The Wilson Farm has been named the 2022 Farm Family of the Year for McDonald County. Garrett Wilson runs the farm with his father, Billy Jr. Retired granddad Billy Sr. also helps out on the farm that he inherited from his father. And Garrett has hopes that one day his children, Bailee, age five, and Carter, age two, will become the fifth generation of Wilson's working the same family farm.
"My granddad, Billy Wilson and his brother, Charles, moved in here when they were just young boys," Garrett began. "They lost their dad, my great granddad, when they were very young. So, they had to grow up fast and take over the farm themselves."
The Wilson family farm spans over 2,000 pastoral acres just outside of Anderson, MO. It has two main operations, the first one being their poultry business. "We have six broiler houses that we take care of where we raise broilers for Simmons," Garrett said. "We produce about 20,000 birds per house and have a total of six hen houses. We will run through about five or six flocks a year, so that's over 600,000 broilers we supply Simmons every year."
The second side of the Wilson family farm business is its cattle operation. "We have about 500 momma cows," Garrett said. "About 150 of those are registered Beefmasters." Beefmasters are a perfect combination of fertility, hardiness, conformation, weight, disposition and milk production. These are the 'Six Essentials' on which the breed was originally founded.
The story of the Wilson family farm is one of a family who understands the importance of hard work and the joys of getting to do that work together. "My dad's been working full time on the farm since he got out of high school," Garrett said. "And then I kind of followed suit. It's just a family deal."
Of course, as stated above it all started with Garett's great grandfather who started the farm back when Garrett's grandfather Billy was a young boy.
"It's just been in the family ever since," he said. "Way back when it started, they had laying houses so we've kind of been in the poultry side of things from the beginning. We've since transitioned to the broilers. My granddad is retired now but he's still involved. My dad, Billy Jr., and I handle or oversee the handling of everything. We have a couple of full-time workers employed that help us with the chickens right now.
"But it's always been a family affair," Garrett continued. "Everybody works together to get things done and that's probably the best part of it. Just being able to work with my dad and my granddad and growing up my whole life being able to be alongside them and learn by just spending time with them is such a blessing. And I hope my kids will be able to enjoy that same experience when they grow up. That's, really, why all of us family farms do this, for our children. We want them to have the opportunity to carry on the family farming tradition if they so choose."
Garrett's wife, Shaye, is a nurse practitioner but helps out on the farm when she isn't on the job. The two have known each other all of their lives. They became high school sweethearts and married right after they graduated. "My aunts played basketball with her mom," Garrett said. "We celebrated our eleventh wedding anniversary this summer."
Garrett loves the farming life but is quick to acknowledge how difficult it is for people to get started in farming these days.
"The biggest difficulty right now is the experience of everything," he said. "Our real estate is just skyrocketing. You can't go out and just buy property like my great granddad did years ago. On top of that, prices on everything else have gone up--from fuel to supplies and equipment.
"It's just crazy times right now," Garrett continued. "Hopefully, things will get better, but real estate expenses are the main obstacle to new farmers. It's just so hard if you don't inherit that land. It's hard to buy the land and the cows without working at job in town. And it's difficult to work a job in town when you trying to take care of cattle and bailing hay and everything else so sure, it tough on someone who wants to start from scratch. I feel very fortunate that I do not have to work an outside job. This is all I do full time."
Garrett believes one of the biggest challenges facing cattle farmers today is preprocessing. "We've got four main packers that handle the biggest majority in the cattle in the USA," he said. "And I think three of the four are foreign-owned. So, these packers have a monopoly on the processing side of the cattle industry. And that reflects on the price people pay for beef at the store."
People like to blame the farmer for the high prices, Garrett said. But it's really the middlemen who have the monopoly on the processing end, those four main packers, that are taking the big chunk of the money. "We have absolutely nothing to do with the high price of meat," Garrett said. "That's the biggest challenge we have right now."
There is, however, some hope on the horizon. The industry is working to pass new legislation and make it more fair. But the real problem remains the need for more options when it comes to getting your cattle processed. "The fact of the matter is we just need more packers," Garrett said. "When you only have four in the entire country, you are at their mercy. There is some grant money coming down to help with that. I know there's a rancher in South Dakota building what will be the largest processor in the United States. I think they're hoping to have it up and going by 2023. It'll handle 1000 head more a day than the largest one in the U S right now. So, we need more of that in the United States if we are going to turn it around."
Still, Garrett and his family wouldn't want to be doing anything else.
"It's just a great way of life," Garrett said. "It's simple. I get to spend a lot of time with my family. I grew up working with my granddad and my great uncle and my dad and my kids are getting to do the same thing. It's all about the time we get to spend together.
"It's a lot of work, it absolutely is," he continued. "Sometimes you are up before daylight and you don't get home 'til well after the sun goes down, so you just you gotta really love it. You don't do it for the money, that's for sure. I think it's just kind of bred into you, it's in your blood. Farming isn't the kind of thing you wake up one day and say 'this is what I wanna be'. You just know it at a young age. I've always known that's what I wanted to do and I'm grateful for the opportunity to be able to do it."
Garrett believes life on the farm is a great way to raise children, too.
"One thing that I try to instill in our kids is the value of hard work," he said. "But, you know it's fun too. When you are young you don't realize the values and the lessons you're learning at the time, you just enjoy being outdoors and getting to do what you love. I've always said I grew up outside and most kids nowadays don't have that opportunity. Just being outside and working is just pretty great.
"I really have a lot of memories of running around the hay field in the tractor," he added. "Growing up, I spent a lot of time sleeping in the floorboard of the cab tractor when I was little. And now my kids do the same thing. That so great for me and I know it will be a great memory from them, too."
Garrett and his entire family are honored to be named Farm Family of the Year. "It's pretty awesome and we're very grateful," he said. "There's been a lot of great families nominated for this over the years and it's pretty great to be in their company. A lot of great family farms have been nominated since the program began."