Cody and Hannah Walker of Henderson have been named as the 2021 Baxter County Farm Family of the Year, the Arkansas Farm Bureau has announced.
The Walkers — along with their children, 4-year-old Claire and 2-year-old Charlie — will be recognized as the Farm Family of the Year this fall at the annual Baxter County Farm Bureau convention.
County winners are under consideration to be named district Farm Family of the Year. The eight district winners are eligible to be named the Arkansas Farm Family of the Year and represent The Natural State in the Southeastern Farmer of the Year competition.
Farm families are selected by a committee of agricultural agency personnel, farmers and agricultural business leaders. Families are judged based on farm production, efficiency, management, family life and community leadership.
The Walkers have been farming together as a family for five years, but both Cody and Hannah raised animals on their family farms while growing up. The couple married after graduating high school but sold all their cattle when they moved to Russellville to attend college. The Walkers received two heifers as college graduation presents and moved back to the Twin Lakes Area to open Walker Farms.
The farm keeps between 25 and 30 cow-calf pairs and two bulls between 25 acres in Baxter County and another 115 acres the family rents in Fulton County.
Hannah Walker talks about the biggest challenge to operating a family farm.
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The biggest reward to running a family farm is the family itself, Hannah Walker says.
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The Walkers are the fourth generation to win a Farm Family award on Hannah’s side of the family. Her parents, Lyn and Leah Cotter, were named the 2008 Baxter County Farm Family and her grandparents, Dale and Carroll Smith, were the 1976 White County Farm Family of the Year. Her great-grandparents, Ransy and Euna Cotter, were the 1971 Baxter County Farm Family of the year.
Hannah Walker talks about what it means to have so many Farm Families as part of the family tree.
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Claire and Charlie Walker also help their parents out around the farm. Claire showed her first bottle calf at the 2019 county fair and won first place. Charlie has his own cattle working stick, feed bucket and working boots. He fills his own bucket and helps his father feed every night.
Hannah Walker talks about having her children be involved in the family farm.
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The Walkers said future plans for their farm include hopefully being able to rent at least 400 acres in the coming years and expand their cow-calf operation to 80 pairs. They would like to build two barns, one to use as storage for round hay bales and the other to provide a covered working area and cattle pens.
Other area 2021 Farm Families include the Michael and Duana Batterton of Viola (Fulton County); Richard and Gina Blevins of Omaha (Boone County); Keith and Cindy Branscum of Fifty-Six (Stone County); the Fon Cash family of Everton (Searcy County); Tyler and Whitney Cooper of Melbourne (Izard County); the Dustin Cowell family of Mt. Judea (Newton County); and Heath and Emily Smith of Yellville (Marion County).
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