Family honored for diverse livestock operation

BIGELOW — James and Cindy Mann, along with their children, raise a variety of animals on their farm in Perry County. Everyone does his or her share of the work to keep the farm running smoothly.
BIGELOW — James and Cindy Mann, along with their children, raise a variety of animals on their farm in Perry County. Everyone does his or her share of the work to keep the farm running smoothly.

BIGELOW — James and Cindy Mann, along with their children, raise a variety of animals on their farm in Perry County. Everyone does his or her share of the work to keep the farm running smoothly.

The Manns are the 2016 Perry County Farm Family of the Year. They primarily raise beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep and goats on their farm, which consists of 91 acres they own, plus an additional 30 acres they “rent to own.” They also raise chickens, mainly for the eggs they produce.

James, 55, and Cindy, 48, have five children: Rachel, 19; David, 16; Rebecca, 15; Matthew, 12; and Hannah, 9.

All of the children share the workload. They draw slips of paper out of a cup each day to indicate what chores they must complete. Some are morning assignments; other chores are done in the evening.

“The chores are different each day,” said Cindy, who home-schools the children. “The kids seem to like that.”

Cindy does all of the milking, with Rebecca acting as the “substitute milker.” They have Jersey milk cows and do the milking by hand, twice a day.

Cindy, who was raised on a farm, the daughter of Max and Juanita Nutt, comes from a family of seven — her siblings include Lori De La Paz of Cabot,

Joey Nutt of Bigelow, Fred Nutt of Bigelow, Jennifer Jones of Australia, Cristy Savoie of Broussard, Louisiana, and Kimberly Frey of Bigelow.

James, however, did not grow up on a farm.

“I was a beach bum and had horses,” he said with a laugh. He grew up in Florida, the son of Bobbie and Willis Mann of Jacksonville, Florida, and a graduate of Samuel W. Wolfson High School in Jacksonville.

He has two sisters — Margie Sowell of Conway and Nelda Myers of Red Feather Lakes, Colorado.

“It was a natural transition into the farming way of life for me,” he said. “I am basically a self-taught farmer.”

James has a full-time job in addition to his chores on the family farm — he is the police chief in Perryville. He has been in law enforcement 26 years. He has been a member of the Perryville Police Department since 2007 and the chief since 2013.

“I love living out here,” James said of the farm’s remote location in Perry County. “Driving out here gives me a chance to unwind from work. Out here, I don’t have to see or listen to traffic. … All I listen to are the bugs and the tugboats on the Arkansas River.”

James and Cindy met while she was working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He said she “was putting on a safety-course program” at an event he was attending.

Cindy is a graduate of Bigelow High School and has a degree in agriculture business with a minor in park administration from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. She worked for the Corps for a number of years as a park ranger for the Little Rock District, working at the Toad Suck Ferry Lock and Dam, Bull Shoals Lake and

Lake Dardanelle.

“I started working for the Corps of Engineers as a summer aide when I was in high school and stayed until Rachel started kindergarten,” Cindy said. “They I stayed home

to home-school our children.”

Cindy said the family has a cow/calf operation, as well as a variety of animals.

“The kids show animals at the county fair, so we have one or more of just about

every kind — no pigs, though. … They are too temperamental,” she said.

“We have rabbits, chickens, turkeys, donkeys, and horses,” Cindy said, “and Rachel has registered bucking stock. She wants to be a registered bucking-stock contractor.”

Cindy and James bought 20 acres from her parents in 1992 and have added to the land over the years.

“My grandpa Joe Nutt owned our farm before we did,” Cindy said.

In addition to animals, the Manns raise hay on 30 acres of their land. They also cut approximately 45 acres of hay on agreement with neighbors.

“This allows us to increase our hay production and feed our livestock through the year without purchasing hay,” James said.

They sell their beef cattle at the local sale barns. The limited dairy-cattle sales are by word of mouth, especially at the dairy cattle show at the Perry County Fair. They also sell their sheep and goats by word of mouth. Eggs are sold mainly to members of the community.

The Manns raise and process their own meat, including pork, poultry, rabbits and sometimes beef.

“We have our own farm-fresh milk, eggs and butter,” James said. “We can vegetables from the garden

each year.”

James said he wants to “keep on growing.”

“I hope to retire in 6 1/2 years,” he said, “so I can be here on the farm full time. We’ve been slowly building up our herd.

“We would like to continue to grow and pass the farm along to the kids. It’s a slow process but well worth it.”

The Manns do pretty much everything by hand, or the old-fashioned way.

“If the computer system goes haywire, we have enough here — poultry, rabbits, cows — to last for a while,”

James said.

“And we could go down to the river and take a bath,” he said with a laugh. “These kids … they know how to do things. They can take over. We do not have the internet … no cable. We have Sunday-night movies on DVDs and have coke and popcorn.”

The children are members of the St. Boniface 4-H Club and hold offices. They are active in the Perry County Fair, showing all their livestock projects, in addition to arts and crafts, photographs and canned goods. They conduct road cleanups and help with various community-service projects.

They are all active in the St. Boniface Parish Catholic Youth Ministry. Rebecca and Hannah sing in the youth choir. The children are altar servers and assist at special services at St. Boniface.

James is a member of the Knights of Columbus, for which he has held various offices since 1994. He is also a member of the Perry County Cattlemen’s Association.

He is a member of the nominating committee and of the stockholder advisory committee for Farm Credit Services of Western Arkansas.

Cindy is a volunteer and leader of the St. Boniface 4-H Club, a job that she has held with her mother.

Cindy is co-superintendent for the poultry/rabbit barn at the Perry County Fair and is a member of the Perry County Fair Board. She is also a member of the St. Boniface Catholic Church Altar Society and the St. Boniface Parish Council and takes care of other duties at the church.

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