Yell County farm family plans to expand

The Michael Darr family of Dardanelle is the 2009 Yell County Farm Family of the Year. The family includes, from left, Mike's stepdad, Marvin Casey, and his mother, Elaine Casey; Dusty Darr; Mike and Phyllis Darr; and Michael Darr Jr. and his wife, Jessica. The Darrs raise hogs, poultry, cattle and hay.
The Michael Darr family of Dardanelle is the 2009 Yell County Farm Family of the Year. The family includes, from left, Mike's stepdad, Marvin Casey, and his mother, Elaine Casey; Dusty Darr; Mike and Phyllis Darr; and Michael Darr Jr. and his wife, Jessica. The Darrs raise hogs, poultry, cattle and hay.

— Michael "Mike" Darr has been a farmer all of his life.

He started helping his dad when he was a child growing up in central Missouri and said that experience "put a dream in me that someday I would be a farmer."

Today, he and his wife, Phyllis, and their two sons, Michael Jr., 22, and Dusty, 15, farm 140 acres near Centerville, raising a little bit of everything - hay, pigs, poultry and cattle. They are the 2009 Yell County Farm Family of the Year.

"It's an privilege to be named Farm Family of the Year," Mike said. "I've never done anything else besides farming. That's all I've ever done in my entire life."

Phyllis grew up on a farm as well. "We had cattle, pigs and chickens, but by the time I turned 13, we moved to town."

Mike and Phyllis were neighbors near Kansas City, Mo., and went to Liberty (Missouri) High School.

"We married before high school was out," Phyllis said with a smile. "We moved to Clarksville in 1987, where Mike's mom was living at the time." Mike's mother, Elaine Casey, and hisstepdad, Marvin Casey, now live at Hartman. They help with the Darrs' poultry operation.

Mike said he came to Centerville to manage a farm in 1991 and did so until 1994 when another farm became available to buy.

"This farm already was a hog farm. We bought the farm in little pieces here and there to the point where we are today," he said.

"I grew up working on rowcrop farms, just barely being able to get by on the pay. I was given a chance to work on a hog farm. Not knowing what to expect, I took the job. Not only did I love doing it, the pay was extremely rewarding," he said. "In less than three years, I went from a hogfarm worker to a hog-farm manager to hog-farm owner."

Mike said they developed their hog operation first, then built chicken houses and finally began raising cattle. Today, the Darrs raise baby pigs under contract with Cargill, producing between 12,500 and 13,500pigs per year. They raise chickens to an average weight of 8.5 pounds under contract with Wayne Farms. They also have 80 head of crossbred cattle and 80 acres of hay.

It has not been all smooth sailing for the farm family. When they purchased their hog farmin 1994, it was under contract with Tyson. Mike said in 2002, Tyson decided not to conduct business in the local area with their swine growers.

"This was a big hit to us because at that time, our hog farm was 100 percent of our income," he said. After several phone calls to Cargill, the Darrs were given a contract with them. Mike said they are now in the top 10 percent of Cargill producers.

Mike said he hopes his sons will continue farming.

"We would like to purchase more land so we could expand our cattle operation," he said, adding they are also looking "for a place to build a larger hog facility so our sons can enjoy the farm life full time also."

Mike Jr. and his wife, Jessica, live on the farm and he works part time with his dad. He also works at Deltic Timber as a boiler operator. Jessica works in the emergency room at St. Mary's Hospital while she attends nursing school. Mike Jr. and Jessica are both graduates of Ola High School.

While Mike Jr. was in high school, he was involved in FFA in swine production. He also played baseball in high school, leading his team to a conference regional championship his senior year as pitcher. He attended Arkansas Tech University forone year where he studied agriculture business. He also played college baseball at another college for one year.

Dusty attends Ola High School. He plays baseball on the Two Rivers Gators Baseball Team and during the summer, he plays league ball. He is also taking an agriculture class in school, which helps him on the farm where he works after school and during the summer. Dusty is also involved in a shooting sports program sponsored by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

Mike and Phyllis both enjoy hunting and taking part in shooting competitions with their sons. Mike is a coach with the Dardanelle City League and is the current president of the Dardanelle Sports Commission. He also coaches shooting sports.

River Valley Ozark, Pages 129, 137 on 08/23/2009

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