000 bales of hay per year, and they hope to sell about 3,000 this year.
“We are really beefing up the ground,” he said. “We have come a long way. ... We have improved the value of the land by 600 percent, and we are finally at the point were we can profit from the farm.”
The family also has 70 commercial red Angus cows and 70 black Angus cows. The Whitleys also have been crossing the Angus cows with Fleckviegh bulls and have purchased several Fleckviegh cows for flushing and embryo transfer.
“[The Whitleys] are very innovative in trying new practices,” Saline County Extension agent Ron Matlock explained. “They are easy to converse with and hard workers. I appreciate their honesty and work.”
The Whitleys will find out in December whether they are winners of the Arkansas Farm Family of the Year, but Jerry Whitley said he is just happy that he and his family have found a new love.
“We love our land,” he said. “It is a lot of work, but is also very rewarding ... we are on the leading edge of Fleckviegh cattle and our children love it.”
The Arkansas Farm Family program is sponsored by Arkansas Farm Bureau, Arkansas Press Association, Farm Credit Services of Western Arkansas, Agheritage Farm Credit Services, Farm Credit Midsouth Associations and Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas.
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