Farm Family Salute

By Randy Rice Kenny and Megan Harris are no strangers to farming. ey have owned their farm for 35 years, and looking at their growth, it is easy to understand why they were honored this year as Madison County Farm Family of the Year. "Kenny and I love farming because we've always done it and it just comes natural to us," Megan said. "But also, because we get such great satisfaction from being able to look at all our cattle and sheep and see that all our hard work is paying off. e love and passion we have for farming is like no other." eir first year, the Harrises did not own any land and started off with 60 rented acres. Currently they rent 320 acres and own 100 acres. eir hay and forage production covers 170 acres with an annual yield of four tons per acre. For livestock, the Harris Farm cow/ calf production includes 222 head of mature females; 100 head of mature female Katahdin and dorper sheep; 18 mature female rabbits, including Californian, New Zealand, mini rex and champagne d'argent rabbits; and a flock of 31 mature, egg-laying chickens. Kenny also started a turf management business in 2005, helping customers with commercial and residential property management. e business began with sod production and then grew into a complete turf management program, including herbicide applications, landscaping processes and turf management. At the height of the business there were 115 accounts that were managed on a bi-weekly to monthly basis. As time progressed, the business has scaled back on accounts to approximately 60 as of the end of 2022. e reason for the scaling back of the business accounts was to allow more time to devote to the cattle and other farm enterprises. Madison County: Harris Family Farm 2023 Farm Family Salute 18 June 2023

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